Mariana Souto-Manning

Critical narrative analysis: the interplay of critical discourse and narrative analyses

In this article, I question the micro–macro separation in discourse analysis, the separation of personal and institutional discourses. I apply a mostly macroanalytic perspective (critical discourse analysis [CDA]) to inform a predominantly microanalytic perspective (analysis of conversational narratives) and vice versa. In the combination of these two analytic approaches to data analysis, I explore the connections between macro-level power inequities and micro-level interactional positionings, thereby establishing critical narrative analysis (CNA). I examine the focus of CDA on institutional discourses and problematize the definition of power discourses by looking closely at the intertextual recycling of institutional discourses in everyday narratives and at the adoption of everyday narratives in institutional discourses. Ultimately, I propose that CNA unites CDA and narrative analysis in a mutually beneficial partnership that addresses both theoretical and methodological dilemmas in discourse analysis.

What Should Teacher Educators Know and Be Able to Do? Perspectives From Practicing Teacher Educators

Commonsense reasoning says that quality teacher education relies on quality teacher educators. Yet, there is minimal attention to what teacher educators should know and be able to do. Unquestionably, teacher educators cannot teach what they do not know; but what should they know, and should they be prepared? This study of 293 teacher educators investigated the following: What do current teacher educators consider to be the foundation elements of their practice? How do they evaluate their own preparation in these areas? How can their experiences inform the preparation of teacher educators? We use Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s theorizing about “relationships of knowledge and practice” to understand knowledge essential to teacher educating (a term we use to differentiate teaching teachers from teaching students). Our findings reveal that practicing teacher educators often feel unprepared to assume their role but can offer helpful insight into how we should think deliberately about quality teacher educator preparation.

A Critical Look at Bilingualism Discourse in Public Schools: Autoethnographic Reflections of a Vulnerable Observer

Abstract A bilingual elementary school teacher and mother of a bilingual child, the author questions the presence of specific bilingualism discourses in two Southeastern public schools. Despite research that shows the acquisition and development of two languages actually augment language processing and problem solving skills, the perception of childrens brains as buckets preprogrammed for the development of a single language is still commonly employed in these schools and serves to support the placement of English language learners in special education classes. In this study, Critical Narrative Analysis, a hybrid of critical discourse analysis and conversational narrative analysis, is applied to meld a macro and microanalysis of the authors own teacher journal entries and the narratives of a veteran special education teacher. The article shows how the bilingualism discourse continues to reflect a deficit orientation.

Analysing Political Discourse: Toward a cognitive approach

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713695016 Copyright Informa / Taylor and Francis --DOI : 10.1080/17405900500283706

Using Critical Discourse Analysis to Understand and Facilitate Identification Processes of Bilingual Adults Becoming Teachers

Our research focuses on bilingual adults enrolled in the Teachers for English Language Learners (TELL) program. TELL is a scholarship program whose goal is to increase the number of critically-minded bilingual educators in the state of Georgia in the United States. In this paper, we use critical discourse analysis to inform theoretical and practical implications in language education research. First, we examine how TELL scholars address linguistic and social inequities through discourses of competency and legitimacy, using critical discourse analysis to interpret social tensions in a group of these adults. Our analysis combines close discourse analysis of focus group interview data with the macro-theoretical approach of Foucault to understand the relationship between systemic influences (e.g., standardized, corporate testing) and the life world (e.g., having conversations in and about multiple languages) as these bilingual adults become bilingual teachers in Georgia.

Seeing the strange in the familiar: unpacking racialized practices in early childhood settings

In this article, three educators share case studies describing racial biases and segregationist practices in early schooling. The authors draw upon critical race theory as a lens and employ critical discourse analysis to uncover classed and raced biases within and across three early childhood contexts. While the cases are situated in specific public school settings – a parent teacher association (PTA) fundraiser, a mandated literacy program, and a read‐aloud – they shed light onto a variety of contexts as these are all common phenomena in many American elementary schools. Together, the cases illustrate how racism has been normalized through familiar practices in early childhood settings. Through description and reflection, the authors suggest ways to start seeing the strange in the familiar, unpacking racialized practices across three settings, and advocating new ways of thinking about these common practices leading to change and transformation.

teacher inquiries into gay and lesbian families in early childhood classrooms

Gay and lesbian issues are often silenced in teacher education programs. Such silencing has serious consequences for teachers who feel unprepared to discuss such issues in their classrooms. Challenging the silence regarding gay and lesbian issues that often permeates early childhood classrooms, we share a teachers critical inquiry into teaching gay and lesbian issues through teacher action research. We posit that while gay and lesbian issues need to be an intrinsic part of teacher education classes, practising teachers may create the opportunity to take steps toward addressing diversity, fully including gay and lesbian issues in their classrooms. We propose that the case presented may provide a practical possibility for teachers to find ways to fully include all students in their literacy practices.

Beyond Survival in the Ivory Tower: Black and Brown Women's Living Narratives.

In this paper, we analyze our personal narratives and explore what it means to be African American and Latina graduate students at a predominately white university in the Southeastern U.S. We examine the meaning(s) of occupying our positions within locations that have denied us the right to be legitimate knowledge constructors. We analyze negotiations of race, gender, and class dynamics in our narratives and within the universitys institutional discourses. Implications point to the benefits of employing Critical Narrative Analysis as a tool for facilitating the personal and professional development of women of color in similar locations, addressing the question of how women of color succeed and thrive in such an environment.

Teacher as Researcher: Teacher Action Research in Teacher Education.

So, it was only natural to me that as a teacher educator, I would engage in systematically researching my own practice in order to improve it— focusing on and living the process as part of my pedagogy. After all, I felt that I could not ask preservice and inservice teachers to engage in teacher research in their own settings if I was not engaging in teacher research as I taught and learned with them. Over the years, I found that the message concerning the critical importance of teacher research to good and responsive teaching could not be delivered through mere talk, but instead should be co-constructed through engagement in living the process of problem posing in the teacher education classroom. As a former primary grades teacher, I was too aware of the cynicism associated with “do-as-I-say-and-notas-I-do” professional development practices (Souto-Manning, 2011). As a teacher, I sat through too many workshops that stood apart from, and failed to build on, the strengths of my practices and on the lives and experiences of my students. As a teacher educator, I decided that I would honor teachers’ histories and pedagogies instead of embracing the “banking” system of education (Freire, 1970)—the prevalent institutional discourse of which I had been part as a primary grades teacher. Nevertheless, in three institutions of higher education, I have found that teacher education research is often an invisible practice and often not conceptualized as “real” research. A significant stigma remains attached to what some refer to as “little r” research, in contrast to the “big R” research (Hubbard & Power, 1993, p. xiv). Yet, I posit that this artificial separation between theory and practice is, at best, problematic. Teacher education research allows us to theorize from our own practices and, in turn, transform them. Historically, “teacher action research” and “teacher research” have been terms mostly used at the PK-12 level. Yet, embracing it fully and visibly in the teacher education realm is important because it raises awareness of the critical and transformative aspects of teaching and learning. It allows teacher research to be made visible and validated beyond the PK-12 realm. Thus, by engaging in teacher education research, and by researching their own practices, teacher educators can become advocates for teacher research as a valid and viable line of research. As a teacher researcher in the teacher education classroom, I constantly seek to blur the artificial boundaries of theory and practice. Thus, every time I teach a course, I engage in a learning journey and strive to make this journey visible to my students. I share my plans and explain how my observations and interpretations guide my pedagogical decisions. As I teach, I seek to pose questions that problematize normative definitions of teaching and that will inform and improve my pedagogy. To do so, I get to know my students as unique human beings and seek to create a community of learners. I build on their interests and experiences as I teach and learn. Bissex and Bullock (1987) highlighted that teacher research is not bound by traditional paradigms— teachers (and teachers of teachers, also known as teacher educators) are invited to engage in research by identifying their questions, documenting their observations, analyzing and interpreting data in light of their theories, and sharing situated representations with the larger community, hopefully shedding light onto other contexts. But why? Why would someone add another role to their already complex professional lives? Teacher action research involves a systematic and sustained study of some aspect of teaching and learning. As such, it easily applies to teacher education classrooms. Teachers, teacher educators, and professional developers need to know if we are successfully educating our students. We must ask such questions as: Are Teacher as Researcher

Educating Latino Children: International Perspectives and Values in Early Education.

Cultural values are inherent to educational processes. When young children go to school, family and societal values may be either reinforced or challenged as children are socialized. As the ethnicities and cultural backgrounds of students and teachers vary, so do their values. With a rapidly changing student population, ever more diverse, this is a time for early childhood settings to become more responsive to all children’s needs while honoring their cultures. As the number of Latino immigrants increases steadily and rapidly across the United States, early childhood educators need to learn about Latino schooling experiences and expectations to better serve this growing population. Around 2% of all children born in the United States are bilingual and growing up in Latino households. According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (2006), the proportion of Latino children in the United States has increased faster than that of any other racial and ethnic group, growing from 9% of the child population in 1980 to 19% in 2003. This percentage continues to increase. In employing a bio-ecological approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) to child development, we must consider the diverse contextual layers that shape a child’s development. Bronfenbrenner’s model of the ecology of human development acknowledged that humans don’t develop in isolation, but rather in relation to their families, homes, schools, communities, and societies. Each of these ever-changing and multilevel environments, as well as their interactions, are key to development. According to Barbara Rogoff (2003), development is culturally biological. As such, we must promote culturally responsive education early on to foster both culturally and biologically appropriate developmental conditions. Gay (2000) defined culturally responsive teaching as using cultural knowledge and prior experiences to make learning more appropriate and effective, educating the whole child through the strengths of each. Ladson-Billings (1992) explained that culturally responsive teachers develop intellectual, social, emotional, and political learning by “using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (p. 382). Hollins (1996) added that education designed specifically for children from minority backgrounds is made up of “culturally mediated cognition, culturally appropriate social situations for learning, and culturally valued knowledge in curriculum content” (p. 13). Culturally responsive teachers address not only the importance of learning academic content, but also the maintenance of cultural identity and heritage. Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) define learning as inherently interactive and constructivist (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). Of utmost importance is a child’s construction of knowledge through interactions with the social and physical environment. DAP promote meaningful learning for each child while accounting for a variety of cultural contexts. Nevertheless, the image of the solitary child constructing her own world in isolation has been prevalent in the fields of child development and early childhood education, with limited attention paid to the significance. of the larger social, cultural, and historical contexts (Novick, 1996). In the last 15 years, researchers have begun to understand that learning is a process by which culture and individual development are mutually embedded (Bowman & Stott, 1994). To implement culturally responsive early education that is developmentally appropriate for Latino children, it is important to look at values that permeate education in Latin America. Therefore, I draw on ethnographic data (interviews, observations, artifacts, and field notes) from early childhood centers and schools in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina as I review research and outline values and perspectives that pervade such practices, hoping to shed light on the educational process of young Latinos in the United States. As I coded extensive ethnographic data col-