Theresa Catalano

The ideologies behind newspaper crime reports of Latinos and Wall Street/CEOs: a critical analysis of metonymy in text and image

This study illustrates how metonymy in image and text work together to produce dominant ideologies in US media discourse, through careful, multidisciplinary analysis of over 25 articles in online US newspapers from the years 2004 to 2011 that reported crimes committed by Wall Street/CEOs and Latino migrants. Using critical discourse analysis/studies, multimodal analysis, and cognitive linguistic frameworks, we examine examples of metonymy, which combine to negatively ‘Other’ Latinos and (re)produce positive representations of Wall Street/CEOs. While work in critical metaphor analysis shows how metaphor plays a crucial role in the depiction of participants and events, we argue that metonymy is equally important and reveals the need for a critical metonymy analysis. These results help to demonstrate the ideological potential of metonymy in media discourse and how it contributes to the publics conceptualisation of these groups, thereby bringing us one step closer to social justice and social change.

Critical discourse analysis: Definition, approaches, relation to pragmatics, critique, and trends

This chapter introduces the transdisciplinary research movement of critical discourse analysis (CDA) beginning with its definition and recent examples of CDA work. In addition, approaches to CDA such as the dialectical relational (Fairclough), socio-cognitive (van Dijk), discourse historical (Wodak), social actors (van Leeuwen), and Foucauldian dispositive analysis (Jӓger and Maier) are outlined, as well as the complex relation of CDA to pragmatics. Next, the chapter provides a brief mention of the extensive critique of CDA, the creation of critical discourse studies (CDS), and new trends in CDA, including positive discourse analysis (PDA), CDA with multimodality, CDA and cognitive linguistics, critical applied linguistics, and other areas (rhetoric, education, anthropology/ethnography, sociolinguistics, culture, feminism/gender, and corpus studies). It ends with new directions aiming towards social action for social justice.

Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Foreign language teaching and learning have changed from teacher-centered to learner/learning-centered environments. Relying on language theories, research findings, and experiences, educators developed teaching strategies and learning environments that engaged learners in interactive communicative language tasks. A shift in foreign language pedagogy from a specific foreign language method to the measurement of language performance/competency has resulted in a change in the role of the teacher from one of authority/expert to that of facilitator/guide and agent of change. Current developments point to public pedagogy, social media, and action research as additional ways to foster intercultural competence and language learning.

Understanding the Language of the Occupy Movement: A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis

In the expanding area of narrative inquiry, researchers often battle with the decision of how to analyze/interpret data. The aim of this article is to propose the use of cognitive linguistics as a tool in narrative analysis using as a case illustration interviews conducted in October/November 2011 with participants in the Occupy movement (Occupy). Results expose important metaphors/metonymies that reveal much about the perception of the movement by its inceptors. Not only did the analysis present the movement as a war and a force against government corporations, oppression, and inequality, but it was also seen as a strong structure and a family/community that needed to be awakened, fed, heard, seen, and felt. The contribution of this article lies not only in a greater understanding of Occupy but also in a demonstration of the value that an in-depth cognitive linguistic analysis has to offer in narrative inquiry.

Anti-Immigrant Ideology in U.S. Crime Reports: Effects on the Education of Latino Children

This article investigates the link between how Latino migrants are represented in U.S. crime reports, the formation of immigration laws/policies, and the effects on children of Latino migrants in U.S. schools. From a framework of cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis, I examine crime reports in U.S. online newspapers depicting crimes allegedly committed by Latino migrants in the years 2008–2010. The analysis exposes linguistic strategies such as the use of metaphor and metonymy to construct a negative representation of Latino migrants. I conclude with a discussion of the indirect effects on Latino schoolchildren.

Occupy: A case illustration of social movements in global citizenship education

Due to the complex nature of global understanding and practice of citizenship, it is essential to understand how to educate for a responsive public sphere with active and emancipated citizens. This study aims to clarify how social movements (through a case illustration of Occupy) are representative of global citizenship goals while illuminating Occupy’s main goals and dynamic nature. Data collection consisted of 45 interviews conducted at four different Occupy locations in the United States. Interviewee comments entwined with key elements representative of global citizenship education are outlined, and findings indicate not only how social movements can be an integral part of citizenship education but also shed light on a unique ‘we are here’ movement that has transformed public discourse.

Developing multilingual pedagogies and research through language study and reflection

ABSTRACT Globalisation and increased transnational migration underscore the need for educational responses to multilingualism and multilingual discourses. One way to heighten awareness of multilingual pedagogies (while simultaneously providing data for multilingual research) is the use of reflective language study and journaling by language educators/researchers. The purpose of this collaborative autoethnography, which focuses on the United States, is to demonstrate how this can be accomplished in language teacher education courses to help raise awareness and interest of how to capitalise on students’ linguistic and cultural resources. Data for this study included three participant/researcher journals and observational notes from collaborative discussions among researcher/participants about the lived experiences of multilingual language educators as they studied a new language and wrote about their experiences. Findings reveal possibilities for future research in cross-linguistic transfer as well as the teaching of multilingual pedagogies and issues of social justice as it relates to multilingual education.

Being "in a limbo" : perceptions of immigration, identity and adaptation of immigrant students in South Africa and the United States

ABSTRACT Much research is available that details student experiences of immigration and adaptation to receiving countries and schools, but few studies analyze the metaphors used by immigrant students (IS) when talking about the immigration experience, or offer a comparative lens through which to view identity negotiation in two very different contexts. The present paper aims to address these gaps by conducting a comparative linguistic analysis of 20 interviews conducted with IS at universities in South Africa and the United States in order to gain a greater understanding of immigration and the types of identity negotiation processes learners undergo in these very different countries. Findings reveal interesting similarities between metaphorical conceptions of immigration across different cultural contexts and a remarkable resilience in the use of adaptation strategies and identity development that leads to salient pedagogical implications for teachers of higher education who face increasingly international classrooms.

Multilingual pedagogies and pre-service teachers: Implementing “language as a resource” orientations in teacher education programs

ABSTRACT While Ruiz’s (1984) influential work on language orientations has substantively influenced how we study and talk about language planning, few teacher education programs today actually embed his framework in the praxis of preparing pre-service and practicing teachers. Hence, the primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate new understandings and expansions of Ruiz’s language-as-resource (LAR) approach and ways in which teacher education programs can model this orientation in their own classes, including those programs, like ours, that prepare mostly monolingual pre-service and in-service teachers to work with bi/multilingual students. The authors pursue this by laying out the theoretical framework for multilingual pedagogies that approach teacher education through the LAR orientation and then illustrate these pedagogies as they are realized in their own teacher education programs with the aim of moving closer to and expanding on Ruiz’s original proposal.

The Roma and Wall Street/CEOs: Linguistic construction of identity in U.S. and Canadian crime reports

Discriminatory practices against Roma (also known as Romanies) occur on a daily basis in many countries around the world through media discourse. This paper investigates the representation of Romanies in U.S. and Canadian online newspaper crime reports and compares this representation to Wall Street/CEOs in crime reports demonstrating how identity of both groups is constructed through a variety of linguistic and non-linguistic strategies. Drawing on Mayr and Machin’s (2012) critical linguistic analysis of the language of crime, this multimodal study incorporates a variety of tools such as Critical Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Linguistics in order to dig below the surface to reveal ideological frames. Results illustrate the denaturalization (and negative representation) of Romanies and contrasting naturalization of CEOs and point to a growing need for consciousness-raising through critical linguistic analysis such as this in order to continue to fight for social change and a more just system for the Roma.