Posts

The Buckeye Language Education Resource (BuckLER) Center welcomes Dr. Meg Malone to The Ohio State University!

Assessment Literacy in World Language Education
Location: Interfaith Prayer and Reflection Room, Room 3020-C, Ohio Union
Date: March 22, 2023
Time: 4:00-5:30 pm
Event Speaker: Dr. Meg Malone

Based on her work at ACTFL, Georgetown University, and the Center for Applied Linguistics, Dr. Malone (Ph.D., Georgetown University) will review the facets of assessment literacy in pursuit of a framework for world language education, including theoretical elements, practical applications and ethical implications. Theoretical elements will focus on both historical (Taylor, 2009; Fulcher, 2012; Inbar-Lourie, 2008) and recent (Kremmel & Harding, 2020; Coombe, Vafadar, & Mohebbi, 2020; Deygers & Malone, 2019) principles and research for language assessment literacy. Next, the presentation will provide some practical applications of language assessment literacy for different practitioners. Finally, the framework will be discussed vis a vis the ILTA Code of Ethics. Continue reading →

 The Buckeye Language Education Resource (BuckLER) Center welcomes Dr. Kris Knisely!

Gender-Just Language Pedagogies: How Trans Knowledges Reflect and Remake Linguistic Life
Location: Zoom – Register here
Date: February 2, 2023
Time: 4:30-6pm EST
Event Speaker: Dr. Kris Knisely

Language education represents a site for identity (re)construction, mediated through experiences of doing language with others and of learning to do language differently. Through acts such as speaking, reading, and writing, learners must linguistically position themselves and be positioned by others. In this way, language education encourages learners’ reflections on their own identities in relation to the broader social world. Although language learning allows students to (re)imagine, (re)invent, and explore new linguistic and cultural identities, there is often limited attention to trans knowledges and linguistic practices in the curriculum, textbooks, research, and pedagogy of language classrooms, leaving many educators to report feeling particularly un- or under-prepared to engage in gender-just language teaching. Continue reading →

Tracking Foreign Language Proficiency: Great (and not so great) Expectations
Location: Barbie Tootle Room at the Ohio Union
Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Time: 4:00 to 5:30 pm – Reception to follow
Event Speaker: Dr. Susan Gass, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University

In this talk, Dr. Gass will discuss the results of a federally-funded, large-data project, carried out at three state universities. Over a three-year period of time, she and her team collected speaking, listening, and reading proficiency data from students studying 10 languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. This resulted in a database of more than 9000 tests from students in years 1-4 of foreign language programs. She will report data from some of these languages focusing on the following areas: 1) What does it take to reach advanced proficiency?, 2) What levels of proficiency do language majors reach? and 3) Does the starting point of language study matter?, 4) What about heritage status?, and 5) How can students be incentivized? She will end with a discussion of the public availability of this large database.

The Seal of Biliteracy: A 10-year Retrospective
Location: 3020-C Ohio Union, Interfaith Prayer and Reflection Room, 1739 N. High St., Columbus, Ohio 43210
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Time: 4:30 to 5:30 pm
Event Speaker: Dr. Kristin J. Davin, Associate Professor of World Language Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Registration is required: To attend in-person, register here.  To attend on Zoom, register here.

Last year marked the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the Seal of Biliteracy in California. The policy, which recognizes students who graduate high school bilingual and biliterate, exists in 45 states and the District of Columbia. However, due to its grassroots origins and lack of federal funding, requirements of the recognition vary from state to state. In her talk, Dr. Davin will examine these variations and show the percentage of graduates earning a Seal of Biliteracy across states, illustrating how distinct policy characteristics relate to these percentages. Based on these findings, Dr. Davin will discuss tradeoffs related to critical policy characteristics and share recommendations.

This free event is co-sponsored by the BuckLER Center, the Department of Teaching and Learning, the Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Anti-colonial and Anti-racist Language Pedagogies: Reimagining Curricular Frameworks
Location: Sullivant Hall 141 and on Zoom
Date: Friday, November 12, 2021
Time: 2:20 to 3:40 p.m.
Event Speaker: Dr. LJ Randolph Jr., UNC Wilmington

Eurocentric and colonial frameworks have traditionally been at the core of language and cultural studies, leading to ideologies that have diminished, devalued, or erased the language varieties, cultures, and experiences of racialized and minoritized communities. This talk will explore ways to challenge such ideologies by applying anti-colonial, anti-racist approaches to various elements of curriculum design, including identification of learning objectives, selection of resources, and assessment of students. We will discuss connections to interdisciplinary research in the field of critical pedagogy, and we will examine specific examples from the classroom.

Continue reading →

Racialized Identities in Language Teaching, Learning and Research: Lessons from Black Students’ Study Abroad
Location: 3020-C Ohio Union, Interfaith Prayer and Reflection Room, 1739 N. High St., Columbus, Ohio 43210
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Time: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Event Speaker: Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition Uju Anya, Carnegie Mellon University

Because of recent capacity limitations and our desire to maximize access to the talk, we have shifted to a hybrid format for this talk. REGISTRATION IS NOW REQUIRED.

Join Professor Uju Anya to discuss her research and her book “Racialized Identities in Second Language Learning: Speaking Blackness in Brazil.”  This critical examination of the African American experience in language learning won the 2019 First Book Award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics in recognition of outstanding work that makes an exceptional contribution to the field.

Continue reading →