Mother Language Day panel on Feb 19th

This panel celebrates International Mother Language Day, designated by the UNESCO (https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day) to recognize the importance of mother languages and linguistic diversity. The panel features graduate students who are mother tongue speakers of minority and indigenous languages. FLRT is a co-sponsored of this event, along withe T&L’s DECo and EHE’s EDGE Office.

FLRT Symposium 2021

The 2021/4th FLRT symposium will take place virtually on Friday, January 29, 10 am-5:10 pm (EST). We are very fortunate to have Dr. Deborah Crusan, Professor of TESOL/Applied Linguistics at Wright State University, for a 30-minute live talk, ‘Writing Assessment Literacy: A Necessity in Good Writing Pedagogy’, followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. We will have 10 graduate student presentations, scheduled between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.(EST) or 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. (EST). Dr. Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm will give the welcome and opening remarks, and I will give the closing ones. More detailed information about the symposium (e.g., agenda, professor bios, presentation abstracts, and Zoom link) can be found on the FLRT website.

LSHSS article is out!

A new publication based on my research with Monique Mills (U of Houston) is out! Perceptions of Black Children’s Narrative Language: A Mixed-Methods Study reports on our mixed-methods study, which addressed two aims. First, we examine the impact of language variation on the ratings of children’s narrative language. Second, we identify participants’ ideologies related to narrative language and language variation. The article is part of a special issue of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, Serving African American English Speakers in Schools Through Interprofessional Education & Practice. You can listen to guest editor Monique Mills talk about the issue and the development of strategies for speakers of African American English.

Navigating Languages, Literacies, Identities paperback out

The paperback version of Navigating Languages, Literacies and Identities: Religion in Young Lives is now available. The edited volume, which was first published in 2016, showcases research at the interface of religion and multilingualism, offering an analytical focus on religion in children and adolescents’ everyday lives and experiences. My chapter in it, ‘Moving across languages, literacies and schooling traditions’, is based on my work in northern Cameroon and Central Ohio.