Dr. Monique Mills and I will present a live webinar Perceptions of Narrative Quality in School-Age African American English (AAE) Speakers on December 22. The audience is school-based Speech-Language pathologists who work with African American children. We will explore variation in narrative practices common within AAE-speaking communities and discuss widely held beliefs about narrative language and its variation, how these beliefs affect clinical practice, and insights from research into how SLPs can expand our narrative language assessment practices to be more inclusive of culturally based narrative variation.
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Sessions at AAA 2022 in Seattle
I am participating in 2 sessions at the 2022 Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Seattle. The panel ‘Using Anthropology Of Language And Literacy To Address Equity In Unsettling Times’ brings together educational anthropologists who draw on anthropological theory and methods to examine the teaching and learning of language and literacy, drawing on theoretical frameworks that challenge dominant understandings. The round table ‘Refugee Education Across The Life Span In Unsettling Times’ showcases research on/with the language and literacy dimensions of the refugee experience.
Seminar for U of Cambridge UK Inter Faith Week
I will be part of a virtual seminar ‘Language Learning in/as Education’, hosted by the University of Cambridge as part of the upcoming UK Inter Faith Week. The seminar will feature talks by Dr. Anastasia Badder (University of Cambridge) and Dr. Jo-Ann Myers (Leo Baeck College), and responses from Dr. Farah Ahmed (University of Cambridge) and me. We will explore the nature of ‘progress’ n Progressive religious contexts and the significance of language and literacy learning for religious community identity, focusing on Jewish and Muslim educational contexts. The seminar will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, 16 November, 12:30 – 1:45pm (UK time). Check out the short article on InterFaith Week events and a recording of our panel.
ASHA Editor’s Award for LSHSS article
An article I co-authored with Monique Mills, Rong Cong, Somin Kim, and Bethany Frick has been honored with the Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Editor’s Award. An Editor’s Award is given by the editor-in-chief of each of the ASHA journals for the article that the editor-in-chief and editors feel meets the highest quality standards in research design, presentation, and impact for a given year. Our article Perceptions of Black children’s narrative language: A mixed-methods study is open access, so check it out!
Language Pod in Ohio State News
The Language Pod is featured in Ohio State News! Check out the video and short article, which focus on students who work in the Pod as researchers and language science educators.
Intercultural English Language Programs at OSU
The Ohio State University’s English as a Second Language (ESL) Program has a new name: The Intercultural English Language Programs. The new name reflects a more expanded notion of English language learning. Learn more about our programs.
Language Pod 10th anniversary!
This Stroop Effect cookie comes from our after-hours reception in COSI’s Life exhibit to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ohio State’s Language Sciences Research Lab at the Columbus Center of Science and Industry (COSI). Guests had opportunities to experience what it’s like to be in a research study about language, ask our computer “Avatar” questions about the pod, and chat with our student researchers. Language Pod Director Laura Wagner spoke about the past decade and on what we hope to accomplish in the future!
FLRT leadership for 2022-2023
Congratulations to the newly elected FLRT leadership! Onur Ozkaynak will serve as President, Sheila Ameri as Vice President, Lanoke Paradita as Treasurer, and Chia-Hsin Yin as Secretary. Many thanks to the outgoing leaders, Emre Basok, Yuseva Iswandari, Juyeon Yoo, and Susan Atai.
Advancing Ohio’s English Learners
The Ohio Department of Education has funded Advancing Ohio’s English Learners (AOEL), a project for which I am a co-PI. The purpose of AOEL is to create a comprehensive system of supports for English learners and their families whose school learning and engagement have been negatively impacted during the coronavirus pandemic. Belinda Gimbert (Education Studies) and Melissa Ross (Center on Training and Education) lead the four-part project. Peter Sayer and I will lead Activity 3, the development and dissemination of digital resources for K12 educators who work with English learners.
Saida Mohamed AAUW Dissertation Fellow
I am a member of the dissertation committee of Saida Mohamed, a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University. Saida has just been awarded an Association of American University Women (AAUW) American Dissertation Fellowship for the 2022-23 award year. Her dissertation examines the multilingual literacies (Somali, English, Kiswahili, Classical Arabic) of three families and their five to fourteen-year-old children of Somali and refugee background living in Nairobi, Kenya. Through the lenses of literacy as a social practice and funds of knowledge, Saida explores the connections between the children’s dugsi, school, and home language and literacy learning experiences and analyze how children and parents live and understand these experiences.