End of this month I will be a panelist and participant in a workshop focused on Language Learning in/as Religious Education. Dr. Artanti Sari and I will present together on Qur’anic Arabic learning in digital spaces. The workshop is the 3rd part of a series of events hosted by the Cambridge Interfaith Programme at the University of Cambridge. We will reflect on approaches, methods, and next steps in the research and teaching of religious languages. We will discuss the core questions: (1) What have we learned about how and why people teach and learn religious languages? (2) What do we do with that learning? (3) How does interdisciplinary discussion about such research impact our own work as teachers and/or researchers? This workshop will be of interest to educators, researchers, and practitioners of religious languages and literacies. We welcome participation and insights from attendees drawing from their own experiences with religious languages and literacies. This hybrid workshop takes place, Monday, 27 March, 2023, 13:15 to 16:45 GMT. For more information and registrations, click on the link above.
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Jin-Wei Hung awarded OIA grant
My advisee Jin-Wei Hung has been awarded the International Research and Scholarship Grant for his dissertation research ‘Language Socialization and Academic Adaptation of Chinese Heritage Language Learners in Study Abroad Context’. This grant is awarded by OSU’s Offices of International Affairs, Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge, and Student Academic Excellence.
U of Cambridge Interfaith Week webinar
As part of University of Cambridge’s 13th World Interfaith Harmony Week programming, we are holding a webinar Language Learning in/as Religious Education on February 2, at 15:45 GMT. I will join Adel Mozammel (Darul Ihsan School), Anastasia Badder (Cambridge U), Jo-Ann Myers (Leo Baeck Institute), and Youmna Helmy (Cambridge U) to explore how religious communities draw on language as a semiotic resource aimed at specific goals, and how different methodologies can reveal aspects of the aims, processes, factors, and outcomes of sacred language learning and use. The event is free, just register in advance to get the Zoom link.
Supporting Black Children’s Language, Literacy, and Joy
Dr. Monique Mills and I the organizers of Supporting Black Children on Their Paths to Greatness: Language, Literacy, and Joy. This is a series of virtual convenings that bring together a small group of people to create a collaborative space for sharing strategies that work well in advancing research, educational practice, advocacy, and dialogue and collaboration between researchers and practitioners. Each convening includes one or more talks by members of our emerging community of practice, as well as opportunities to discuss and to get to know one another. In 2022-2023, we meet roughly once a month, and each convening has a theme.
ASHA webinar with Monique Mills
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.
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.
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.
AAA 2021 virtual session: Supporting multilingual ECE
We just held our session ‘Supporting Multilingual Education in Early Childhood: Linguistic Anthropological Approaches’. Organized by Jennifer Reynolds (USC) and Amy Kyratzis (UCSB), the session examines the issue of how early childhood educators can be supported in sustaining and leveraging children’s expertise as a legitimate and generative means to expand linguistic repertoires and associated forms of knowledge production. The Zoom recording and documents will available through June 2022 to conference participants.