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Getting to Know STARTALK Languages and Cultures

Getting to Know STARTALK Languages and Cultures. Shuhan Wang: Conceptual Framework with Chinese examples Alwiya Omar: Swahili Iran Amin: Persian Vijay Gambhir: Hindi & Urdu Iamn Hashen: Arabic Rubab Qureshi: Urdu Discussions.

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Getting to Know STARTALK Languages and Cultures

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  1. Getting to Know STARTALK Languages and Cultures • Shuhan Wang: Conceptual Framework with Chinese examples • Alwiya Omar: Swahili • Iran Amin: Persian • Vijay Gambhir: Hindi & Urdu • Iamn Hashen: Arabic • Rubab Qureshi: Urdu • Discussions

  2. An Ecological System Approach to ExpandingSTARTLK Language Fields in the US Shuhan C. Wang, Ph.D. STARTALK TL/SV Meeting May 8, 2009 Washington, D. C.

  3. Language Ecological Perspective • Language environment: • Historical and contemporary • Macro and micro • Language evolution: • The variety of the language being selected • The corpus of the language • The development of the language in the host environment • Effects of efforts: endangerment or spread

  4. Why is an Historical Perspective on Environment Central? • Language education does not occur in a socio-cultural vacuum • A newly introduced variety (of language) needs to grow in a nurturing environment • A historical perspective enables us to understand deeply the present phenomenon in a larger context • Language is not simply a linguistic issue; it is often an identity and emotional issue

  5. Individual Biliteracy Resource Eco-System Language Environment: Heritage and Dominant Discourses-in-Contact Heritage Discourses Dominant Discourses Language Evolution: Biliteracy in Development Biliteracy in Use Human Capital Cultural Capital Social Capital

  6. A System View of the Language Field (Wang 2009) Heritage Communities Learners

  7. Some Factors in the Macro Environment • Economic and political relations between the home and host countries • Public attitude towards that language and people who use it • Legislative efforts • Economic context of the host environment • National security concerns • Funding support • Translation into educational programs

  8. Some Factors in the Micro Environment: for an immigrant group • Who are they? How educated are they? • What do they look like, including skin color? • What language do they speak? • What are their religions and cultural practices? • In what condition did they come? For what purpose? • In what number did they come? • When did they come? How long have they been here? • Where do they live? Are they socially integrated or isolated? • To whom do they pledge allegiance?

  9. Language Evolution: Which “Variety” to Grow/Teach? • Socio-political environmental factors • Linguistic implications • Identity and relational issues • Teachers’ competence and comfort level; identities • Parental and community’s goals • Heritage community’s identities • Students’ goals, motivations, interests, and identities • Materials

  10. Language Evolution: The Corpus of Chinese Language Divergence of Mandarin since 1949: --Phonology: Standard vs. Taiwan varieties --Semantics: e.g., contemporary words reflecting scientific & technological innovations; cultural references; political experiences and movements --Syntax: common expressions --Writing system: simplified vs traditional Chinese characters; e.g.,国 vs. 國; 华 vs. 華 --Phonetic system: Hanyu pinyin vs phonetic symbols --Style and Cultural Index Other Dialects

  11. Implications for Teaching and Learning a Language Lexicon, syntax, content, perspectives, genres, voices, styles, and cultural references and usages • Curriculum design • Material and textbook development and selection • Assessment

  12. Language Evolution: the Status of a Language in the US Educational Policy • Home language under bilingual education and NCLB: from the US perspective • Heritage language: from the Chinese group’s perspective • Foreign language/World language

  13. Market Economic Status of Chinese: If Chinese Were Stores • Home Language: No market value (in schools) • Heritage Language: Neighborhood mom and pop shops • Foreign Language: --Prior to 2000: Neiman Marcus—only for the elites --After 2004/05: Costco—an upscale wholesaler (Adapted from H. Tonkin, personal communication, 2000)

  14. Educational System: K-16 Articulation Heritage Communities

  15. Sociological Codes of Languages in the US: Educational Policies and Practices in the K-12 Context NCLB English Only English Literacy Policy Home Language Heritage Language Foreign/ World Language Education English Speakers English Plus (Wang, 2007; Evans & Hornburger, 2005)

  16. Language Evolution for Individuals:Biliteracy in Development • Heritage Discourses and Dominant Discourses co-exist in the language environment • The heritage/new language develops in the language/Discourse-in-contact environment • Individuals must negotiate or internalize both discourses in order to turn them into personal biliteracy capital reservoir

  17. Build Biliteracy Capital Reservoir via Continua of Biliteracy (Wang, 2004; also see Hornberger, 1989; Hornberger & Skilton-Sylvester, 2000) • Continua of Context (micro to macro, oral to literate, & monolingual to bilingual) • Continua of Media (linguistic structures, orthographic systems, & individual’s exposures to the languages) • Continua of Content (minority to majority perspectives and genres, vernacular to literary use, & contextualized to decontextualized texts) • Continua of Development (receptive to productive skills, oral to writing, & L1 to L2)

  18. Sociolinguistic Deconstruction of a Native Speaker Expertise in the language; e.g. in the heritage or dominant language Allegiance --Inheritance toward the heritage language group --Affiliation to the dominant language group (Rampton, 1995; Wang, 2004)

  19. Forming & Performing Identities: Heritage and Dominant Discourses-in-Contact Heritage Discourses Inheritance Identity Dominant Kit Discourses HYBRID VarietyAffiliation Expertise

  20. Biliteracy in Use:Effects and Benefits of Learning a Language • Rethink Language Capacity as Capital Building • At least three types of capital can be deconstructed in language education: • Human/Linguistic Capital • Cultural Capital (including family educational and cultural heritage) • Social Capital (how we use language & culture to engage others to achieve our social, economic and political goals)

  21. Questions for a STARTALK Language • How does the environment of the language field look? • What are historical and present efforts in spreading the language in the US? • What is the status of the language as a heritage language in the community and schools? • What is the status of the language as a Foreign/World Language in the educational system? • How are the language and its speakers and culture(s) viewed in the public discourse?

  22. Lessons Learned • Take a system approach, connect all sectors • Enhance teacher development capacity • Take an incubator approach to build programs and infrastructures; simultaneously develop and field test curricula, materials, assessment, and research • Build high human capital: identify and develop teams of specialists who know the language, understand cultures, SLA, pedagogy, curriculum, material, assessment, research, and K-16 contexts and heritage communities in the US

  23. Build an Infrascture of A Learner-Centered Language Field • Teachers: Teacher Preparation Capacity • Quantity/Numbers and Quality/Effectiveness • K-12 public schools: Certification Requirements • Curriculum • Instructional planning and strategies • Materials • Assessment & evaluation • Learner outcomes • Program evaluation • Research • The role of technology • Program establishment and sustainability

  24. A System Approach: • Think about supply, demand, & infrastructure • Create flywheels that convert energy into synergy (Wang, 2007) Heritage Communities Learners

  25. National Language Policy Implication:Biliteracy for All

  26. Rethink “Cultured-ness” • Mono-cultural • Bicultural • Cross-cultural • Inter-cultural • Multi-cultural • Trans-cultural

  27. Some References • Wang, S. C. (2008). The Ecology of the Chinese Language in the United States (pp. 169-181). In Hornberger, N. H. (Ed., 2nd Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Germany: Springer. • Asia Society & the College Board. (2008). Chinese in 2008: An Expanding Field.. • Hornberger, N. H. and Wang, S. C. (2008). Who are our Heritage Language Learners? Identity and Biliteracy in Heritage Language Education in the United States (pp. 3-38). In D. M. Brinton & O. Kagan (Eds.), Heritage Language Acquisition: A New Field Emerging. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. • Wang, S. C. (2007). Building Societal Capital: Chinese in the United States. In J. Lo Bianco (Ed.), The Emergency of Chinese, Language Policy, Special Issue, Volume 6, Number 1. Germany: Springer. 27-52. • Wang, S. C. (2004). Biliteracy Resource Eco-System of Intergenerational Transmission of Heritage Language and Culture: An Ethnographic Study of a Chinese Community in the United States. Ph. D. Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania.

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