2023 MIEC & TESOL Proceedings
The Maryland International Education Consortium (MIEC) Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Virtual | June 12, 2023Symposium Digest | Abstracts
Rebekah de Wit
Director of Global Education
Community College of Baltimore County
rdewit@ccbcmd.edu
The Maryland International Education Consortium (MIEC) offered its first statewide event on teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) on June 12, 2023. The virtual symposium featured faculty speakers from every Maryland higher education institution that offers a TESOL program and from two universities abroad that partner with Maryland TESOL programs. Presenters provided updates on their recent work within their areas of expertise.
Presenters represented a wide range of specialties within TESOL, covering topics related to assessment, varieties of English, listening comprehension, writing, counseling, race, refugees, AI, and gender. The event was designed to have broad appeal and to be of interest and use to teachers, teacher trainees, and researchers. An ancillary goal was to promote further collaboration in TESOL across Maryland institutions.
The event's question-and-answer periods generated lively discussion and at least two inter-institutional collaborations have already emerged among colleagues newly acquainted with each other's work. The symposium proceedings published herein reflect the event's rich content, and I hope that readers will find the proceedings to be useful in their own work.
On behalf of the MIEC, I thank the presenters, participants, consortium leadership, and leadership of TALES, who all contributed to the success of the symposium and to this publication.
The consortium involves representatives from twelve Maryland higher education institutions who work together to promote international education in the state. Further MIEC-sponsored collaborations in TESOL may follow.
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Abstracts
Monday, June 12, 2023
Enhancing Language Assessment Literacy through a Collaborative Approach to Teacher Education
Jiyoon Lee
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
jiyoon@umbc.edum
This presentation focused on the author's ongoing research on collaborative approaches to English as a second language (ESL) teacher education, with a specific emphasis on enhancing language assessment literacy (LAL) among stakeholders involved in teacher education. These stakeholders encompass both preservice and inservice teachers, as well as students. LAL refers to the understanding and implementation of effective language assessment practices by stakeholders. The presentation commenced by providing definitions of LAL. Although debates regarding the components of LAL persist, it is generally agreed that LAL consists of stakeholders' (1) knowledge of language assessment theories, (2) skills in designing, selecting, and utilizing language assessments, and (3) understanding of the cultural, social, pedagogical, and political consequences of language assessment (Davies, 2008; Fulcher, 2012; Inbar-Lourie, 2008; Lee, 2019). The presentation presented research findings that documented collaborative efforts among pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and ESL students in a language assessment development project. It discussed the challenges and advantages associated with such collaborations in the development of each stakeholder's LAL.
Enhancing Language Assessment Literacy through a Collaborative Approach to Teacher Education
Christa de Kleine
Professor of TESOL
Notre Dame of Maryland University
cdekleine@ndm.edu
Rachele Lawton
Professor of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
Community College of Baltimore County
rlawton@ccbcmd.edu
This session highlighted a study that examined how certain varieties of English, particularly those of racially minoritized and multilingual students, are often stigmatized at the college level. As a result, "standard" English, which is often described as White Mainstream English, is typically upheld as the goal of writing and literacy instruction in college contexts even though college campuses should be recognized as diverse multilingual spaces. Within TESOL contexts more specifically, “standard” (White Mainstream) English hegemony, as part of a colonial legacy, is often reproduced in classrooms, positioning an idealized variety of American or British English as superior, which results in negative implications for multilingual students. It is important to contest the widespread, counterproductive practice in education that privileges one form of English over others, which can be attributed to unchallenged language ideologies that often promote the interests of a dominant group at the expense of marginalized groups. Thus, an understanding of instructor attitudes towards students' language use is important in order to ensure that all students’ linguistic resources are valued and seen as resources through asset-based approaches. The study analyzed writing and literacy instructors' attitudes towards "standard" and "nonstandard" Englishes in the community college setting among students born within and outside of the US, both in ESOL and credit-bearing courses. This is important because community colleges populations are linguistically diverse, with many students being multilingual (including international/ESOL students) and/or multidialectal. A survey on attitudes and practices regarding linguistic diversity in the classroom was distributed to community college instructors at community colleges throughout the state of Maryland. Instructors responded to open and closed questions regarding definitions of “standard” English and the use of “nonstandard” features in written and spoken language in their classrooms. Through a critical discursive analysis of responses, presenters learned that most instructors believed in a privileged “standard” form of English that students must learn for success in college and beyond, but simultaneously struggled to define “standard” English. “Nonstandard” language was occasionally tolerated as appropriate, depending on the context, but was rarely perceived as a genuine asset to effective writing. Furthermore, “standard” English was rarely questioned or viewed as the language of power, which aligns with findings in other studies, revealing that “standard” language ideology is often unquestioned in education, thus perpetuating linguistic and thus social inequality. To foster linguistic justice through asset-based pedagogy, presenters advocated for increased critical language awareness among ESOL and non-ESOL instructors to support multilingual students. More specifically, this involves examining our own ideologies about language, exploring issues of power, race and identity as they relate to language use, questioning the status quo in our profession, and collaborating within and beyond TESOL contexts to challenge “standard” language ideology.
Race, Language, Writing, and TESOL
Shenika Hankerson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education
University of Maryland, College Park
sdhanker@umd.edu
Previous research has extensively described the linguistic (e.g., phonological, lexical, and syntactical) and stylistic (e.g., rhythm, tone, and other rhetorical genres) features of the African American speech community and its variation and change over the years. Despite this research, along with national resolutions and policy statements affirming the legitimacy of African American Language (AAL), linguistic injustice toward AAL still exists, especially in TESOL where AAL speakers are often overlooked and not well understood. This presentation focused on issues of race, language, writing, and TESOL from a Black, AAL speaker perspective. It began by providing an overview of AAL, then it discussed its presence in writing. The presentation proceeded by detailing an Afrocentric-centered, Critical Language Awareness (CLA) curriculum Hankerson (2022, 2023) designed and implemented with AAL speakers in a college writing course. This included describing the pedagogical resources and AAL speakers’ responses and academic outcomes. The presentation concluded by discussing the implications for TESOL. In specific, it discussed the need for TESOL to recognize, acknowledge, and include critical discussions of AAL in teacher preparation programs, and the need for TESOL educators to cultivate a critical awareness of their own racial and linguistic identities and ideologies, including their ideologies and stance toward AAL. By doing so, TESOL educators can prevent the trauma (e.g., racialized writing trauma) and stressors that hinder AAL speakers’ academic success and well-being.
Counseling English Language Learners in K-12 Schools
Qi Shi, PhD, LCPC
Associate Professor of School Counseling
Loyola University Maryland
qshi@loyola.edu
This talk focused on presenting issues and strategies in counseling English Language Learners (ELLs) in K-12 schools within a systemic conceptual framework. Findings from two studies were introduced. Both studies were conducted in partnership with The Esperanza Center in Baltimore City. Study #1 took an angel from providing an experiential learning experience for school-counselors-in-training (SCIT) to work with ELLs, including their perceived challenges and strategies they used to overcome those challenges. SCITs gained confidence from this experiential learning and examined their own assumptions and biases and gained deeper understanding of collaboration with ELL teachers. Study 2 happened in the middle of COVID 19 pandemic where students had a hard time getting used to virtual learning and this study addressed what Esperanza Center expressed as the most urgent needs of ELL students at that time. Therefore the focus of the second study was tailored to meet that urgent need and this study is the first in the literature to describe the use of a culturally and linguistically adapted SEL curriculum, delivered completely online by school-counselors-in-training (SCIT), to address the social emotional development of ELLs.
Pioneering Change in ELT: Gender, Sexuality, Collaborative AI, and the Quest for Inclusive Learning
Joshua M. Paiz, PhD
Workforce Development & Continuing Education Instructor
Montgomery College
jpaiz3@montgomerycollege.edu
In the realm of English language teaching (ELT), we find ourselves amidst a transformative era where two areas emerge as catalysts of profound change and immense potential for teaching and learning: the creation of inclusive classroom spaces that embrace gender and sexual minorities, and the exploration of collaborative artificial intelligence's (AI) role in empowering both teachers and students. The purpose of this session was two-fold. First, it sought to equip participants with a general framework to make pedagogical decisions to build great inclusion and equity of gender and sexual minority students in their classes. Here, the framework of critical queer inquiry was cited and deployed, as it advocates for the culturally responsive inclusion of LGBTQ+-focused content and creators into the curriculum in ways that seek to normalize and value queer representation. Second, it sought to advocate for a collaborative view of artificial intelligence in ELT, viewing AI tools as supplements to, and never replacements for, human expertise and experience as has been published in the literature. The presentation ended with two reminders for practitioners: first, we must build more inclusive classroom spaces to facilitate student learning and success for all students; and second, AI, when viewed as a collaborative tool-for-thought, has great potential to address some of the lived realities of ELT more humanely and responsively.
TESOL and Teaching Caribbean Englishes on Purpose
Renee Figuera, PhD
Humphrey Fellow 2022-2023
University of the West Indies Trinidad and Tobago
reneefiguera@protonmail.com
English Language Teaching (ELT) often privileges perspectives from the Global North, while marginalising teaching and learning practices from the Global South. Through a focus on Caribbean Englishes and Black Englishes in international spaces, the presenter highlights the role of decolonial perspectives on what is English, and its impact on shaping asset -based teaching and learning and curriculum content, from two essential theoretical orientations: (1) languaging (Phipps 2007) and (2) linguistic landscapes (Shohamy and Gorter 2009). Through a collection of autoethnographic testimonies and textual data from landscapes in the United States and the Caribbean, they advocate for inclusivity and authenticity regarding what it means to teach and learn English and Caribbean English/es in the contemporary classroom context.
Listening Comprehension: Teaching at the Intersection of Listening and Reading
Susan Sagatov
Slavic and Eurasian Language Resource Center
Duke University
www.interleaflearning.com
secalla@hotmail.com
Bogdan Sagatov, PhD
Slavic and Eurasian Language Resource Center
Duke University
www.interleaflearning.com
bbsagatov@gmail.com
Learners' reading comprehension is usually stronger than their listening comprehension. When dealing with a written text, “language” is visible and front and center. The text is static. Learners are in control and can read at their own speed, stop, think, reread, and look back and forth in text. Listening is the one language skill where the learner is not in control of the text; instead, the learner is at the mercy of the speaker(s). The aural text is dynamic and linear. It unfolds by words and phrases. It is ephemeral – once you hear it, it’s gone. The learner needs to focus and pay attention. Memory is a critical part of comprehension. Most listening comprehension approaches focus on the learners’ outcomes, not the skill or process of listening. Our methodology for developing strong listening comprehension skills focuses on the process by engaging learners at the intersection of listening and reading. The goal Is to use the aural text to gradually bring the underlying written text to the surface step by step, and at the same time, use the unfolding graphic text to give meaning to the aural text. Toward this end, we recommend learners be provided with user-friendly multimedia playback technology that “captures” the aural text, and that learners can use to stop and start the media, slow it down, and easily play and replay portions. A word-document display is likewise recommended – both for instructors to develop interactive activities and for students to record their activity responses. We employ short 1-to-3-minute aural texts or videos and create graphic activities that require learners to visit, revisit, examine and explore a text as many times and from as many perspectives as possible. Suggested activities may include: 5W Question Exercises: who, what, where, when, why and how; True/False; Multiple-choice exercises; short answer Content Questions; Cloze or Gap-fill Exercises: selected verbatim passages with blanked texts. Working at the intersection of listening and reading, learners’ written responses gradually bring the important ideas of the underlying transcript to the surface like the pieces of a puzzle coming together.
ESOL and the Refugee Community
Jade Fouracre-Reynolds
English for University Studies Tutor
Swansea University
s.fouracre-reynolds@swansea.ac.uk
This talk gave a brief summary of how it has been possible to work with community groups and third sector organizations to provide accessible pathways for learners within the refugee community in Swansea and the wider area from beginner level ESOL through EAP to PG study. Our community projects began when we identified a need within the local community for beginner level language provision as we recruited volunteer learners for our CELTA courses. Over the past 8 years we’ve gone from running a single weekly beginner level class for a group of Syrian refugees, to offering free classes year-round, every day of the week for beginner-intermediate level learners in addition to formally assessed ESOL classes and sponsored places on our pre-sessional courses. We work with local charities, colleges and adult learning providers to ensure access for as many learners as possible and have developed a community teaching award program for trainee and recently qualified / returning teachers who volunteer with us. All of this has strengthened both our day-to-day teaching and our teacher training program which is great for the university. However, the main success here are the pathways to HE made possible by these classes and the partnerships we’ve developed along the way. The hope is that this work will continue across HE providers in the future.
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