Background
Rationale
One’s language is a vital component of their identity. Language and culture are also closely interconnected.
While colleges affirm linguistic and cultural diversity, spaces for languages and dialects other than English often remain limited. This leaves a valuable part of multilingual individuals’ identities hidden and underappreciated by the broader campus community.
Providing opportunities for multilingual students to teach their languages offers several benefits:
- Empowering Multilingual Students
Multilingual students can affirm the value of their languages and cultures through this program. Participants are compensated for their involvement in a mandatory preparatory training session, lesson plan reviews, a peer teaching practice session, teaching a one-hour lesson, and writing reflections. Through collaborative professional development, students reflect on the significance of their linguistic and cultural heritage, gain confidence in teaching and leadership skills. By positioning often-hidden skill sets as valuable assets, this program validates and celebrates their identities.
- Enriching the Campus Community
The campus community benefits from learning the diverse languages and cultures of multilingual students. The one-time language classes focus on the most meaningful aspects of each language and culture, offering a unique enrichment opportunity free of charge. Participants experience language learning in an accessible, culture-centered way, fostering an appreciation for the linguistic and cultural diversity of the campus in a tangible and engaging manner.
Research
This study was inspred by Lori Langer de Ramirez's presentation Teaching our Tongues: Celebrating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Schools at the 66th Annual Northeast Conference in 2020 (NECTFL). This long-running program at a middle school in a New York City, documented in a book chapter (Ramirez, 2012) and resources on the school website, served as a model for designing SPELL.
Ramirez, L. L. (2012). Teaching our tongues: Student-run language classes as a celebration of linguistic and cultural diversity in schools. In A. Honigsfeld & A. Cohan (Eds.), Breaking the mold of education for culturally and linguistically diverse students: Innovative and successful practices for the 21st century (pp. 199-206). Rowman & Littlefield.
Language Teaching and Learning Theories
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
The ACTFL's World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages defines goals of language learning across five interconnected areas.
SPELL leaders design lessons that incorporate multiple areas by using culturally rich texts or practices from their communities as focal points. They may also make interdisciplinary connections and/or offer opportunities to compare languages and cultures.
Communication
Cultures
Connections
Comparisons
Communities
Literacies in Language Education
Literacies-based language teaching sees languages as living social practices. By engaging with multimodal authentic texts, students study language experientially, conceptually, critically, and transformatively.
SPELL leaders design lessons that focus on culturally rich texts or practices from their communities, offering participants the opportunity to experience the worldview and learn the language simultaneously.