LLS Recent Scholarship
Bilingualism
Martínez, R. A. (2010). Spanglish as literacy tool: Toward an understanding of the potential role of Spanish-English code-switching in the development of academic literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 124-149.
Palmer, D. & Martínez, R. A. (In Press, 2013). Teacher agency in bilingual spaces: A fresh look at preparing teachers to educate Latina/o bilingual children. Review of Research in Education, 37.
Worthy, Jo
My most
recent project, described below in the abstract to a manuscript under review,
combines my research interests in read-aloud and discussion, classroom
environments, and bilingual education.
A substantial body of research has collectively concluded that encouraging students to draw flexibly on multiple aspects of their linguistic repertoires is positively associated with developing bilingualism, metalinguistic awareness, and academic skills (García & Sylvan, 2011; Gort, 2012; Gutiérrez, Bien, Sellan, and Pierce, 2011; Martínez, 2010; Orellana & Reynolds, 2008; Svalberg, 2007). However, bilingual education programs, including transitional and dual-language, typically limit, discourage, and/or stigmatize such practices (García, 2009; Martínez-Roldan & Malavé, 2004). This study examines a bilingual education classroom within a transitional program, in which the teacher modeled and facilitated students’ hybrid language practices. The findings illuminate the ways in which the teacher and students flexibly used their linguistic and cultural resources and experiences during discussions of a culturally and linguistically relevant text, Esperanza Rising (Ryan, 2000). Implications are offered for multilingual as well as monolingual classrooms, all of which include students with varied language practices.
Biliteracy
"Exploring
and Expanding Bilingual Students' Linguistic Repertoires in an Innovative Dual
Language Program" (2010-2012)
Principal
Investigator: Ramón Antonio Martínez
This long-term study of language and ideology among bilingual and multilingual children in a Spanish-English dual language school is now in its third year. The study has followed a group of 20 students as they have advanced from Kindergarten to third grade, exploring their everyday language practices (i.e., languages, dialects, and related linguistic skills) and their attendant language ideologies (i.e., attitudes, beliefs, and feelings). A secondary focus has been on the ways that teachers at this school recognize, think about, and draw on students' everyday language practices as resources for teaching and learning. The objectives of this study are: (1) to contribute to a growing body of research on bilingual/multilingual students' everyday language practices; (2) to extend current research in this area by focusing on students' language ideologies with respect to these practices; (3) to advance theoretical understandings of how to leverage students' everyday language practices as resources for teaching and learning; and (4) to generate practical guidelines and activities for building on students' everyday language practices and connecting them to academic literacy tasks. One current line of analysis focuses on a subset of five trilingual students, exploring their experiences and perspectives in this dual language program. Continued analysis promises to enhance our understanding of the rich and varied linguistic repertoires that bilingual and multilingual students bring to the classroom and the complex ideologies that mediate identity construction and classroom interaction.
Classroom Conversation
Worthy, J., Chamberlain, K., Peterson, K., Sharp, C., & Shih, P. (2012). The importance of read-aloud and dialogue in an era of narrowed curriculum: An examination of literature discussions in a second grade classroom. Literacy Research and Instruction, 51, 308-322.
Worthy, J., Consalvo, A., Russell, K., & Bogard, T. (2011). Spaces for academic and interpersonal growth in a primary literacy workshop classroom. 60th Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association (pp. 309-321).
Maloch, B. (2005). Moments by which change is made: A cross-case exploration of teacher mediation and student participation in literacy events. Journal of Literacy Research, 37 (1), 95-142.
Language Ideologies
Martínez, R. A. “Reading the World in Spanglish: Hybrid Language Practices and Ideological Contestation in a Sixth-Grade English Language Arts Classroom.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Literacy Research Association, San Diego, CA, November 2012.
Language Study
Skerrett, A. (2012). Languages and literacies in translocation: Experiences and perspectives of a transnational youth. Journal of Literacy Research, 44(4), 364-395. The official journal of the Literacy Research Association.
Literacy
Mosley Wetzel, M., Martinez, R., Zoch, M., Chamberlain, K, & Laudenheimer, K. Becoming responsive literacy teachers in an adult literacy tutoring practicum. (in press). The Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association (formerly the National Reading Conference).
Mosley, M. & Zoch, M. (2012). Tools that come from within: Learning to teach in a cross-cultural adult literacy practicum. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(1), 66-77.
Souto-Manning, M. & Price-Dennis, D. (In Press) Everyday texts and critical literacies in early childhood teacher education. Journal of Early Childhood Education.
Worthy, J., Consalvo, A., Bogard, T., Russell, K., & Shipman, S. (2012). Fostering academic and personal growth in a primary literacy workshop classroom: Restorying students with negative reputations. Elementary School Journal, 112, 568-589.
Worthy, J. (2010). Only the names have been changed: Ability grouping revisited. The Urban Review, 42, 271-295.
Literature
Labadie, M., Mosley Wetzel, M. & Rogers, R. (2013). Opening spaces for critical literacy: teachers introducing books to young readers. The Reading Teacher, 66(2).
Maloch, B. (2008). Beyond exposure: The uses of informational text in a second grade classroom. Research in the Teaching of English, 42, 315-362.
Maloch, B. & Zapata, A. (2011). “Dude, It’s the Milky Way!”: An Exploration of Students’ Approaches to Informational Text. In P. Dunston, L. B. Gambrell, S.K. Fullerton, V.R. Gillis, K. Headley, & P.M. Stecker (eds), 60th Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association, Oak Creek: WI.
Skerrett, A. (2010). Of literary import: A case of cross-national similarities in the secondary English curriculum in the United States and Canada. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(1), 36-58. An official journal of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Policy
Bomer, R. & Maloch, B. (in press) Lunch, teeth, body, and mind: Children’s learning and well being. Language Arts, 90 (4).
Bomer, R. (2011). “What makes a teaching moment: Circles of influence in professional activity.” English Journal, 101 (1), 56-62. Official journal of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Bomer, R. & Russell, K. (2010) “Getting to the core: An examination of the US and Texas College and Career Readiness Standards.” English in Texas, 40 (1), 69-73. (Official journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. Acceptance rate: 30%)
Bomer, R. & Maloch, B. (2012). Diverse local literacies and standardizing policies. Language Arts, 90 (1), 44-52.
Bomer, R. & Maloch, B. (2011). Relating policy to research and practice: The Common Core Standards. Language Arts, 89 (1), 438-443. http://www.ncte.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/journals/la/issues/v89-1
Maloch, B. & Bomer, R. (in press). Informational texts and the Common Core Standards: What are we talking about, anyway? Language Arts, 90 (3), 203-211.
Maloch, B., Bomer, R., & Burke, A. (2012). Reading the past: Policy and professionalism in this journal’s earliest issues. Language Arts, 89 (5), 329-334.
Skerrett, A. (2009). Melting pot influences on secondary English curriculum policy. International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership, 4 (11), 1-12.
Reading
Maloch, B. & Bomer, R. (in press). Informational texts and the Common Core Standards: What are we talking about, anyway? Language Arts, 90 (3), 203-211.
Maloch, B. & Bomer, R. Developing discussion. (2012). Language Arts, 90 (2), 127-133.
Maloch, B., Roser, N., Martinez, M. Harmon, J. Burke, A., Duncan, D., Russell, K., & Zapata, A. (2008). An Investigation of Learning to Read and Write Fantasy. In Y. Kim, V.J. Risko, D.L. Compton, D.K. Dickinson, M.K. Hundley, R.T. Jiménez, K.M. Leander, and D.W. Rowe (eds). 57th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference, Oak Creek: WI.
Skerrett, A. (2012). "We hatched in this class": Repositioning of identity in and beyond a reading classroom. The High School Journal, 95(3), 62-75.
Skerrett, A., & Bomer, R. (2011.) Borderzones in adolescents’ literacy practices: Connecting out-of-school literacies to the reading curriculum. Urban Education, 46(6), 1256-1279. DOI: 10.1177/0042085911398920.
Sociocultural Influences
Ball, A. F., Skerrett, A., & Martínez, R. (2011). Research on diverse students in culturally and linguistically complex language arts classrooms. In D. Lapp & D. Fisher (Eds.). Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts, 3rd Ed, (pp. 22-28). 7 pp. New York: Routledge.
Skerrett, A. (2011). English teachers’ racial literacy knowledge and practice. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 14(3), 313-330.
Skerrett, A. (2011). A case of generativity in a culturally and linguistically complex English language arts classroom. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 18(1), 85-97.
Teacher Education
Hoffman, J., Roller, C., Maloch, B., Sailors, M., Duffy, G., & Beretvas, N., & the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading (2005). Teachers’ preparation to teach reading and their experiences and practices in the first three years of teaching. Elementary School Journal, 105 (3), 267-288.
Price-Dennis, D. & Souto-Manning, M. (2011). (Re)Framing diverse pre-service classrooms as spaces for culturally relevant teaching. Journal of Negro Education, 223-238, 80(3).
Skerrett, A. (2011). “Wide open to rap, tagging, and real life”: Preparing teachers for multiliteracies pedagogy. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 6(3), 185-199.
Ongoing Research Project
Coaching
and Mentoring of Preservice Teachers: A Development/Design Experiment
2012-2013
Partially funded by a grant from The Association of Literacy Educators
Principal
Investigators: Hoffman, J. V., Maloch,
B., & Mosley Wetzel, M.
We explore the collaborative work between preservice teachers and their mentor teachers in their student teaching classrooms by attending to discursive changes in their conversations over time. The context of this research is a new master’s degree program in Teacher Leadership and Mentoring. For the first time, we have paired our master’s students, who are practicing teachers, with our preservice teacher education students who are learning to teach. Our research purpose is to examine the effects of preparing cooperating teachers to mentor preservice teachers in the teaching of literacy through the application of a coaching model. This study is also development-oriented, is grounded in activity theory, and analytically will focus on the shifts in discourse that occur within the mentoring conversations and an effects focus on the shifts in classroom practices. Our project will extend through three years of data collection.
Writing
Bomer, R., Zoch, M. P., & David, A. (2010). “Redesigning Memoir: A Design-Based Investigation of Materiality and New Literacy Practices in an Elementary Classroom's Writing Workshop.” In R. T. Jimenez, V. J. Risko, M. K. Hundley & D. W. Rowe (Eds.), 59th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 216-229). Nashville, TN: National Reading Conference.
Bomer, R., Zoch, M., David, A., & Ok, H. (2010). “New literacies in a material world.” Language Arts, 88 (1), 9-20.
Skerrett, A. (In Press, July 2013). Building multiliterate and multilingual writing practices and identities. English Education.
Skerrett, A., & Bomer, R. (In Press, February, 2013). Recruiting languages and lifeworlds for border-crossing compositions. Research in the Teaching of English.
Skerrett, A., Fowler-Amato, M., Chamberlain, K., & Sharp, C. (2012). Writing across lifeworlds. In P. J. Dunston & S. K. Fullerton (Eds.), 61st Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association. Oak Creek, WI: Literacy Research Association, Inc.