1st Edition

Critical Perspectives of the Language Gap

Edited By Eric J. Johnson Copyright 2018
100 Pages
by Routledge

100 Pages
by Routledge

100 Pages
by Routledge

This volume is an orchestrated critique of the notion that individuals from lower socioeconomic status communities have inferior language skills as compared to middle- and upper-class groups. The idea of this so-called “language gap” stems in large part from Hart and Risley’s (1995) publication Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Hart and Risley... Read more

Introduction: Introducing the Language Gap  1. Exposing Gaps in/Between Discourses of Linguistic Deficits  2. Unseen WEIRD Assumptions: The So-Called Language Gap Discourse and Ideologies of Language, Childhood, and Learning   3. Meaning-Less Differences: Exposing Fallacies and Flaws in “The Word Gap” Hypothesis That Conceal a Dangerous “Language Trap” for Low-Income American Families and Their Children  4. Interrogating the Language Gap of Young Bilingual and Bidialectal Students  5. (Re)Categorizing Language-Minority Literacies in Restrictive Educational Contexts

Biography



Eric J. Johnson is currently Associate Professor of Bilingual Education at Washington State University Tri-Cities, Richland, USA. His research focus involves ethnographic approaches to language minority programs and policies in public schools. His publications span a variety of topics involving language policy and planning, immigrant communities, parent and community engagement, bilingual education, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Dr. Johnson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to teacher preparation, including the theoretical foundations of bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) education, teaching methods for bilingual/ESL education, sociolinguistics, and diversity in education.