1st Edition
Multilingual Learners and Academic Literacies Sociocultural Contexts of Literacy Development in Adolescents
Shifting the discourse from a focus on academic language to the more dynamic but less researched construct of academic literacies, this volume addresses three key questions:
• What constitutes academic literacy?
• What does academic literacy development in adolescent multilingual students look like and how can this development be assessed?
• What classroom contexts foster the development of academic literacies in multilingual adolescents?
The contributing authors provide divergent definitions of academic literacies and use dissimilar theoretical and methodological approaches to study literacy development. Nevertheless, all chapters reflect a shared conceptual framework for examining academic literacies as situated, overlapping, meaning-making practices. This framework foregrounds students’ participation in valued disciplinary literacy practices. Emphasized in the new college and career readiness standards, the notion of disciplinary practices allows the contributing authors to bridge the language/content dichotomy, and take a more holistic as well as nuanced view of the demands that multilingual students face in general education classrooms. The volume also explores the implications of the emphasis on academic literacy practices for classroom instruction, research, and policy.
Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction
Daniella Molle
Part I. Academic literacies: A rationale and exploration of the construct
Chapter 2. Academic language and academic literacies: Mapping a relationship
Daniella Molle
Chapter 3. In more than one tongue: Academic literacies at work as living texts
Marylin Low
Chapter 4. Adolescent development and everyday language practices: Implications for the academic literacy of multilingual learners
Alison Bailey, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana
Chapter 5. A sociocultural approach to academic literacy in mathematics for adolescent English learners: Integrating mathematical proficiency, practices, and discourse
Judit Moschkovich
Chapter 6. Translingual literacies in a social media age: Lessons learned from youth’s transnational communication online
José Ramón Lizárraga, Glynda Hull, John Scott
Part II. Academic literacy development: Contexts and practices
Chapter 7. Bilingualism-as-participation: Examining adolescents’ bi(multi)lingual literacies across out-of-school and online contexts
Mariana Pacheco
Chapter 8. Academic literacy development: A ten-year case study of an aspiring writer
Cathy Compton-Lilly
Chapter 9. Inquire to acquire: A discourse analysis of bilingual students’ development of science literacy
Laura Wright
Chapter 10. Schooling begins before adolescence: The case of Manuel and limited opportunities to learn
Kathy Escamilla
Part III. Implications of an academic literacies approach to learning
Chapter 11. The use of assessment in support of the development of adolescents’ academic literacies
Margaret Heritage
Chapter 12. Building teacher knowledge of academic literacy and language acquisition: A framework for teachers’ cross-disciplinary professional learning
Mary Avalos, Margarita Zisselsberger, Jennifer Langer-Osuna, Walter Secada
Chapter 13. Establishing a foundation for academic literacy: The role of standards
Edynn Sato
Chapter 14. Literacy development in academic contexts for adolescent English language learners: Policy considerations and future research
Timothy Boals, Kenji Hakuta, Alissa Blair
List of Contributors
Biography
Daniella Molle is a Professional Development Researcher at WIDA, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Edynn Sato is a Principal Research Scientist in the Research and Innovation Network’s Next Generation Learning and Assessment Center at Pearson, USA.
Timothy Boals is a Senior Research Scientist at WIDA, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Carol A. Hedgspeth is a Research Associate at WestEd, USA.
