Multilingual Learners and Academic Literacies: Sociocultural Contexts of Literacy Development in Adolescents

333 Pages·2015·2.84 MB·English

by  Daniella Molle

MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS AND
ACADEMIC LITERACIES
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 multilin-
gual 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-marking practices. This framework fore-
grounds 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 implications of the emphasis on academic
literacy practices for classroom instruction, research, and policy.
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.
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MULTILINGUAL
LEARNERS AND
ACADEMIC LITERACIES
Sociocultural Contexts of Literacy
Development in Adolescents
Edited by Daniella Molle
Edynn Sato
Timothy Boals
Carol A. Hedgspeth
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and
of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Multilingual learners and academic literacies : sociocultural contexts of literacy development in
adolescents / Daniella Molle, Edynn Sato, Timothy Boals, Carol Hedgspeth [editors].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. English language—Study and teaching—Foreign speakers—United States. 2. English language—
Rhetoric—Study and teaching—United States. 3. Multicultural education—United States.
4. Education, Bilingual—United States. I. Molle, Daniella.
PE1128.A2M856 2015
428.0071’2—dc23
2014032566
ISBN: 978-1-138-84647-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-84648-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72747-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales and Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
CONTENTS
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
Daniella Molle
PART I
Academic Literacies: A Rationale and
Exploration of the Construct 11
2 Academic Language and Academic Literacies:
Mapping a Relationship 13
Daniella Molle
3 In More Than One Tongue: Academic Literacies at
Work as Living Texts 33
Marylin Low
4 Adolescent Development and Everyday Language
Practices: Implications for the Academic Literacy of
Multilingual Learners 53
Alison Bailey and Marjorie Faulstich Orellana
vi Contents
5 A Sociocultural Approach to Academic Literacy in
Mathematics for Adolescent English Learners: Integrating
Mathematical Proficiency, Practices, and Discourse 75
Judit Moschkovich
6 Translingual Literacies in a Social Media Age:
Lessons Learned from Youth’s Transnational
Communication Online 105
José Ramón Lizárraga, Glynda A. Hull, and John M. Scott
PART II
Academic Literacy Development:
Contexts and Practices 133
7 Bilingualism-as-Participation: Examining Adolescents’
Bi(Multi)Lingual Literacies Across Out-of-School and
Online Contexts 135
Mariana Pacheco
8 Academic Literacy Development: A Ten-Year Case
Study of an Aspiring Writer 166
Cathy Compton-Lilly
9 Inquire to Acquire: A Discourse Analysis of
Bilingual Students’ Development of Science Literacy 183
Laura Wright
10 Schooling Begins Before Adolescence: The Case of
Manuel and Limited Opportunities to Learn 210
Kathy Escamilla
PART III
Implications of an Academic Literacies
Approach to Learning 229
11 The Use of Assessment in Support of the Development
of Adolescents’ Academic Literacies 231
Margaret Heritage
Contents vii
12 Building Teacher Knowledge of Academic Literacy and
Language Acquisition: A Framework for Teachers’
Cross-Disciplinary Professional Learning 255
Mary A. Avalos, Margarita Zisselsberger,
Jennifer Langer-Osuna, and Walter Secada
13 Establishing a Foundation for Academic Literacy:
The Role of Standards 277
Edynn Sato
14 Literacy Development in Academic Contexts for
Adolescent English Language Learners: Policy
Considerations and Future Research 291
Timothy Boals, Kenji Hakuta, and Alissa Blair
List of Contributors 309
Index 310
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PREFACE
This volume focuses exclusively on the educational experiences of multilingual
adolescents. Its purpose is to offer researchers and teacher educators a concep-
tual framework for academic literacies, and to explore what an academic literacy
approach to the teaching and learning of multilingual students may mean for
instruction, policy, and research. The book foregrounds the situated and dialogic
nature of academic literacies, and moves beyond a focus on the linguistic features
of academic language as the benchmark of language learning. The volume brings
together researchers with a range of theoretical, methodological, and epistemo-
logical perspectives. Through this work, we intend to acknowledge both the
complexity of academic literacy development and the necessity of scholarly dia-
logue in efforts to explore it. We endeavor to bring greater clarity and specificity
to the notion of academic literacies, particularly as it applies to multilingual ado-
lescents, and to do so in a way that can guide future research in the field.
Organization of the Volume
In order to provide a thorough exploration of the notion of academic literacies
as it relates to the teaching and learning of adolescent multilingual students, the
volume is organized in three sections following the Introduction:
• Academic Literacies: A Rationale and Exploration of the Construct
• Academic Literacy Development: Contexts and Practices
• Implications of an Academic Literacies Approach to Learning
Part I provides theoretically grounded discussions of the construct of academic
literacies as it applies to adolescent multilingual students. The chapters explore