Language Arts, Vol. 84, No. 2, November 2006

Table of Contents

Issue Theme: Multilingual and Multicultural: Changing the Ways We Teach

• Call for Manuscripts

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Thoughts from the Editors: Learning to Listen to Diverse Languages and Lives

  Patricia Enciso, Laurie Katz, Barbara Z. Kiefer, Detra Price-Dennis, Melissa Wilson

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Language with an Attitude: White Girls Performing Class

  Stephanie Jones

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  Abstract: Based on data collected during a three-year ethnographic study, this article explores the inextricably-linked notions of language and identity for White girls living in a high-poverty neighborhood in the US. Class-specific primary discourses are analyzed through an informal discussion, a literature-based discussion, and a conflict within a tutoring session. Drawing on sociocultural theory, I argue that the White, working-poor girls have constructed language practices and identities that reflect intimate relations at home and the material and discriminatory conditions they face in society. Such language practices, however, don’t serve them well in academic contexts therefore the girls are faced with learning multiple languages – and what I call hybrid languages and identities – to succeed in academic contexts.

  Keywords: Elementary

• An Intersection of Theory and Practice: Accepting the Language a Child Brings into the Classroom

  Lynn Isenbarger and Arlette Ingram Willis

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  Abstract: This article draws from the experiences of a European American classroom teacher, her African American teacher educator, the classroom teacher’s interactions with an African American family, and her conversations with her African American aide. It answers the call to speak to the everyday experiences of teachers who seek to acknowledge and address the linguistic and cultural understandings that students bring with them to our classrooms and explores the tension a teacher experiences as she navigates between theories she is reading and discussing in her university coursework and the expectations and understandings of the parents and aide of an African American male who is a student in her classroom. In addition, the teacher educator makes recommendations for applying theory and research in multilingual and multicultural classrooms.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Finding Memorable Moments: Images and Identities in Autobiographical Writing

  Cecilia M. Espinosa

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  Abstract: This article focuses on a collaborative project between two fifth-grade dual language teachers (English-Spanish) and a university researcher as they engaged children in a study of memoir. The bilingual children in these classes cultivated their genre knowledge by participating in the ways of writers of memoir through the careful adaptations the teachers and the university researcher made in order to provide the best possible experiences for the bilingual children in these classes. By attending to what the children were doing, they helped the bilingual children find not only where their stories hide, but to tell them in crafted ways.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Language Study in Teacher Education: Exploring the Language in Language Arts

  Debra Goodman

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  Abstract: This article describes the author’s efforts to engage teachers in language study in a graduate course involving graduate students in Literacy Studies and TESOL programs. In the course “Language, Culture, and Identity: Issues for Teachers and Children,” teachers study language like linguists: looking closely at language in use through in-class experiences and field projects, while informing their interpretations with readings and discussions. The author provides specific examples of whole class, small group, and individual inquiry into language variation and linguistic diversity, language learning, discourse, and language study in the classroom. Teachers describe how language studies challenge and expand their assumptions and beliefs and provide a linguistic knowledge base that informs classroom teaching. Through collaborative language studies involving systematic linguistic inquiry, teachers share expertise – becoming a community of teacher/linguist researchers.

  Keywords: Elementary

• "Do I have to say it?" Critical Encounters with Multicultural Children's Literature

  Christina P. DeNicolo and Maria E. Franquiz

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  Abstract: The article details the transformation of one literature discussion group reading the story, Felita, by Nicholosa Mohr. The research study documented the process of implementing literature discussion groups with multicultural children's literature in a fourth grade English language arts classroom. Through a discussion of a critical incident in the story, the authors illustrate how multicultural literature can provide readers with opportunities to examine personal beliefs and societal realities. The article brings to light the powerful conversations that arise when students read multicultural children's literature that resonates with them.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Focus on Policy: Stances on Multilingual and Multicultural Education

  Mollie V. Blackburn, Gerald Campano, Marcia Farr, Jason Irizarry, Sonia Nieto, Marjorie Orellana, Elaine Richardson, Denise Troutman, A Valenzuela

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  Abstract: Nine leaders and educators draw on their expertise and experiences to offer a brief, informed perspective that teachers and researchers should consider as they face challenges to multicultural and multilingual education.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Review of Research: Rethinking Pedagogy to Re-center Race: Some Reflections

  Caitlin L. Ryan and Adrienne D. Dixson

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  Abstract: Critical Research Theory (CRT) becomes a lens through which authors Caitlin Ryan and Adrienne Dixson illustrate how new understandings about teaching and learning are made possible when new research models and paradigms are brought to bear on our work as teachers and teacher educators.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Profiles and Perspectives: Shelley Harwayne: 2006 NCTE Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts

  Joanne Hindley

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  Abstract: Shelley Harwayne is NCTE’s 2006 Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts. Here, she speaks with good friend Joanne Hindley about what interests, motivates, and inspires her work as a teacher and author.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Professional Book Reviews: Learning from Multilingual and Multicultural Students to Plan Literacy Curriculum

  Mariana Pacheco, Paula Carbone, and Ramon Martinez

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Children's Literature Reviews: The 2006 Orbis Pictus Award Winner and Other Outstanding Nonfiction Books

  Sandip Wilson, Carol Avery, Kim Ford, Marjorie Hancock, Belinda Y. Louie, Sylvia Read, and Elaine Stephens

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  Abstract: The 2006 Orbis Pictus Award winner, Honor Books, and Recommended Books are named, pictured, and reviewed.

  Keywords: Elementary

• In Closing . . .Teaching for Global Conversations

  H. Gerald Campano

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  Abstract: Gerald Campano celebrates the “improve[d] conditions for intellectual and ethical inquiry” represented by the bourgeoning diversity of our student populations. A mural by Eliseo Art Silva, “Coming to American and Making It Better,” adds visual punch to his point.

  Keywords: Elementary

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