Using Personal Language Maps to Communicate an Asset-Based Lens on Multilingualism

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Fostering Multilingualism and Empowered Identities Within Contexts of English Hegemony

Abstract

Particularly in multilingual communities, emergent bilingualism/multilingualism is often viewed through deficit lenses (García & Guerra, 2004). Recent scholarship urges shifts away from pervasive deficit-based approaches towards minoritized students (García, Johnson, Seltzer & Valdés, 2017; Martínez, 2010). Personal language mapping is a strategy which can be used to introduce an asset-based approach to multilingualism and language diversity. This paper presents the results of an analysis of a group of personal language maps drawn by public middle school students (N=79) from a multilingual community in California. The results revealed that students were able to describe their own linguistic backgrounds with complexity and sophistication. However, some participants demonstrated evidence of deficit-framing regarding their own language backgrounds.

Author

• Catherine Lemmi, California State University - Chico