"Because We Bilingual": Examining Early Career Teachers' Humanizing Perspectives on Academic Language

• In Event: Language, Literacy, and Disciplinary Practices

Abstract

While many scholars have criticized framings of “academic language” as marginalizing the sophisticated language practices of minoritized students, there are “specialist varieties of language” (Gee, 2004, p. 16)in the arena of school, and awareness of these features remains a foundational aspect of participation in school. Therefore, an important question centers around how teachers might use humanizing language practices in their classrooms, even while working within the frames that teaching “academic language” can create. This paper highlights the humanizing approaches to language and literacy instruction of two early career teachers of multilingual students, exploring how they validated their students’ linguistic resources while also continuing to build a deeper understanding—for themselves and their students—of what language is.

Authors

• Megan Madigan Peercy, University of Maryland

• Melanie F. Hardy, University of Maryland

• Jessica B Crawford, University of Maryland