Mentoring Multilingual Refugee-Background Learners in Virtual Spaces: Sustaining Opportunities for Mutualistic Learning During COVID-19

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Shaped by monolingual English-dominant ideologies, U.S. schools often constrict versus encourage multilingual learners’ use of their plurilingual resources, and mainstream classroom teachers often struggle to provide meaningful language-focused instruction for multilingual youth who are simultaneously learning content and English. On the margins of the public P-12 school system, community-based organizations offer out-of-school educational opportunities in which students’ diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are valued (Baldridge, 2018) and identity negotiations are recognized as vital to learning and language development (Symons & Ponzio, 2019). This symposium presents a collection of three papers, each of which offers an emic perspective on how community-engaged research afforded mutualistic learning opportunities via virtual mentoring, between multilingual doctoral student mentors and refugee-background mentees, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Second Language Research

Chair

• Carrie Symons, Michigan State University

Papers

• Becoming a Mentor for Refugee Youth: A Self-Discovery Journey (Redefinition of Traditional Views of Mentorship) - Marisol Masso, Michigan State University; Ayah Issa, Michigan State University

• Shifting Language Practices: Multilingual Students and the Power of Place - Ayah Issa, Michigan State University

• Language Socialization and Identity on the Move: Refugee Youth's Experiences in the U.S. School Space - Laxmi Prasad Ojha, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Sandro Barros, Michigan State University