Getting to Know STARTALK Languages and Cultures

1. Shuhan Wang: Conceptual Framework with Chinese examples

2. Alwiya Omar: Swahili3. Iran Amin: Persian4. Vijay Gambhir: Hindi & Urdu5. Iamn Hashen: Arabic6. Rubab Qureshi: Urdu7. Discussions

2

An Ecological System Approach An Ecological System Approach to Expandingto Expanding

STARTLK Language Fields in STARTLK Language Fields in the USthe US

Shuhan C. Wang, Ph.D.Shuhan C. Wang, Ph.D.STARTALK TL/SV MeetingSTARTALK TL/SV Meeting

May 8, 2009May 8, 2009Washington, D. C. Washington, D. C.

Language Ecological Perspective

Language environment: Historical and contemporary Macro and micro

Language evolution: The variety of the language being selected The corpus of the language The development of the language in the host

environment

Effects of efforts: endangerment or spread

Why is an Historical Perspective on Environment

Central? Language education does not occur in a

socio-cultural vacuum

A newly introduced variety (of language) needs to grow in a nurturing environment

A historical perspective enables us to understand deeply the present phenomenon in a larger context

Language is not simply a linguistic issue; it is often an identity and emotional issue

Individual Biliteracy Resource Eco-System

Language Environment:Heritage and Dominant Discourses-in-Contact

Biliteracy in Use

Human CapitalCultural CapitalSocial Capital

Her

itag

e D

isco

urs

es

Dom

inan

t D

isco

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es

Language Evolution:Biliteracy in Development

Formal educational system

Heritage communities

Private providers

Home government

Government

The Architecture of the Language Field The Architecture of the Language Field (Brecht & Walton, 1994)(Brecht & Walton, 1994)

Government

Home Government

Private Providers

OnlineMultimedia

NGOs

Formal education system

LearnersHeritage Communities

A System View of the Language A System View of the Language FieldField

(Wang 2009)(Wang 2009)

Some Factors in the Macro Environment

Economic and political relations between the home and host countries

Public attitude towards that language and people who use it

Legislative efforts Economic context of the host environment National security concerns Funding support Translation into educational programs

Some Factors in the Micro Environment:

for an immigrant group Who are they? How educated are they? What do they look like, including skin color? What language do they speak? What are their religions and cultural practices? In what condition did they come? For what purpose? In what number did they come? When did they come? How long have they been here? Where do they live? Are they socially integrated or

isolated? To whom do they pledge allegiance?

Language Evolution: Which “Variety” to

Grow/Teach? Socio-political environmental factors Linguistic implications Identity and relational issues Teachers’ competence and comfort level;

identities Parental and community’s goals Heritage community’s identities Students’ goals, motivations, interests, and

identities Materials

Language Evolution: The Corpus of Chinese Language

Divergence of Mandarin since 1949:--Phonology: Standard vs. Taiwan varieties

--Semantics: e.g., contemporary words reflecting scientific &

technological innovations; cultural references; political experiences and movements

--Syntax: common expressions

--Writing system: simplified vs traditional Chinese characters;

e.g., 国 vs. 國 ; 华 vs. 華--Phonetic system: Hanyu pinyin vs phonetic symbols

--Style and Cultural Index

Other Dialects

Implications for Teaching and Learning a

LanguageLexicon, syntax, content, perspectives,

genres, voices, styles, and cultural references and usages

Curriculum design

Material and textbook development and selection

Assessment

Language Evolution: the Status of a Language

in the US Educational Policy Home language under bilingual

education and NCLB: from the US perspective

Heritage language: from the Chinese group’s perspective

Foreign language/World language

Market Economic Status of Chinese:

If Chinese Were Stores Home Language: No market value (in

schools)

Heritage Language: Neighborhood mom and pop shops

Foreign Language:--Prior to 2000: Neiman Marcus—only for the

elites--After 2004/05: Costco—an upscale wholesaler

(Adapted from H. Tonkin, personal communication, 2000)

Educational System: K-16 Articulation

Institutions of Higher EducationCommunity Colleges-

UndergraduateGraduate

Public K-12 schools, charter & vocational

schools

Private/parochial/religious schools

Non-school timeSTARTALK

HeritageCommunities

Sociological Codes of Languages in the US:

Educational Policies and Practices in the K-12 Context

English Speakers

NCLB

English OnlyForeign/WorldLanguage Education

English Plus

English Literacy Policy

Home LanguageHeritage Language

(Wang, 2007; Evans & Hornburger, 2005)

Language Evolution for Individuals:

Biliteracy in Development Heritage Discourses and Dominant

Discourses co-exist in the language environment

The heritage/new language develops in the language/Discourse-in-contact environment

Individuals must negotiate or internalize both discourses in order to turn them into personal biliteracy capital reservoir

Build Biliteracy Capital Reservoir via

Continua of Biliteracy (Wang, 2004; also see Hornberger, 1989; Hornberger &

Skilton-Sylvester, 2000) Continua of Context (micro to macro, oral

to literate, & monolingual to bilingual) Continua of Media (linguistic structures,

orthographic systems, & individual’s exposures to the languages)

Continua of Content (minority to majority perspectives and genres, vernacular to

literary use, & contextualized to decontextualized texts)

Continua of Development (receptive to productive skills, oral to writing, & L1 to L2)

Sociolinguistic Deconstruction of a Native Speaker

Expertise in the language; e.g. in the heritage or dominant language

Allegiance --Inheritance toward the heritage language group --Affiliation to the dominant language group

(Rampton, 1995; Wang, 2004)

Forming & Performing Identities:

Heritage and Dominant Discourses-in-Contact

Heritage

Discourses

Inheritance

Identity Dominant

Kit Discourses

HYBRID Variety Affiliation

Expertise

Biliteracy in Use: Effects and Benefits of Learning a

Language Rethink Language Capacity as Capital

Building At least three types of capital can be

deconstructed in language education: Human/Linguistic Capital

Cultural Capital (including family educational and cultural heritage)

Social Capital (how we use language & culture to engage others to achieve our social, economic and political goals)

Questions for a STARTALK Language

How does the environment of the language field look?

What are historical and present efforts in spreading the language in the US?

What is the status of the language as a heritage language in the community and schools?

What is the status of the language as a Foreign/World Language in the educational system?

How are the language and its speakers and culture(s) viewed in the public discourse?

Lessons Learned1. Take a system approach, connect all sectors

2. Enhance teacher development capacity

3. Take an incubator approach to build programs and infrastructures; simultaneously develop and field test curricula, materials, assessment, and research

4. Build high human capital: identify and develop teams of specialists who know the language, understand cultures, SLA, pedagogy, curriculum, material, assessment, research, and K-16 contexts and heritage communities in the US

Build an Infrascture of A Learner-Centered Language

Field Teachers: Teacher Preparation Capacity

Quantity/Numbers and Quality/Effectiveness K-12 public schools: Certification

Requirements Curriculum Instructional planning and strategies Materials Assessment & evaluation

Learner outcomes Program evaluation

Research The role of technology Program establishment and sustainability

Government

Home Government

Private Providers

OnlineMultimedia

NGOs

Formal education system

Learners

Heritage Communities

A System Approach:A System Approach:1.1. Think about supply, demand, & Think about supply, demand, &

infrastructure infrastructure 2.2. Create flywheels that convert Create flywheels that convert

energy into synergy energy into synergy (Wang, 2007)(Wang, 2007)

National Language Policy Implication:

Biliteracy for AllNative language

Second LanguageThird and More

Languages

Rethink “Cultured-ness”

Mono-cultural Bicultural Cross-cultural Inter-cultural Multi-cultural Trans-cultural

Some References Wang, S. C. (2008). The Ecology of the Chinese Language

in the United States (pp. 169-181). In Hornberger, N. H. (Ed., 2nd Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Germany: Springer.

Asia Society & the College Board. (2008). Chinese in 2008: An Expanding Field..

Hornberger, N. H. and Wang, S. C. (2008). Who are our Heritage Language Learners? Identity and Biliteracy in Heritage Language Education in the United States (pp. 3-38). In D. M. Brinton & O. Kagan (Eds.), Heritage Language Acquisition: A New Field Emerging. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Wang, S. C. (2007). Building Societal Capital: Chinese in the United States. In J. Lo Bianco (Ed.), The Emergency of Chinese, Language Policy, Special Issue, Volume 6, Number 1. Germany: Springer. 27-52.

Wang, S. C. (2004). Biliteracy Resource Eco-System of Intergenerational Transmission of Heritage Language and Culture: An Ethnographic Study of a Chinese Community in the United States. Ph. D. Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania.