Educating Multilingual Students In Rural Schools

Illuminating issues of diversity at the intersection of rural education and multilingual learners (ML) in the United States, this edited volume brings forth new research that captures the importance of place and rurality in the work of educators who serve multilingual learners and their families. The six chapters in this book demonstrate that education for teachers, leaders and staff, professional development programs, and government-funded projects aimed to improve rural education need to begin with three interrelated, multifaceted principles. The first principle is the need to center place and rurality as essential factors that affect education for all educators, students, and families who live, work, and attend schools in rural communities. Second, educators must humanize multilingual students, their families, and their cultures in ways that go beyond merely acknowledging their presence – they must deeply see and understand the lives and (hi)stories of the multilingual students and families that they serve in their rural schools. Finally, the third principle involves identifying multilingual resources for ML students and their families. Given the persistent inequities in access to resources and opportunities that rural ML students and families face, this last principle requires careful planning, networking, and advocating in ways that can truly effectuate change. Contributors are: Jioanna Carjuzaa, Maria R. Coady, Paula Golombek, Shuzhan Li, Kristin Kline Liu, Nidza V. Marichal, Charity Funfe Tatah Mentan, Kym O’Donnell, Stephanie Oudghiri, Darrell Peterson, Sonja Phillips, Jenelle Reeves and Yi-Chen Wu.

This book examines the educational gaps that multilingual students in rural communities experience. It argues that responsive, successful relationships between schools and multilingual families are a crucial aspect of all educators’ work and that no single strategy will work for all families. Rural multilingual family engagement involves building meaningful partnerships and relational trust, based on significant knowledge of families' cultures and language repertoires. Educators can reframe their work by learning from families and building on the strengths of multilingual families, which are too-often overlooked in school policies and educator practices. This is the first book to focus specifically on rural school settings. However, the conceptual framework of equity and linguistically responsive pedagogy are applicable across settings for educators who wish to support their multilingual students and families.

Reaching out into the rural English teaching and learning environment led to compiling these chapters that exemplify the possibilities and achievements of teachers worldwide. Often with overly large classes, isolation, and few resources, English instruction leads to extrinsic success for their students with future educational, professional, and economic outcomes. In other instances, the fruits of teachers’ labor become intrinsic motivators for learners who value learning and critical thinking. English in the international curriculum has perceived value for developing human and social capital, as indicated in these authors’ personal and professional journeys. This volume was originally begun by Paul Chamness Iida, who sadly passed away in June 2021. The editors have done their best to complete this project as he envisioned and share this work in his honor. Contributors are: Mary Frances Agnello, Md. Al Amin, Naoko Araki, Monica A. Baker, Xingtan Cao, Mary Coady, Florent Domenach, Lee E. Friederich, Arely Romero García, Maribel Villegas Greene, Janinka Greenwood, Dongni Guo, Paul Chamness Iida (deceased), Irham Irham, Munchuree Kaosayapandhu, Wuri P. Kusumastuti, Di Liang, Carla Meskill, Erin Mikulec, Piotr Romanowski, Leticia Araceli Salas Serrano, Fang Wang, Emilia Wąsikiewicz-Firlej, Jing Yixuan, Jing Zhiyuan and Dai Chang Zhi.

This book introduces readers to the inner workings of schools that successfully serve multilingual students, especially those who affiliate as Latinx. Readers will meet administrators, teachers, caregivers, and community members who are working together to advance students’ learning. They do this through varied school-wide initiatives that include caring for students in authentic ways, developing students’ home and academic languages, recruiting caregivers and community members to mentor students, establishing positive and respectful climates, providing rigorous instructional interventions, and inviting students to take leadership roles. This book will inspire teachers and school leaders to see the possibilities for humanizing schools with the ultimate goal of creating such environments for all learners, and particularly for students of color. “A powerful resource for pre- and inservice teachers, educators, school leaders, and researchers who are seeking to change the status quo in today’s schools.” —From the Foreword by Guofang Li, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver “This book offers multiple pathways to educational success with children often labeled as ‘at risk.’” —Luis C. Moll, professor emeritus, University of Arizona “Readers will find inspiration from the variety of solutions described in this volume, which has transformed education for multilingual students.” —David and Yvonne Freeman, professors emeriti, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley “The case studies describe how educators have changed their practices to humanize the education that multilingual students receive.” —Ofelia García, The Graduate Center, CUNY

The principles for enabling children to become fully proficient multilinguals through schooling are well known. Even so, most indigenous/tribal, minority and marginalised children are not provided with appropriate mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MLE) that would enable them to succeed in school and society. In this book experts from around the world ask why this is, and show how it can be done. The book discusses general principles and challenges in depth and presents case studies from Canada and the USA, northern Europe, Peru, Africa, India, Nepal and elsewhere in Asia. Analysis by leading scholars in the field shows the importance of building on local experience. Sharing local solutions globally can lead to better theory, and to action for more social justice and equality through education.

It was a dark and stormy night in Santa Barbara. January 19, 2017. The next day’s inauguration drumroll played on the evening news. Huddled around a table were nine Corwin authors and their publisher, who together have devoted their careers to equity in education. They couldn’t change the weather, they couldn’t heal a fractured country, but they did have the power to put their collective wisdom about EL education upon the page to ensure our multilingual learners reach their highest potential. Proudly, we introduce you now to the fruit of that effort: Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success. In this first-of-a-kind collaboration, teachers and leaders, whether in small towns or large urban centers, finally have both the research and the practical strategies to take those first steps toward excellence in educating our culturally and linguistically diverse children. It’s a book to be celebrated because it means we can throw away the dark glasses of deficit-based approaches and see children who come to school speaking a different home language for what they really are: learners with tremendous assets. The authors’ contributions are arranged in nine chapters that become nine tenets for teachers and administrators to use as calls to actions in their own efforts to realize our English learners’ potential: 1. From Deficit-Based to Asset-Based 2. From Compliance to Excellence 3. From Watering Down to Challenging 4. From Isolation to Collaboration 5. From Silence to Conversation 6. From Language to Language, Literacy, and Content 7. From Assessment of Learning to Assessment for and as Learning 8. From Monolingualism to Multilingualism 9. From Nobody Cares to Everyone/Every Community Cares Read this book; the chapters speak to one another, a melodic echo of expertise, classroom vignettes, and steps to take. To shift the status quo is neither fast nor easy, but there is a clear process, and it’s laid out here in Breaking Down the Wall. To distill it into a single line would go something like this: if we can assume mutual ownership, if we can connect instruction to all children’s personal, social, cultural, and linguistic identities, then all students will achieve.

Essential principles, practices, and structures for multilingual learners Much has changed in the ten years since this book was first published. A celebrated triumph, it provided state, district, school, and teacher leaders with a comprehensive guide to support multilingual learners to reach their full potential. From selecting the appropriate program model to partnering with families and infusing federal and state laws governing the education of multilingual learners and the rights of their families into all we do, the key messages that made the first edition of this book a renowned success have been re-examined in the second edition with a robust lens to meet these demanding times. This second edition supports educators to design and enact policies, practices, and structures for multilingual learners (MLs) to feel a sense of safety, belonging, value, and competence. Topics explored in the book include: a discussion of the changes to federal and state policies and their impact on MLs and their families strategies to move from a deficit- to an asset-based approach that values multilingualism nine principles to design and deliver high-quality lessons in multiple languages and across disciplines practices to identify and support MLs with learning differences and disabilitiessteps for building long-lasting family-school partnerships Reflecting changing trends in leadership, this new edition supports superintendents, principals, curriculum supervisors, coaches, mentors, teachers, and other stakeholders in their collaborative efforts to create and sustain successful language assistance programs.

Dual language education is a program that combines language minority and language majority students for instruction through two languages. This book provides the conceptual background for the program and discusses major implementation issues. Research findings summarize language proficiency and achievement outcomes from 8000 students at 20 schools, along with teacher and parent attitudes.

This collection brings together cutting-edge research and theoretical discussions on the linguistic, cultural, and political forces that shape multilingual Colombia, highlighting the country’s unique sociolinguistic landscape and offering new insights into multilingualism in the Global South. The volume outlines the changing dynamics of multilingualism in Colombia, where Spanish, Spanish-based and English-based Creoles, the linguistic and cultural heritages of Indigenous communities and migrant groups, and the prevalence of English in language education policy intersect. The chapters explore the implications of policy making on language policy discourse and especially on language teacher education for those working on the margins in urban and rural areas. They also explore existing understandings of interculturality and the work of academics and local communities in minority language revitalization efforts. Problematizing essentialized views of language and culture and raising awareness around the complex relationship between language, identity, and interculturality in the Global South, this book will be of interest to scholars in multilingualism, sociolinguistics, language education, teacher education, and applied linguistics.

Given the boost in global immigration and migration, as well as the emphasis on creating inclusive classrooms, research is turning to the challenges that teachers face with the increasing need for bilingual and multilingual education. The benefits of bilingual education are widespread, allowing students to develop important cognitive skills such as critical thinking and problem solving as well as opening further career opportunities later in life. However, very few resources are available for the successful practice and implementation of this education into the curriculum, with an even greater lack of appropriate cultural representation in the classroom. Thus, it is essential for educators to remain knowledgeable on the emerging strategies and procedures available for making bilingual and multilingual education successful. The Research Anthology on Bilingual and Multilingual Education is a comprehensive reference source on bilingual and multilingual education that offers the latest insights on education strategy and considerations on the language learners themselves. This research anthology features a diverse collection of authors, offering valuable global perspectives on multilingual education. Covering topics such as gamification, learning processes, and teaching models, this anthology serves as an essential resource for professors, teachers, pre-service teachers, faculty of K-12 and higher education, government officials, policymakers, researchers, and academicians with an interest in key strategy and understanding of bilingual and multilingual education.