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February 2023 Member Newsletter

Posted on by Rebekah Lee

President’s Message

Dear LRA Family and Friends,

I begin this newsletter by acknowledging our role as not only a community of scholars but a community of professionals who care for and about our colleagues and the constituents impacted by our work. We care about the well-being of those in our LRA family with ties to Michigan State University and other academic institutions and a growing list of elementary and secondary schools and their respective communities of students, staff, and families who have been traumatized by the acts of gun violence. Such violence has resulted in the injury and death of students and educators, and disruptions of learning. It is critical that we recognize that the residual effects of acts of violence and injustice directly impact student and teacher well-being and performance.

Our work as literacy researchers and educators continues despite the many societal and institutional obstacles in our paths. We can take inspiration from the words of Audre Lorde (1942) who said:

“To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give up. Do not be misled into passivity either by false security (they don’t mean me) or by despair (there’s nothing we can do). Each of us must find our work and do it. “

LRA has found its work and is working purposefully and tirelessly to get it done. Our choices are reflected not only in our mission statement but in our collective and individual voices about policies and practices that inhibit the critical thinking of children and youth and restrict the ability of teachers to teach, and devalue the history, culture, and languages of the diversity of people around the world. Yet, amid these challenges we remain steadfast in our efforts because “we have found our work and continue to do it.”

We all have a vested interest in helping LRA to grow in its impact and direction. You are strongly encouraged to help shape LRA’s future by participating in the election process. Our continued growth in meeting new challenges is dependent on the choices in leadership that we make.

Our work as a premier literacy research organization is impacted by one new challenge which involves the management of the Association. Association Services Group (ASG), which has served LRA since 2017, notified LRA leadership of its resignation as LRA’s management company on 2/6/2023 as they transition to a new management strategy. Both ASG owners and LRA leaders believe that the change will provide new opportunities for growth for our organization. The final date of full service for ASG is May 8, 2023, which fulfills the 90-day notice specified in the contract. A LRA Search Committee has been created and begun its work. Meanwhile, LRA leaders are working with ASG to ensure a smooth transition to a new management company.

Currently the 2023 Conference Chair, Al Tatum, and Fenice Boyd, Associate Conference Chair, are in the process of planning for the 2023 Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA. We are all looking forward to joining you in exploring this year’s theme of “Interrogating Hierarchies: Building a Humanitarian Literacy Research Architecture that Binds” which challenges literacy researchers to be “responsive, timely, and forward-looking.”

With appreciation for you and your work,

Doris Walker-Dalhouse
LRA President 2022-2023
doris.walker-dalhouse

2022 J. Michael Parker Award Winner: Dr. Jin Kyeong Jung

Asian Adult Immigrants’ Lived Experiences in Workplaces

Jin Kyeong Jung

The 2022 winner’s research stems from her doctoral dissertation study in a northeastern city in the United States with Korean American adolescents in a working-class neighborhood. The Korean American adolescents wondered why there were so many Korean Americans working at dry cleaners in their area and questioned their role models as Korean Americans and in terms of social status. To understand Korean American immigrants’ lived experiences at dry cleaners, the author examined language and literacy practices of one Korean American family who works at a dry cleaner. The theoretical framework was informed by Brian Street’s Literacy as Social Practices. The researcher employed an ethnographic case study and collected observational and interview data, including field notes and audio recordings. She used open coding and axial coding to find themes or patterns and engaged in multiple rounds of data analysis. The findings show that the Korean American immigrants at a dry cleaner have built on their own strategies or “know-how,” including interactions with customers in the workplace for a long time. They coordinated multiple resources to communicate with customers, including making eye contact, friendly smiling, laughing brightly, exhibiting a great sense of humor, and engaging in appropriate body language. In addition, their lived experiences in the workplace, a dry cleaner, have been a central part of their immigrant life ever since they migrated to the U.S. In conclusion, the scholar argues that the findings of this study contribute to adding the workplace of immigrant adults as a significant space for immigrants’ language and literacy practices. Furthermore, this paper argues that Asian immigrants’ lived experiences in workplaces should be valued as an important part of our society and that they are important members of our society.

Meet the 2023 Election Candidates!

We encourage you to participate in the 2023 election, which will run from March 1st-March 10th, 2023. Below is a list of the candidates. Be sure to check in later this week for more information!

2023 Vice President-Elect Candidates

2023 Board of Directors Candidates

2023 Conference – Call for Proposals

2023 LRA Conference Theme Announced!
“Interrogating Hierarchies: Building a Humanitarian Literacy Research Architecture that Binds”
November 29th – December 2nd, 2023

We are excited to announce that the 2023 Call for Proposals system is open for submissions. We want to make sure the proposal submission process is easy for all of our submitters. To begin, we recommend that you review the 2023 Call for Proposals. This form will provide you with the guidelines needed for submitting your proposal, important dates, and so much more! Please make sure to review the Call for Proposals, before submitting. If you have questions, please reach out to LRA Headquarters.

Proposals for the 2023 conference program must be submitted electronically by 11:59 PM PST on March 1st, 2023.

Seeking Nominations: “In Defense of Good Teaching” Award

This award was established to honor professional educators who stand up to harmful laws, policies, and practices in extraordinary ways, and who set an example of well-grounded, humanistic, holistic education.

The Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies (including the Program in Language, Reading and Culture) in the College of Education at the University of Arizona seeks nominations for this award. It is given in honor of Kenneth S. Goodman, recognized internationally for his comprehensive theory of reading, and as an advocate for teachers, political action, holistic education. Learn more here.

Nominations for the 2023 award will be accepted until April 1, 2023.

Mail or email documentation to:
David B. Yaden, Jr., Ph.D., In Defense of Good Teaching Committee Chair Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies College of Education, University of Arizona, 1430 East Second Street, Tucson, AZ 85721
Email: dyadenjr@abermudezemail-arizona-edu

Call for Nominations: Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy

Please take a moment to submit a nomination for an article for the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy. The deadline is Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Learn more here.

The Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy is presented annually to honor an outstanding article in literacy research published in a refereed journal in the previous calendar year. The award is presented in memory of University at Albany – SUNY Distinguished Professor Arthur N. Applebee, internationally renowned for his seminal scholarship in the fields of literacy and language learning,

To nominate an article, please send an electronic copy of the article and a nomination letter that states how the article meets the criteria to Kathleen Hinchman (kahinchm@syr.edu) by Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Self-nominations are accepted.

Call for Nominations – Albert J. Kingston

Posted on by Jodi Metzgar

Happy June! I know so many of you are emerging from large service loads this year. And you continue to provide service to LRA as well! Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague for the Kingston Award. The award recognizes distinguished service to LRA. The process is easy. Members of LRA for at least 5 years are eligible. All we need is a letter describing service to LRA and a CV. You can nominate yourself or a colleague. 

Service is important and worthy of recognition and celebration. You can see a description of the award and a list of the past recipients Here: https://literacyresearchassociation.org/albert-j-kingston-award/

Nominations are due to the Committee Chair, Sharon Walpole (swalpole@udel.edu) by August 15, 2023. The award will be presented at the Conference in Atlanta. 

Thanks for considering!

Sharon

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice Call For Editors

Posted on by Ian O'Byrne

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice

CALL FOR EDITORS

Application Deadline Extended to May 15, 2022

The Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice (LR:TMP), a publication of the Literacy Research Association (LRA), is seeking applications for a new editorial team to begin their official term of service in the fall of 2023 starting with Volume 73.

LR:TMP is a largely peer-reviewed annual journal that publishes contemporary research and aims to promote discussion and constructive critique about key areas of literacy research, policy, and practice. Manuscripts published in the journal highlight research presented at the Annual Meeting of the Literacy Research Association and inform literacy theory, methods, and practices in the field.

  1. Editors serve a four-year term with no more than two terms served consecutively. Current editorial teams (or portions of teams) who are interested in a second four-year term must reapply through the regular process.
  2. Editors submit mid-year and annual reports to the Publications Committee, LRA Board, and Executive Committee in April and November each year.
  3. The new editorial team works with the outgoing LR:TMP editorial team and the LRA Publications Committee to facilitate a smooth transition period.

Application Procedures

Complete applications are due to the LRA Publications Chair, Melody Zoch, mzoch@uncg.edu, no later than May 15, 2022. Editorial teams may be formed in one of two ways: 1) interested individuals may apply and an editorial team will be formed based on grouping together these individuals or 2) editorial teams may be proposed as part of the application. Teams are encouraged to develop an editorial team diverse in a number of respects (e.g., theoretically, methodologically, professorial rank, racial background), while bearing in mind the logistical challenges of including a large number of people and institutions.

All applicants are required to e-mail the following documents (Maximum 10 single-spaced pages for items 2-7) as a single PDF or MS Word file (Label file as Lastname, Firstname, LR:TMP Editor Application).

  1. Letter of Intent: Include a brief letter of intent to serve as LR:TMP editor(s). Include full name, title affiliation, and contact information. For editorial teams, this information should be provided for each member.
  2. Vision and Goals for LR:TMP. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s vision and goals for the journal, including an assessment of the journal’s strengths and areas for improvement. Please consider including strategies for potentially engaging LRA membership in conversations including and beyond the publication of the LR:TMP volume (e.g., a once-a-semester podcast or webinar with LR:TMP authors).
  3. Prior Editorial Experience: Include a description of prior editing experience for each individual.
  4. Collaboration and Teamwork. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s approach to teamwork and collaboration relative to editorial work.
  5. Institutional Support: Include a description of how the individual’s institution might support the work of the editorship if applicable (e.g., course release, financial support, reduction of committee work, graduate assistantship, office space, technology support, and support for travel to the conference).
  6. Review Processes and Procedures. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s proposed manuscript review processes and procedures, including their strategies for developing a substantial and diverse pool of reviewers.
  7. Proposed Budget: LRA is poised to offer financial support for the editorial board, which could include covering conference registration fees for each editorial member, providing funds for a Graduate Assistant, and/or covering one course release per year for one team member each year. Attach a detailed budget with a justification for anticipated costs associated with editing the journal to be covered by LRA.
  8. Curriculum Vitae: Attach for each individual.
  9. Letters of Support: Attach letters of support from each individual’s institution indicating the level of support offered should the individual or team be chosen (a single letter is sufficient if all applicants are from the same institution). Letters are recommended but not required for supporting/assistant editors.

For questions regarding the Call for LR:TMP Editors, contact Melody Zoch, Chair of the Publications Committee mzoch@uncg.edu.

April 2023 LRA Newsletter

Posted on by Rebekah Lee
President’s Message   Dear LRA Family and Friends,   “If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.” ― Marian Wright Edelman   The words of Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president emerita of the National Children’s Defense Fund, and a civil rights activist, carry significant meaning in what many describe as tumultuous and unprecedented times. Like many professional organizations, we are obligated to take the steps needed to inform the public and influence the policies, practices, and research needed to ensure that  all children have access to knowledge  and materials needed to reflect, act, and ensure that positive changes are made in their worlds both inside and outside of the classroom. As the seasons changes from the cold and gray skies of winter to the warmth  and sunshine of Spring, so too must we reflect on the changes around us and renew our commitment to identifying and removing the obstacles that restrict materials and limits access to literacy instruction that engages students, promotes critical thinking, and creates lifelong readers.   As Audre Lorde (1984) said,” Change means growth, and growth can be painful. But we sharpen self-definition by exposing the self in work and struggle together with those whom we define as different from ourselves, although sharing the same goals.”   LRA is growing and acknowledges that pain is part of that growth. Nevertheless, LRA is committed to growing in solidarity to humanize literacy research and practice.  We affirm our positions against practices and policies that marginalize people across all forms of diversity in schools and communities and create situations where acts of violence based on bias or a lack of understanding of others seems to be normalized. The creation and dissemination of the recent LRA position statement against Anti-Asian Rhetoric and Speech developed by two Standing Committee Chairs, Chad Waldron, Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Justice (DEJ) and Tiffany Flowers, Chair of Ethnicity, Race, & Multilingualism (ERM) publicly re-affirms LRA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to standing in solidarity with others in the struggle to denounce systemic racism.   Each year we have an opportunity to be energized as we task the Vice President with selecting a Nominations Committee whose responsibility it is to review and renew leadership in LRA. Thanks to all who participated in any capacity in the election process and especially those who voted during this year’s election. It was through your responsiveness in completing a second ballot that we were able to resolve the tie vote in filling the third position on the Board of Directors. Elected to serve in the presidential line position as Vice President Elect is Cynthia Brock. The members elected for three-year terms on the Board of Directors are Christian Ehret, Tisha Lewis Ellison, and Nicole Mirra. Join me in congratulating our LRA colleagues elected to guide and support LRA in taking the next steps in the process of change.  

Wishing you a happy Spring with many opportunities for reflection and renewal,  

Doris Walker-Dalhouse
LRA President 2022-2023
doris.walker-dalhouse@marquette.edu
Newly Elected LRA Leaders


LRA Conference Update   The 73rd LRA Annual Conference themed “Interrogating Hierarchies: Building a Humanitarian Literacy Research Architecture that Binds” is being planned to align with LRA’s vision to be more than just a conference.   This year’s Conference Chair, Alfred Tatum, and Associate Conference Chair, Fenice Boyd are making efforts to excite and mobilize the broader Atlanta community about our upcoming presence in the spirit of LRA is coming to Atlanta. We are excited about the large number of proposals received, particularly an increase in the number of proposals with an international focus that will continue to expand LRA’s international signature.   To this end, we are also seeking additional volunteers to serve as proposal reviewers. Please reach out to Alfred Tatum – atatum@literacyresearchassociation.org – if you are willing to serve as a reviewer for this year’s conference. Lastly, this year’s line-up of plenary speakers is being finalized. Announcements are forthcoming.
Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee Travel Award
2022 Winners   The Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee (ERM) is committed to supporting and promoting the work of scholars from diverse backgrounds. This year, the ERM awarded four doctoral student or early career scholars of color the ERM Travel Award.   Read more about award winners below.
Mariana Lima Becker   Mariana Lima Becker is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum & Instruction at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Before starting her doctoral studies, Mariana was an English as a Foreign Language teacher at schools and several language institutes in her hometown of Recife, Brazil. She is also a licensed English as a Second Language teacher in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.   Mariana’s research critically considers how U.S. public schools respond to increased waves of migrants from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In a recent research project, for example, she explored how young children of Brazilian descent constructed ideas about and avenues of belonging in their K-1 U.S. bilingual classrooms through their language and literacy practices.
Read More About Mariana
Andrew del Calvo   Andrew del Calvo is a third-year Ph.D. student in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and a National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from history education, literacy studies, sociolinguistics, and critical social justice studies in education, Andrew’s work seeks to create a bridge between historical thinking and students’ lived experiences and identities, through curriculum design and teacher education.   Andrew’s current projects include developing dialogic reading and writing interventions for history specific writing conferences, designing professional development to support teachers in enacting culturally sustaining pedagogies around historical writing instruction, and designing and enacting a model for teacher education that centers high school student voices.
Read More About Andrew
Dr. Chaehyun Lee   Dr. Chaehyun Lee is Assistant Professor in Elementary and ESL/Bilingual Education in Educational Instruction and Leadership at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Elementary Literacy and Bilingual Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.   Dr. Lee’s research advances the field of multilingual/multicultural education. Dr. Lee’s recent study demonstrated how multilingual and transnational individuals build, construct, and negotiate their hybrid, sophisticated, and multifaceted social and cultural identities through translanguaging and translingual practices as they reflect their funds of knowledge, ideologies, and social/cultural practices.
Read More About Chaehyun
Position Statement Against Anti-Asian Rhetoric and Speech   The Diversity, Equity, and Justice (DEJ) and the Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism (ERM) Standing Committees of the Literacy Research Association (LRA) are committed to racial justice, equity, and action. The purpose of this statement is to reaffirm the organization’s position against all forms of systemic racism.   We raise awareness of racial injustices within our respective field and provide action steps on how the LRA community can take actions for change.
Read the Full Statement Here
Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism Committee
Mentoring Through Publication Cohort I Update   The Mentoring through Publication project was initiated during 2020 through the Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism committee to provide navigation of the publication process. This includes but not limited to submission of manuscripts, revisions, letters to the editor, and special theme issue proposals.   Target Groups: This project is designed for graduate students and junior scholars from underrepresented groups who want mentorship in the publishing process.   Project Rationale: Graduate students and junior scholars of color can participate in this project to explore the publication and editorial process. Authors who want to submit manuscripts for this project may include both traditional and nontraditional methodologies such as historical and archival research, commentaries, essays, case studies, ethnography, action research, digital research, phenomenological, grounded theory, narrative, survey research, cross-cultural, critical ethnography, longitudinal, mixed methods, descriptive, critical race research, activist and liberatory research frameworks. Scholars who draw on traditional or contemporary research traditions which use existing research models or those creating new research models and paradigms are a welcome addition to this issue. Additionally, teacher-scholars and scholar activists who write non-traditional calls for research and identify gaps in the research are encouraged to submit commentaries and/or essays of these types of submissions.   The participants in Cohort I had the option to work on the current theme or to become part of the published scholars in Cohort II. The first theme centered on community engagement in literacy. Through this theme, scholars who are interested in community engagement, activist literacies, translanguaging, community partnerships, home-school-community collaboration, service-learning, crowdsourcing, digital projects, and community-based research in literacy worked on a manuscript for publication. The scholars who successfully completed their work in this theme were either single authors or first authors on manuscripts. Additionally, advanced graduate level and assistant professor scholars had the opportunity to become journal reviewers as well. Cohort I members who successfully completed the program are below:
Dr. Dorian Harrison – Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University Newark Special Theme Issue Co-Editor, Journal of Research Initiatives
Dr. Shuling Yang – Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University Single Author Publication, Journal of Literacy Innovation
Yang, S. (2022). Coaching bilingual Chinese mothers ask higher-level questions in dialogic reading. Journal of Literacy Innovation,7, pp. 74-90.
Yong Zeng, Doctoral Student, Oakland University 1st Author & Journal Reviewer, Journal of Research Initiatives
Zeng, Yong and McEneaney, John E. (2022) “Not All Competitions Are the Same: Digital Game-based Learning Environments That Incorporate Competition Facilitates Students’ Learning Motivation,” Journal of Research Initiatives: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 2.
Special Thanks to the Scholar Presenters, Editors, and Reviewers for Cohort I   Scholar Presenters Dr. Michelle Martin – Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor for Children and Youth Services, University of Washington Dr. Michèle Foster – Professor, University of Louisville   Editors Dr. Sean Ruday, Associate Professor & Editor – Journal of Literacy Innovation Dr. Linda Wilson-Jones, Full Professor & Editor – Journal of Research Initiatives Dr. Craig Talmage, Assistant Professor & Editor – Community Development Special Theme Issue Reviewers Dr. Bogum Yoon, Full Professor – Binghamton University Dr. Allison Briceno, Associate Professor – San Jose State University Dr. Cynthia Reyes, Associate Professor – University of Vermont   *Dr. Tiffany A. Flowers is the current coordinator and founder of the Mentoring Through Publication program. Dr. Flowers is currently an associate professor of education in the department of cultural and behavioral sciences at Georgia State University Perimeter College. Her research interests include African American literacy development, urban education, children’s and young adult literature, field placement, family literacy, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice is Seeking New Editors!   The new editors’ official term of service will begin in Fall 2023 starting with Volume 73. Individuals or teams may apply. For more information and questions, please contact the LRA Publications Chair, Melody Zoch, mzoch@uncg.edu.
More Information About LR:TMP Rectangle: Rounded Corners: More Information About LR:TMP
Call for Submissions: Early Career Achievement Award NEW DEADLINE!   Please consider submitting an application for the Early Career Achievement Award. The deadline is May 15, 2023. Learn more here.   The Early Career Achievement Award was established in 1999 to recognize the work of one member each year who is in the early part of her or his career. Submitted materials for each nominee will be reviewed and voted upon by all committee members. Nominees are notified of their status in mid-August, and the Award is presented publicly at the annual conference of LRA. Awardees receive $500 and an engraved plaque.
Call for Nominations: Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy   Please take a moment to submit a nomination for an article for the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy. The deadline is Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Learn more here.   The Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy is presented annually to honor an outstanding article in literacy research published in a refereed journal in the previous calendar year. The award is presented in memory of University at Albany – SUNY Distinguished Professor Arthur N. Applebee, internationally renowned for his seminal scholarship in the fields of literacy and language learning, To nominate an article, please send an electronic copy of the article and a nomination letter that states how the article meets the criteria to Kathleen Hinchman (kahinchm@syr.edu) by Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Self-nominations are accepted.
Whether you are looking for a new position or a new hire, LRA’s job board is the place! Association members from across the world can view open positions while organizations can post theirs.
Learn More

Position Statement Against Anti-Asian Rhetoric and Speech

Posted on by Jodi Metzgar

The Diversity, Equity, and Justice (DEJ) and the Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism(ERM) Standing Committees of the Literacy Research Association (LRA) are committed to racial justice, equity, and action. The purpose of this statement is to reaffirm the organization’s position against all forms of systemic racism. We raise awareness of racial injustices within our respective field and provide action steps on how the LRA community can take actions for change.


In the past three years, there has been a resurgence of racist acts against underrepresented groups. Specifically, there has been a backlash and targeting of Asians and Asian Americans within the United States. These violent sentiments once led to explicitly racist government policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of Japanese Americans.


These unequal treatments include but are not limited to the brutal attacks against countless Asian and Asian American individuals, the xenophobic violence against Asian people in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dehumanizing acts of Anti-Asian rhetoric within the sector of academia and beyond.


The committee stands in solidarity with our Asian colleagues, faculty, staff, and students who were impacted by the commentary of the Chancellor Thomas L. Keon of Purdue University Northwest. The Literacy Research Association Board of Directors recognizes the comments made by Chancellor Keon at graduation were harmful and there is no sufficient explanation or response regarding this incident. It is of grave importance to understand why a Chancellor creating a made-up Asian language at a graduation ceremony is not only in poor taste but a sign of a hostile and discriminatory environment at the university. Graduations at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI’s) have been in the headlines for many decades within the United States where students of color have been thrown off stages and protests have occurred. This racist rhetoric has often been excused as merely ‘bad moments.’ As we consider the incident which occurred at Purdue University Northwest, we must understand why change is needed at all levels. No longer should we merely require students to sit through equity courses. Equity must be enacted by the administration, faculty, and staff. Considering that the Indiana House of Representatives passed HB 1134 to limit classroom discussions pertaining to race during 2022 (that was later defeated by the Senate) and that components of it could be revisited by a future legislative conference committee, Chancellor Keon’s mocking of Asian language(s) conveys that equity training is not only a necessity, it is urgently needed. This is but one in a litany of harmful incidents that incite violence, hatred, and disdain towards individuals of Asian descent.


Our literacy organization and literacy learning communities at universities should focus on studying the literacy experiences, language learning, and multilingualism of Asian and Pacific Islander countries and communities. First, developing these partnerships and experiences are key to diminishing historical and pervasive stereotypes within literacy, literature, and academic research. Second, literacy organizations at the national and state level must examine whether preservice and in-service teachers are acquiring updated research and inclusive literacy practices regarding Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander students. Third, our national and state educational research and practice organizations should prominently feature research and speakers who can address the impact of racism because institutional norms, explicit acts, and implicit bias often fuel anti-Asian violence within education and other settings. Finally, teacher educators should include historical and contemporary readings in their current courses and curricula to specifically include the voices of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander scholars.


Organizational actions to combat systemic racism can include creating an environment for educational research and learning. This will promote further academic study regarding the varied experiences of diverse populations in literacy and learning, as well as the identification of actionable steps needed for racial equity and justice. We must take such actions now in order to improve outcomes for those who are historically marginalized and targeted.

          

2020-2021 National Report – Stop AAPI Hate

Japanese Internment Camps: WWII, Life & Conditions – HISTORY

“I Have a Wish”: Anti-Asian Racism and Facing Challenges Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Asian International Graduate Students – Fanghong Dong, Yeji Hwang, Nancy A. Hodgson, 2023 (sagepub.com)

The long history of racism against Asian Americans in the U.S. | PBS NewsHour

Violence Against International Students: A Critical Gap in the Literature (sagepub.com)

2022 Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee Travel Award Winner – Phylicia Anderson

Posted on by Jodi Metzgar

The Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee (ERM) is committed to supporting and promoting the work of scholars from diverse backgrounds. This year, the ERM awarded four doctoral student or early career scholars of color the ERM Travel Award.

 

Read more about one of our award winners below. 

Phylicia Anderson

Phyliciá Anderson is a doctoral candidate, adjunct professor, and in the first cohort of the AACTE Holmes Scholars program at Texas Woman’s University to support women of color in pursuing higher education.  Her latest publications include a chapter in the book “Engage and Empower: Expanding the Curriculum for Justice and Activism” titled “Cultural (mis)representations in the media: Challenging hegemonic ideas,” a journal article published in the Journal of Language and Literacy Education titled “Language, literacy, and love: A critical framework for teaching adolescent emergent bilinguals,” and a chapter in the book “Leveraging Languages, Literacies, and Cultures: Innovative Approaches for Teaching Multilingual Students” titled “BookSnaps: Reading and analyzing young adult novels across languages.” which is scheduled to be released December 2022.

 

She has also presented at national and international conferences including the bi-annual European Conference on Literacy in Dublin, Ireland, the Puerto Rico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the World Education Research Association annual conference in Galicia, Spain, and the American Educational Research Association annual conference in San Diego, California.

Phyliciá’s research explores the ways in which multilingual adolescents use and understand language. She positions criticality in education to counter the hegemonic ideas often perpetuated through traditional, monolingual forms of education. Her recent project investigated the instructional implications of bi/multilingual adolescence reading and writing using another language in a classroom setting which included Spanish, Italian, French, and Black language to name a few. Through this and other research projects she contributes to the dialogue around ethnicity, race, and multilingualism by offering various perspectives of what it means to be bi/multilingual and how these abilities can be leveraged in pedagogical practices.

2022 Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee Travel Award Winner – Mariana Lima Becker

Posted on by Ian O'Byrne

The Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee (ERM) is committed to supporting and promoting the work of scholars from diverse backgrounds. This year, the ERM awarded four doctoral student or early career scholars of color the ERM Travel Award.

 

Read more about one of our award winners below. 

Mariana Lima Becker

Mariana Lima Becker is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum & Instruction at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Before starting her doctoral studies, Mariana was an English as a Foreign Language teacher at schools and several language institutes in her hometown of Recife, Brazil. She is also a licensed English as a Second Language teacher in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

 

Her research explores the intersection of bilingual education for language-minoritized students, language and literacy studies, and im/migration. Co-advised by Dr. Jon M. Wargo (Boston College) and Dr. Gabrielle Oliveira (Harvard University), her dissertation examines the experiences of education and literacy practices of Brazilian immigrant children across their homes and classrooms in a dual language bilingual education program (Portuguese-English) in Massachusetts. She is a 2022 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow and has published research reports in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Childhood, and the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Mariana’s research critically considers how U.S. public schools respond to increased waves of migrants from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In a recent research project, for example, she explored how young children of Brazilian descent constructed ideas about and avenues of belonging in their K-1 U.S. bilingual classrooms through their language and literacy practices. Additionally, Mariana’s scholarship approaches how transnational communication has been leveraged by im/migrant children and their families to create spaces for the maintenance of kinship ties, affinity, and collaboration, affording key opportunities for language and literacy learning. Mariana’s scholarly work contributes to current dialogues around ethnicity, race, and multilingualism by assembling holistic portraits and understandings of immigrant childhoods as well as the educational trajectories of Portuguese-speaking Latinx populations. Her scholarship also offers insights into how pre-service and in-service educators can prepare to meet not only the academic needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children but also promote well-being, critical consciousness, and robust bi/multilingual identities.

 

A pesquisa de Mariana considera criticamente como as escolas públicas dos EUA respondem ao influxo de populações migrantes advindas de contextos culturais e linguísticos não-dominantes. Em um projeto de pesquisa recente, por exemplo, ela explorou como um grupo de crianças de ascendência brasileira construíram ideias e formas de pertencimento em suas salas de aula (alfabetização e primeiro ano do ensino fundamental) nos Estados Unidos por meio de suas práticas de linguagem e letramento. Além disso, Mariana aborda como a comunicação transnacional tem sido utilizada por crianças imigrantes e suas famílias para criar espaços para a manutenção de laços familiares, afinidade e colaboração, proporcionando oportunidades importantes para o aprendizado de língua(s) e letramento(s). O trabalho acadêmico de Mariana contribui para os diálogos atuais sobre etnia, raça e multilinguismo por gerar  retratos holísticos das infâncias imigrantes, bem como das trajetórias educacionais de populações latinas de língua portuguesa. Sua pesquisa também oferece insights sobre como educadores podem se preparar para atender não apenas às necessidades acadêmicas de crianças imigrantes, mas também promover seu bem-estar, consciência crítica e identidades bi/multilíngues robustas.

 

Cover Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

2022 Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee Travel Award Winner – Chaehyun Lee

Posted on by Ian O'Byrne

The Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee (ERM) is committed to supporting and promoting the work of scholars from diverse backgrounds. This year, the ERM awarded four doctoral student or early career scholars of color the ERM Travel Award.

 

Read more about one of our award winners below. 

Chaehyun Lee

Dr. Chaehyun Lee is Assistant Professor in Elementary and ESL/Bilingual Education in Educational Instruction and Leadership at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.  She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Elementary Literacy and Bilingual Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  

 

She teaches undergraduate courses on teaching reading and writing, language arts, and social studies for elementary/middle-school pre-service teachers. She teaches graduate courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual Education for in-service teachers working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dr. Lee also works with emergent bilingual students as a Korean heritage language teacher at a local elementary Korean language school.  Her research interests include bilingualism, biliteracy development, heritage language learning, multicultural education, and teacher education.

Dr. Lee’s research advances the field of multilingual/multicultural education. Dr. Lee’s recent study demonstrated how multilingual and transnational individuals build, construct, and negotiate their hybrid, sophisticated, and multifaceted social and cultural identities through translanguaging and translingual practices as they reflect their funds of knowledge, ideologies, and social/cultural practices. Her work assists teachers in culturally and linguistically diverse classroom settings to value the presence of students’ culture and language abilities and to enhance their educational experiences.  Her overall research supports educators becoming well-versed and trained in inspiring multilingual students to reflect on their unique life experiences and multiple identity construction through transnational positioning and translingual writing.  Her findings further provide teaching implications for transnational families to better support their children’s language learning, literacy development, and multifarious identity construction.

 

이교수의 연구는 다언어 및 다문화 교육 발전에 이바지 하고 있다.  이교수의 최근 연구는 다언어를 사용하는 학생들의 탈언어 사용 및 연습을 통하여 어떻게 학생들이 자신의 복합적이고 다면적인 정체성을 형성하고 타협하는지를 보여주었다. 연구 결과는 문화적으로 언어적으로 다양한 교실에서 학생들을 가르치는 교사들에게, 학생들의 언어와 문화의 다양성을 존중하고 그들의 포괄적인 경험을 포용할 것을 권장 한다.  이교수의 전반적인 연구는 학생들의 복합적이고 다면적이지만, 특별하고 고유의 정체성 형성과 문식성 발달을 위하여 숙련된 교사들의 필요성과 가족들의 지지의 중요성을 시사한다.

 

Cover Photo by John Schaidler on Unsplash

2022 Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee Travel Award Winner – Andrew del Calvo

Posted on by Ian O'Byrne

The Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee (ERM) is committed to supporting and promoting the work of scholars from diverse backgrounds. This year, the ERM awarded four doctoral student or early career scholars of color the ERM Travel Award.

 

Read more about one of our award winners below. 

Andrew del Calvo

Andrew del Calvo is a third-year Ph.D student in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and a National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from history education, literacy studies, sociolinguistics, and critical social justice studies in education, Andrew’s work seeks to create a bridge between historical thinking and students’ lived experiences and identities, through curriculum design and teacher education.

 

Andrew’s current projects include developing dialogic reading and writing interventions for history specific writing conferences, designing professional development to support teachers in enacting culturally sustaining pedagogies around historical writing instruction, and designing and enacting a model for teacher education that centers high school student voices.

 

Previously, Andrew was a ninth and tenth grade social studies teacher and department chair at Harvest Collegiate High School, a public high school in Lower Manhattan. Prior to this he taught history, civics and economics in the Bronx. He has also served as an adjunct lecturer at The City College of New York, and led professional development in the New York metro area and nationally.

The two projects that I presented at LRA speak to the ways that my work challenges normative discourses around writing instruction in social studies classrooms, and teacher education. In my in-process practitioner research study, my co-researcher and I explore the ways in which “language policing” –  when the pre-service teachers (PSTs) that we work with understand their job to be upholding normative racialized language practices – infiltrates how they conceptualize and teach writing to students. While many PSTs want to attend to race, identity, and power in their teaching, they often struggle to see the ways that what Baker-Bell calls, “white language supremacy,” functions in their student teaching placements. Drawing from Patel’s work around “pausing,” we had teachers critically reflect on the theories of language that guided the instructional choices they made around the teaching of writing, finding that this form of anticolonial reflection can destabilize PSTs’ internalized ideologies connected to language policing, and promote more critical awareness of language.

 

My work with another collaborator illustrates how high school students can give feedback to PSTs’ on their facilitation of social studies discussions. Using critical discourse analysis, we explore the qualities and social languages in their feedback, surfacing the ways in which it is qualitatively different from feedback PSTs would traditionally receive from teacher educators, instructional coaches, or classroom mentors. In short, a large part of my work centers on bringing a critical perspective on language to both social studies education and teacher education, to highlight the power of student voice.

Call for Nominations: Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy

Posted on by Jodi Metzgar

Please take a moment to submit a nomination for an article for the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy.  The deadline is Tuesday, September 5, 2023.

The Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy is presented annually to honor an outstanding article in literacy research published in a refereed journal in the previous calendar year. The award is presented in memory of University at Albany – SUNY Distinguished Professor Arthur N. Applebee, internationally renowned for his seminal scholarship in the fields of literacy and language learning,

 Eligibility: In order to be considered for the Arthur Applebee Award, an article must meet the following eligibility requirements: (1) A research article published in a refereed journal between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 (for the 2023 recipient). For articles appearing in print only or in both print and on-line versions, the date of print version should be used to determine the date of publication. For articles appearing only on-line, the date of release should be used to determine the year of publication.  If you are at all uncertain, please consult the journal editors to determine what they regard as the official year of publication. (2) Refereed journals are construed to include journals published around the world, with the proviso that the content is available in English.

Criteria for Consideration for the Award: The topic of literacy research is construed broadly to include research that informs literacy theory, practice, and/or policy. Nominated articles should make significant contributions to the field, yielding the kind of “ah ha” moment that causes the field to see ideas in new ways with promise to positively influence literacy education. Contributions to the field may include articles that either substantively develop or add to an existing area of research, combine existing areas of research, or create a new or less considered area of investigation. As an award of the Literacy Research Association, the award focuses on the broadest possible conceptualization of literacy, including all the epistemological, methodological, disciplinary, and topical perspectives found in LRA.

Award Details: Recipients of the award receive a small cash award and a plaque commemorating the award. The authors are also recognized during a general session of the conference.  For more information, see https://literacyresearchassociation.org/arthur-applebee-award-for-excellence-in-research-on-literacy/.

Nomination Process: To nominate an article, please send an electronic copy of the article and a nomination letter that states how the article meets the criteria to Kathleen Hinchman (kahinchm@syr.edu) by Tuesday, September 5, 2023.  Self-nominations are accepted.