| 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 |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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: |
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| Dr. Dorian Harrison – Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University Newark Special Theme Issue Co-Editor, Journal of Research Initiatives |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
| 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. |
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| 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 |
April 2023 LRA Newsletter
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