This orientation session will give the new cohort an overview of the SLAT program, and information about program and university resources. If you're a new SLAT student and you need the Zoom information, please contact GIDP-SLAT@arizona.edu. 

Dissertation Title: Indigenous Miskitu Teachers' Stories: A Case Study of the Intersection of Indigeneity in their Experiences as Teachers of English in the Public Education System of Honduras

Dissertation Committee: Dr. Sheilah Nicholas (Chair), Dr. Mary Carol Combs, Dr. Christine Tardy

This will be a hybrid defense; for location information, please contact Jaime at jfmejiam@arizona.edu. 

Abtract: This case study informs ELT teacher education in Honduras by proposing new conceptions and understandings of language education, teacher preparation, and teacher education that encompass and is informed by language teaching from Indigenous knowledge systems. Research in teacher preparation and teacher education in Honduras has not studied these aspects. Therefore, this case study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature in the Latin American, and more specifically, the Honduran context. Moreover, previous research conducted in these areas has only privileged Western knowledge systems as it has used traditional research methods and approaches to explore these areas and topics. This case study, in contrast, is informed by Indigenous and decolonizing research methods.  

As such, this study examines the aspect of Indigeneity of two Indigenous Miskitu teachers of English as former students of an ELT program in Honduras and current teachers of English in the public education system of Honduras. I define Indigeneity as the quality of being Indigenous; as embracing Indigenous worldviews, paradigms, and ways of being, doing, knowing, and thinking; as the self-identification as Indigenous; as the awareness and interest on one’s spirituality and well-being; as the use in, interest on, and passion for one’s Indigenous language and culture; as the connection to Indigenous people by blood, kinship, or ancestry (Simpson, 2011) as well as to one’s Indigenous land, place, and community (see Absolon, 2011; Sarivaara et al., 2013). The aspect of Indigeneity, which can be also correlated to one’s Indigenous identity, has not been explored in teachers of English who identify as Indigenous even though there has been an increasing interest in studying language teacher identities in recent years (Kayi-Aydar, 2019). The reality is, however, that there is a lack of research in the applied linguistics and TESOL/ELT fields that privileges Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing (Kasun & Saavedra, 2016; Pennycook & Makoni, 2020; Sayer, 2012).  

Furthermore, the case study sheds light in understanding how the Indigeneity of these Indigenous Miskitu teachers of English intersected with their preparation and professionalization as English language teachers and how these intersections inform and impact their teaching praxis by having engaged in turi aisa ya, an Indigenous Miskitu methodology (Smith, 2012). Turi aisa ya is a space for sharing and the exchanging of information and experiences; it requires sitting down and listening with humbleness and intention—listening to hear. Turi aisa ya is laughing, thinking together, crying, worrying, and coming up with solutions; it is imagining, experiencing vicariously, and feeling. In a similar manner to sharing circles (Lavallée, 2009), turi aisa ya is “used to capture people’s experiences [and is] comparable to focus groups in qualitative research” (p. 28). In addition to turi aisa ya, the participants engaged in storywork as we were storying their lived experiences as a way of making and gaining insights from their stories (Archibald, 2008).  Engaging in turi aisa ya and storywork created the space for dialoguing about their beliefs on education merging traditional Miskitu worldviews with English language learning, English language teaching, and their lived experiences teaching in the Honduran public education system as Indigenous Miskitu teachers of English.  

Additionally, this study informs and aims to transform teacher education curriculum and policy in Honduras; namely, by proposing to the teaching university in Honduras of the critical need to 1) integrate the distinct and diverse systems of knowing, being and doing of Indigenous students in ELT programs, and (2) support and advance efficacious approaches and methods to teach Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers of English in culturally-relevant and culturally-responsive methods that are respectful of the Peoples, histories, and realities of Honduras. Implications on how this work could inform the teaching of English as a global language and inform research practices in the applied linguistics and TESOL/ELT fields are also discussed. 

You’re invited! SLATSA is hosting an end-of-year potluck picnic on Friday, May 5th at 4 p.m. at Himmel Park. We have reserved Ramada 2 for the event, which you can see marked in the attached image. Bring a dish from your country, hometown, something inspired by spring, or whatever you want to share with your SLAT colleagues. Families and significant others are welcome! Hope to see you there!

Please email betsycarter@arizona.edu with questions about the event.

Proposal Title: Exploring Multilingual Genre Knowledge Development in a College First-Year Writing (FYW) Course

Dissertation Committee: Dr. Chris Tardy (Chair), Dr. Suzanne Panferov Reese, Dr. Julieta Fernandez, Dr. Guillaume Gentil (Special Member, Carleton University)

This is a private proposal presentation, and it will not be open for public viewing.

Dissertation Title: English Language Learning and Learner Identities of North Korean Refugees in South Korea

Dissertation Committee: Dr. Wenhao Diao (Co-Chair), Dr. Sunyoung Yang (Co-Chair), Dr. Hayriye Kayi-Aydar

Location: Please contact SLAT office (GIDP-SLAT@arizona.edu) for Zoom information 

Abstract: This qualitative ethnographic study aims to examine the interrelationship between English ideologies and learner identities of eight North Korean refugee (NKR) college students, and how they can further affect their English learning experiences by analyzing their narratives and classroom discourse. The study aims to expand the current knowledge of NKRs’ English learning by presenting and analyzing the stories of NKR English learners and users with diverse educational histories and ideologies and their fluid, multidimensional, and multidirectional identity construction and negotiation processes (Preece, 2016). Data were collected over the course of 7 months and included interviews, reflective journals, visual learner histories, and participant observations in English classrooms.

The findings revealed complex interrelationships between language ideologies, identity construction and negotiation processes, and second language (L2) investment of NKR students as English learners. The construction of English learner and user identities and the levels of L2 investment of the participants were subjected to various language ideologies in SK. The findings showed the linguistic racialization experienced by NKR students in SK, where they were often identified as uneducated and incompetent, reflecting the deficit ideology towards them. The study also revealed the intersectionality between Christianity and the NKR students’ identities and investment in English in different spaces. The study offers pedagogical implications from the local to the global level, including English education for NKRs and other minoritized groups, particularly immigrants and refugees. Moreover, the study provides implications for future research on the investigation of NKR students’ English learning and their identity construction and negotiation processes in their L2 communities. 

Dissertation Title: Online Communities For Informal Language Learning: Exploring the Possibilities for Members of the Creators Co-Space

Dissertation Committee: Dr. Jill Castek (Chair), Dr. Beatrice Dupuy, Dr. Emily Hellmich 

Abstract: There are numerous language websites, communities, and social apps online that focus explicitly on language learning. However, many times they are created in ways that mimic many of the aspects of language learning seen in formal environments. For example, specific controlled hierarchical organization of tasks and reliance on grammar explanations and subsequent exercises. In informal spaces where language learning is not explicit, learners can make their own decisions, make their own conclusions on what is valuable or meaningful for themselves, and learn vocabulary, expressions, and grammar as part of communication. Research on this type of learning in informal spaces is understudied. This study looked at language learning as the product of social interaction and participation in varied digital, creative activities that emerge within an online community. These activities are situated in a whole dynamic system that develops over time, which has subsystems that are constantly evolving and changing (Sockett & Toffoli, 2019). My study did not look at a snapshot of moments in an existing community or a single interaction in it, or the participation of learners in a formal environment who are required to participate in a community. Instead, this study looked at learners from different backgrounds and interests in a space where different elements interrelate in a system. It is a new online community that aimed to provide a better understanding of learning in the wild. Through the lenses of Critical Relationality (Olivares & Tucker-Raymond 2020) and the Echological Approach (Kramsch, C., & Steffensen, S. V. (2008), my study was centered on the creation of an online community that is a learner-centered creative space where incidental language learning may occur. This research had important implications that could be carried over into formal language learning environments.

Using exploratory methods, this research examined the development of an online community as it initially formed, came together, and grew. The community was composed of people with different purposes for interacting who were moved to participate in discussions and activities based on their interests, which were constantly evolving. The study examined the members' experiences, motivations, behaviors, and decisions made, and emerging opportunities for learning in this community. This included their dynamic participation and interaction with others with the goal of language learning. The study examined the learning outcomes from the perspectives of learners who had various participation profiles: The Power, the Motivated, the Curious, and the Attentive. More specifically, the study analyzed the characteristics of an online space -- specifically how people co-construct the space, self-organize, and communicate within the space, and consequently how the affordances within an online environment shape communication and are shaped by online participation. This research sheds light on ways that an informal community develops, evolves, and thrives in the wild, including what motivates active participation. Findings from this study would have implications for online interactions in formal learning contexts which may include opportunities for self-directed or collaborative work that encourages incidental language learning.

Keywords: online community, informal learning, incidental language learning, Ecological Approach, Critical Relationality, global, interaction, communication, multimodality, creativity.

To attend this defense, please email GIDP-SLAT@arizona.edu.