ALIS Newsletter - September 2021 (Plain Text Version)
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In this issue: |
LEADERS' CORNER: CONNECTING OVER REAL-WORLD CHALLENGES WITH YOUR ALIS MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Dear ALIS Community, I am a pedagogy-focused applied linguist with expertise in second language acquisition research and its applications to language teaching. It is my pleasure to currently serve as a Member-at-Large for ALIS to support and promote research in all areas of language use, particularly research that contributes to our understanding of language learning and teaching. I am also an accomplished TESOL trainer with deep knowledge of various teaching methodologies and evidence-based practices. Currently, I am a bilingual English Language Development Teacher at a secondary school in Boston, MA, USA. I also teach a research methods course to graduate-level students at Boston University, where I have taught since 2009. I have presented widely at international conferences and frequently co-author publications with my collaborators. As a Member-at-Large of this Interest Section, my aim is to disseminate knowledge derived from research among ALIS members, the broad membership of TESOL, and the population at large. For instance, in this issue, I recommend reading “The Role and Value of Researchers for Teachers: Five Principles for Mutual Benefit.” Many North American teachers come to me with concerns for their English Learners (ELs) in the K-12 U.S. education system. They are concerned that their students with lower WIDA levels are falling through the cracks and overly reliant on Google Translate for their reading and writing aspects of education. They also fear that oral explanations that are not provided in a student’s first language (L1) are often misunderstood or not understood. I can imagine that this is a problem that speaks to many of us right now. Historically, education has placed great value on the orthographic aspects of language. This was largely due to former translation tasks for Greek and Latin that students were given in order to become scholars (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). However, in the year 2021, we rely more and more on aural means of communication, which means we need to prioritize oral language skills at the foundational level before we can even begin to think about reading and writing. Yet, as research has shown, teachers often take aural skills, like listening, for granted (Newton & Nation, 2020; Vandergrift & Goh, 2012). We may presume that by offering students a chance to engage in classroom discussion or by offering a video with transcripts, that students will “understand” communicative output. What if this assumption is wrong? In order to explore some of these assumptions about listening, research, language play, and communicative competence, I draw on linguistics as well as corresponding disciplines in psychology, sociology, education, and other areas in an attempt to address real-world, language-based issues pertinent to English language teaching. My current research areas explore: 1) How do language teachers design for a listening experience? 2) What does implicit bias in research look like? 3) What does a focus on heteroglossia and language play in second-language speech look like in STEM programs? and 4) How can teachers use a funds of knowledge approach to strengthen their intercultural communicative competence? As a scholar, I draw on applied linguistics as an interdisciplinary field to identify, investigate, and offer solutions to language-related, real-life problems. I would love to hear from you about your real-word problems. Please feel free to contact me at: lacroixj@bu.edu. Best wishes, Jennifer References Newton, J. M., & Nation, I.S.P. (2020). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking (2nd ed.). Routledge. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: Metacognition in action. Routledge. |
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