Blog (dissoi logoi)

APL Speaker Series, Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda, Friday 11/13

The Applied Linguistics Speakers Series Announces:

Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda

Studying Voice in Written Discourse:

An Applied Linguistic Approach

The notion of voice, which captures the sense of the author identity in written discourse, has been popular in literacy education and writing studies. In recent years, however, this notion has been hotly contested for a number of reasons. First, it has long been in need of a definition that makes it possible to research and teach the concept. Second, it has been challenged for its strong association with Western individualism. Some researchers have also questioned the value of the notion in academic contexts, which is often considered to be devoid of the individual. In this talk, I will present a series of studies that were designed to address these issues. The first study proposes a definition of voice that accounts for both individual and social aspects of identity, analyzes a Japanese online diary to show that voice is not unique to Western societies, and to identify principles of discursive identity construction. The second study examines the relevance of voice in academic context through a case study of a high-stakes academic writing situation, and the third study uses a survey to confirm the findings of the previous study while testing the applicability of voice to a broader population of academics. Ultimately, I hope to exemplify the kind of issue-driven, multi-method approach to the study of language and discourse that is the hallmark of the field of applied linguistics.

Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda is Associate Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at Arizona State University, where he works closely with master’s and doctoral students in various fields, including applied linguistics, composition studies, literacy studies, linguistics, rhetoric, and TESOL, among others. Co-founding chair of the Symposium on Second Language Writing and Series Editor of the Parlor Press Series on Second Language Writing, he has edited a dozen books and journal special issues, and published numerous articles and book chapters in both applied linguistics and rhetoric and composition. A sought-after speaker, he has presented keynote and plenary talks as well as lectures and workshops at various conferences and institutions in Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and throughout the United States. He is the incoming Book Reviews Editor for TESOL Quarterly. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), and is charged with the task of developing a comprehensive definition of applied linguistics. URL: http://matsuda.jslw.org/

Date: 11.13.2009 Time: 1:30-2:30 P.M. Location: Coor L1-20

For more information, contact karen.lillie@asu.edu or taunalee.bradshaw@asu.edu

For information about the new Applied Linguistics Ph.D. program, visit http://appliedlinguistics.asu.edu

Labels: announcement, Talk at ASU

ASU Applied Linguistics Speaker Series, Jeff Bale, November 6th

The Applied Linguistics Speakers Series Announces:

Dr. Jeff Bale

“A Clever City Needs Everyone’s Talent” –

School Reform in Hamburg and its Pedagogical Implications

for German Language Learners

Starting in August, 2010, the school system in Hamburg, Germany will embark on a radical restructuring of their schools. School officials have justified these changes as a response to Germany’s poor showing on the last three rounds of the PISA exams. In particular, they have drawn attention to the strong correlation in Germany between social class, language background and results on the PISA. The central argument is, in their words, that “a clever city needs everyone’s talent” – that is, that changes to school structure and to pedagogy are required to ensure a more equitable education for what the PISA studies label "risk groups," including German language learners.

This presentation outlines a research proposal recently submitted to the Humboldt Foundation for funding. Adopting an interpretive perspective that understands educational policy as social practice, this study is broken in to two phases. The first focuses on how policy-relevant actors make sense of the stated goals and implementation of Hamburg’s reform policy itself. The second extends this interpretive analysis by using ethnographic methods to understand the impact of the reform policy on pedagogical practice in secondary schools in which German language learners comprise the majority of students.

About the Speaker:

Jeffrey Bale is an assistant professor of second language education. His research interests center on educational language policy analysis. Currently, his research investigates the impact of national security ideologies on heritage language education, especially programs for Arabic. His work also looks comparatively at the language education policies in the United States and Germany. As subject area leader for the world language teacher preparation program at Michigan State, he is working with colleagues in linguistics to establish a new Arabic teacher certification program.

Date: 11.06.2009 Time: 11:00-12:00 P.M. Location: Payne 129

For more information, contact karen.lillie@asu.edu or taunalee.bradshaw@asu.edu

For information about the new Applied Linguistics Ph.D. program, visit http://appliedlinguistics.asu.edu

Labels: announcement, Talk at ASU

Chris Faltis Talk: October 2, 2009

The Applied Linguistics Speakers Series Announces:

Dr. Christian J. Faltis

Artful Applied Linguistics

Theme: Art and Language Policy in the Southwest

Abstract. I am interested in the process of double-imaging (Springgay, Irwin, & Kind, 2005), interconnections within, between, and through art and text-based inquiry that allows audiences to vicariously and critically experience issues that affect Mexican immigrants and raise new questions about their (mis) treatment in schools and society. I will explore how the juxtaposition of art with text and the transmediation between the two contributes to a scholarship of inquiry that furthers understanding of the life experiences of English learners in Arizona schools where native languages other than English are suppressed.

I will discuss oil paintings I created on the topics of restrictive language policy as renderings that I connect with written excerpts (e.g., Aparicio, 2000; Gándara & Contreras, 2009; Faltis, 2007; Faltis & Coulter, 2005; Romero, 2006; & Valencia, 2008) about the same topics to show how art and text complement and extend one another to offer new understandings and meaning. Each painting depicts an issue that is also discussed in the written literature about immigration and restrictive language policy. I weave in my personal narrative as a language scholar of how and why I created each painting with text that I have either written myself or have drawn on as I thought about and conceptualized the forms and content I wanted to lay down on the painting to convey my lived experiences with restrictive language policy in Arizona as both a researcher and an artist.

Chris Faltis is the Dolly and David Fiddyment Professor of Education and Director of Teacher Education at UC Davis. Prior to coming to UC Davis, he served on the faculty of Arizona State University for 18 years. He has also taught at the University of Alabama and the University Nevada. Chris was a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, and a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2001, he received the American Educational Research Association’s Distinguished Scholar Award. Chris and co-author Cathy Coulter published the first book for teachers on improving instruction for high school English Learners. Recently, he co-authored a new book with Carole Edelsky and Karen Smith titled Side-by-Side Learning, a book for teachers who teach in classes where English learners are mixed with English speakers. He is currently completing a book with Beatriz Arias on restricted language policy in Arizona, and is co-editing a book with Guadalupe Valdés on immigrant, refugees and English learners. Chris is also an oil painter. His work has been shown in Arizona, Georgia, and Texas and addresses education themes related to Mexican immigrants in schools and the treatment of Mexican immigrants in the borderlands.