"Students who speak a language other than English at home and enter the US public schools come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. Research describes the difficulties these students face within a school structure that is designed for European-American native English speakers. Within the conversation surrounding school reform, teachers are often referred to as indispensable agents of educational change. Teachers are important agents of change within the school system, but the focus on them as individual agents of change is problematic. Most teacher education focuses on teacher attitudes, beliefs and perspectives: the studies described illustrate teachers's actions in specific contexts but fail to explain these actions within the context of the school structures and national/community discourse. The dissertation involved case study research of four teachers from one high school who entered a university English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement program through a federal grant. This research documents and analyzes their experiences over a 3-year period. While all four teachers expressed concern over the ineffective and inequitable ESL program at their high school, changes to better address the needs of English Language Learners did not occur individually; rather, change occurred collectively through the formation of a teacher group and through developing counter discourse to a dominant national/community discourse. The research reveals how larger national and community discourses impacted decisions made by the teachers and administration and how teachers were both enabled and constrained in their efforts to change the existing program"--Leaves [iv]-v.

This book follows a group of teachers who worked to create a program that supported their students' native languages and funds of knowledge, finding that structures within the school and discourses from other teachers, administrators, and the nation/community both constrained/enabled the teachers to create an equitable learning environment.

This book discusses the significance of teaching working-class linguistic minority students academic discourse styles necessary for success in school and describes one teacher's attempts to do so. It is for all those educators who are faced with issues of language, race, and class.

An exploration of the relationship between language ideologies and media discourse, together with the methods and techniques required for the analysis of this relationship.

Addresses the complex & divisive issues at the heart of the debate over language diversity & the English Only movement in U.S. education. Offers a range of perspectives that teachers & literacy advocates can use to inform practice as well as policy.

Cochran-Smith (2005) in a synthesis of the qualities that make for successful teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse students found that several qualities related to embracing multilingual language practices. So how do student teachers embrace multilingual practices if they subscribe to dominant language ideologies such as those that underlie Proposition 227 in California (restricting bilingual education)?

How do educators balance the rights of the rapidly growing percentage of the United States' population whose first language is not English or whose English differs from standard usage with the rights of the majority of students whose first and generally only language is English? This two-volume set addresses the complicated and divisive issues at the heart of the debate over language diversity and the English Only movement in the U.S. public education. Blending social, political, and legal analyses of the ideologies of language with perspectives on the impact of the English Only movement on education and on classrooms at all levels, Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement offers a wide range of perspectives that teachers and literacy advocates can use to inform practice as well as policy. This exhaustive, two-volume collection not only updates existing information on the English Only movement in the United States, but also includes the international context, looking at the emergence of English as a world language through a postcolonial lens. The complexity of the debate is also reflected in the exceptionally diverse list of contributors, who speak from varying disciplines and backgrounds including sociology, linguistics, university administration, the ACLU, law, ESL, and English. Both volumes explore the political, legislative, and social implications of language ideologies. Volume 1: Education and the Social Implications of Official Language focuses in particular on the consequences for the classroom. In Volume 2: History, Theory, and Policy, the focus is on the implications for policymakers and language-program administrators.

This collection of essays addresses the complicated and divisive issues at the heart of the debate over language diversity and the English Only movement in United States public education. Blending social, political, and legal analyses of the ideologies of language with perspectives on the impact of the English Only movement on education and in classrooms at all levels, the collection offers a wide range of perspectives that teachers and literacy advocates can use to inform practice as well as policy. In the first section, Update, the following essays are featured: (1) "The Demographics of Diversity in the United States" (Dorothy Waggoner); (2) "Proposition 227: A New Phase of the English Only Movement" (James Crawford); and (3) "The Politics of English Only in the United States: Historical, Social, and Legal Aspects" (Carol Schmid). In the second section, Research and Politics, these essays are featured: (4) "Treating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity as a Resource: The Research Response to the Challenges Inherent in the Improving America's Schools Act and California's Proposition 227" (Eugene E. Garcia); (5) "'The Younger, the Better' Myth and Bilingual Education" (Thomas Scovel); and (6) "Bilingual Education: The Debate Continues" (Stephen D. Krashen). The third section, Politics, Economy, and the Classroom, contains the following essays: (7) "English Only and ESL Instruction: Will It Make a Difference?" (Elliot L. Judd); (8) "When Pedagogy Meets Politics: Challenging English Only in Adult Education" (Elsa Roberts Auerbach); and (9) "Which English Skills Matter to Immigrants? The Acquisition and Value of Four English Skills" (Arturo Gonzalez). The fourth section, What Difference Does Difference Make? contains these essays: (10) "That's Not My Language: The Struggle To (Re)Define African American English" (Rosina Lippi-Green); (11) "Of Spanish Dispossessed" (Frances R. Aparicio); (12) "From 'Bad Attitudes' to(ward) Linguistic Pluralism: Developing Reflective Language Policy among Preservice Teachers" (Gail Y. Okawa); (13) "Between the Lines: Reconciling Diversity and Standard English" (Victoria Cliett); and (14) "Transcultural Rhetorics for Cultural Survival" (Louise Rodriguez Connal). Concludes with: "Afterword: On English Only" (Victor Villanueva). (NKA)

In this controversial work, Herv Varenne and Ray McDermott explore education as cultural phenomenona construct of artifice and reality we impose upon ourselves. Questioning how the American education system defines and measures success and failure, Successful Failure is a must-read for anyone interested in educational reform, the American educational system, and the anthropology of education. }In this controversial work, Herv Varenne and Ray McDermott explore education as cultural phenomenona construct of artifice and reality we impose upon ourselves. The authors discuss in five case studies how the American education system defines and measures success and failure, why there is polarization between suburban schools and urban schools, and what about our system leads us to focus on the negative. Their exploration focuses not on the people or the activities of the system, but on the institutions themselves: who decided what was a success or failure? How was the identification done, and with what consequences?This important and timely book is a must-read for anyone interested in educational reform, the American educational system, and the anthropology of education.

This volume critically examines the effects of the spread of English from colonialism to the ‘New World Order’. The research explores the complex and often contradictory roles English has played in national development. Historical analyses and case studies by leading researchers in language policy studies reveal that deterministic relationships between imperial languages, such as English, and societal hierarchies are untenable, and that support of vernacular languages in education and public life can serve diverse ideologies and political agendas. Areas and countries investigated include Europe, North America, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. The role of theory in language policy scholarship and practice is critically evaluated. A variety of research methodologies is used, ranging from macro-sociopolitical and structural analyses to postmodern approaches. The work collectively represents a new direction in language policy studies.