Forthcoming Publications
Special Issue of The Reading Matrix– Voices from the Margins: Second Language Acquisition Research in Periphery Communities
I am currently co-editing a special issue of The Reading Matrix with Suresh Canagarajah focusing on applied linguistics research conducted in peripheral communities such as Native American reservations and developing countries. The issue explores the theoretical, political, and ethical implications of English globalization on applied linguistics scholarship. The issue is scheduled for publication in the summer 2010.
“Texts & Counter Texts: Service-Learning, Literature, and Human Rights.” Approaches to Teaching Human Rights and Literature. Eds. Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg and Ali Schultheis. New York: MLA, forthcoming.
Although increasingly common in numerous disciplines, service-learning occurs less frequently in literature courses. This article will provide a review the available literature to suggest that the integration of service-learning, literature, and human rights may indeed be replete with pedagogical potential. I will argue that we can interrupt the systems of oppression in society by offering students “counter-texts” (Pietrykowski; Wurr) to the stereotypes created by the dominant discourse. By addressing human rights through engaged scholarship, I believe we can and must move toward an egalitarian, inclusive society in which material and intellectual resources are available to all.
“Composing Cultural Diversity and Civic Literacy: English Language Learners as Service Providers.” Reflections: A Journal of Writing, Service Learning and Community Literacy 8.1. (in press).
This paper reports on recent research investigating the effects of service-learning on linguistically and culturally diverse college students enrolled in a first-year composition course. Two separate studies, a pilot and main study involving native (NS) and non-native (NNS) English speaking college students, explore how students from diverse sociolinguistic backgrounds respond to and gain from service-learning. The results were mixed, with the initial study indicating NNS students often experience more difficulty finding and successfully completing work in the community while the main study found a similar group of NNS students to expect and gain more from service-learning activities than a comparative group of NS students. Implications for introducing diverse student populations to service-learning activities are discussed in light of these findings.