Enrich International Perspectives about Language and Reading Development

Min WangGate Fellow 2011

Transform an Undergraduate Course

EDHD 425: Language Development and Reading Acquisition

Core course for all educational major students My primary undergraduate teaching commitment Introduction to the basic concepts and principles

in language and reading in young children For example, phonemes, graphemes, morphemes

are fundamental for understanding language and reading

Differences across Writing Systems

Writing systems: select units of language system for mapping (e.g., Perfetti, 1999)

Alphabetic system selects phonemes mountain Syllabary system selects syllables Logographic system selects words

The Chinese writing system Logographic, or morpho-syllabic nature (DeFrancis, ‘89;

Mattingly, ‘92; Perfetti & Zhang, ‘95)

Basic unit is the character Each character maps onto a monosyllabic morpheme Pronounced as a syllable: onset + rime + tone

huo3

Chinese: a Logographic System

No grapheme-phoneme correspondence

/huo/3

c a t

/k/ /æ/ /t/

• Visual and graphic processing skills are shown to be crucial in early learning to read Chinese (e.g., Huang & Hanley, 1994).

A Case Study Project on ESL Students

The first hand experience to work with children with different first language backgrounds

Indo-European languages: e.g., Spanish, French, German, Italian…

Asian languages: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai…

What to do?

Select a second language or bilingual child

Choose one language or reading aspect (e.g., phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, spelling, pragmatic skill, etc.)

Design a study method (e.g., observation, interview with parents or teachers, a little test or experiment, etc.)

Focus on

Comparison of the child’s ability to perceive and produce the two languages or to read and spell them

The interaction between the two languages

Is there any interference from the first to the second language?

Or any facilitation

Four Steps

First step:

proposal writing and group discussion

Second step:

data collection

Third step:

power point presentation to the whole class

Fourth step:

final paper submission

Transform a Graduate Course

EDHD 779Q: Bilingualism and Biliteracy Acquisition

More international perspectives in reading materials and course assignments

Add one week of reading and discussion on bilingual and biliteracy educational programs across different countries

Thinking globally through the lens of social studies

and arts education

Re/Considering the visual landscape: The necessary link between

aesthetic awareness and civic mindedness

Drs. Margaret Walker and Lisa Eaker

“The culture of good place-making, like the culture of farming, or agriculture, is a body of knowledge and acquired skills. It is not bred in the bone, and if it is not transmitted from one generation to the next, it is lost.”

~Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere

This course seeks to address and to cultivate:

Informed public = aesthetically astute public

relationship between public spaces/gathering places and the way our societies are developed.

Social Studies Education + Art Education = aesthetic understanding of place

“A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. The extension in space of the number of individuals who participate in an interest so that each has to refer his own action to that of others, and to consider the action of others to give point and direction to his own, is equivalent to the breaking down of those barriers of class, race, and national territory which kept men from perceiving the full import of their activity.”

~John Dewey– Democracy and Education

Ann R. EdwardsDepartment of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership

Center for Mathematics EducationGATE Fellow 2011

Goals of GATE Experience

Increase awareness of and improve understandings of Asian immigrants’ STEM education experiences through collaboration, research and teaching.

Support elementary PSTs’ understanding of cross cultural and transnational differences in beliefs about mathematics, mathematics ability, mathematics learning and mathematics teaching.

Asian American immigrant educational experience (STEM)

Asian immigrants’ STEM education experiences are seriously underexamined in educational research

Sought to better understand existing literature and reasons for lack of attention

Built relationships with faculty here at UMD and at other institutions who specialize in Asian American Studies, immigration history, and Asian cultural studies

Asian American immigrant educational experience (STEM)

Chairing two AA STEM education related dissertation projects

Minjung Ryu: Korean immigrant students’ negotiation of identity in their school experiences (particularly as related to science learning).

Senfeng Liang: Chinese immigrant parental involvement in their children’s mathematics education

Asian American immigrant educational experience (STEM)

Intersection of immigration history, race, class, culture and language in (Asian) immigrant students’ negotiation of their identities as students in U.S. schools.

Implications for designing and promoting equitable instructional practices (in STEM), educating educational leadership on Asian American diversity and experience, and promoting family and community resources for schooling.

Cross-cultural understandings of mathematics learning in

elementary TE To expose elementary PSTs to understandings

of math and math learning/teaching from other cultural contexts.

To foster critical examination of the discourses and beliefs that structure mathematics education in the US, including their own experiences as math students.

To broaden their notions of how mathematics could and ought to be taught.

Cross-cultural understandings of mathematics learning in

elementary TE Modules within a strand of math methods focused on

social, cultural and policy contexts shaping elementary mathematics teaching: Effort and Ability in Mathematics Learning

Research-based readings about the impact of beliefs about the importance of effort vs. ability in mathematics learning

Central theme of readings was differences between Asian countries (e.g., China and Japan) and the U.S. and implications for math teaching and learning

Interview students or teacher; Write an analysis and reflective response; Share and discuss via online DB

Cross-cultural understandings of mathematics learning in

elementary TE Many students wrote that this was the first time they

had thought about cultural differences in thinking about learning and education

Many students demonstrated solid understandings about cultural differences in beliefs about mathematics

Some demonstrated a convincing grasp of how beliefs shape teaching, assessment and curriculum.

Less translation of this knowledge into critical reflection of their own perspectives and practices.

Cross-cultural understandings of mathematics learning in

elementary TE Importance of direct contact with people and

situations from other cultures

Communication between my students and teachers and students from other countries (e.g., Fulbright program, social media)

Pedagogical cases (written or video-based) of mathematics teaching from other countries