/College of Arts and Sciences
Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Communication

Language Justice As A Teacher

1a. Course design 

Questions to ask when we design a course in relation to language justice in the classroom, in all disciplines. 

  1. How important are language and communication skills in our course? How are we going to help students achieve the goals that are most relevant to our course? 
  2. Have we set implicit expectations concerning language (standards) and writing proficiencies which are built into our course but are not part of the primary learning objectives?  Will these expectations disadvantage any groups of students, such as speakers of varieties of English different from the “standard” English, or speakers of two or more  languages? 
  3. How can we make our language expectations explicit to our students? In our syllabus? 
  4. Are we knowledgeable about the language repertoires, capabilities and practices of our students (inside and outside the classroom)? How can we appreciate, foster, and help mobilize their language repertoires in the interest of their learning and growth? 
  5. Should we cater our language expectations to the specific student bodies that we teach? Should we adjust our expectations to different courses by level, nature, and objectives? 
  6. How much energy and emphasis do we put on  language issues such as lexical, syntactic, and stylistic conventions? And how much space do we allow for investment of teaching time, encouragement of students to pay attention or make efforts, allocation of course credit (if you teach/support), etc? 
  7. What course content are we selecting toward the goal of enhancing language/communication skills? 
  8. How much credit will students receive for meeting the language and communication expectations in our grade breakdown? How does our teaching help them achieve those goals and receive the grades? 
  9. Are we marking down our students because they fall below our expectations of their language competence rather than not learning what the course teaches them? In other words, do we test what we didn’t explicitly teach?  
  10.  How can we update and improve our current courses, in light of our students’ language needs and language rights: what to do, not do, or do differently?  
  11. Finally, we might want to consider adding an explicit  language and diversity statement to our syllabus.  Here is an example:

 

A Note on Language and Diversity: The ability to use different languages and/or varieties of English is very useful in life, society, and professions; I recognize and promote this ability as such in this course. I encourage you to choose and use any English(es), including Standard Written English, and other languages (along with the rhetorical, cultural, and epistemological resources they provide) in the process of completing any task/assignment. You can draw on the resources of other languages/varieties even when the final product must be in standardized English. I want you to learn to consider rhetorical factors such as context, audience, medium, and purpose of communication for freely choosing and using different languages/varieties and resources they give you access to–both for effective learning and to engage diverse audiences as an educated person. I add this note because I want us to foster respect for, and promote, all languages and cultures, as well as identities and value systems–our own and each others’. 

-Shyam Sharma

1b. Assignments and Activities 

Here are some suggestions wen may consider when designing and implementing course assignments and class activities:  

  1. In introductory activities, ask students what languages they speak, where they learned and use them, and what the languages say about them. 
  2. When relevant, assign texts that address translingual situations, different cultures and epistemologies, as well as less familiar issues and contexts. 
  3. Encourage students to feel free to use any of their languages while taking notes in class or during research or  reading, while discussing their ideas with peers, for developing outlines, and for writing early drafts. 
  4. As feasible and relevant to course objectives, require or encourage (and reward) students to research studies, published sources, archival materials, interviews, surveys, and any other resources from relevant languages and societies/cultures; ask students to compare research done in different contexts. 
  5. Encourage students to make multilingual/multicultural materials they use in their projects accessible to others by translating them into English both literally and contextually. 
  6. When students do presentations, assure them that they may use words and expressions as well as images and examples that are drawn from any of the languages and societies/cultures that they are familiar with– and invite them to include translations for their audience. 
  7. In peer review or other group activities, remind students to pay attention to and appreciate differences in word choice,  idioms, perspectives, assumptions, as well as rhetorical styles. 
  8. If language, culture, or epistemology is a key component in your teaching, ask students to identify and reflect upon  words, idioms, and figurative expressions in different languages that are not easily translatable to others. This activity will enable nuanced conversations about different cultures–as well as fostering students’ pride in their languages, cultures, and identities. 
  9. Encourage students to research keywords about the relevant discipline, course, or assignment in different languages. Facilitate discussion about the terms’ meanings as well as the material and social/cultural contexts behind them.  
  10. Assign papers in which students can write about issues of global/transcultural significance and/or consider any issue from transcultural perspectives. 
  11. Engage students in reading about rhetorical traditions and practices across cultures. 

 

1c. Pedagogy

As teachers, we may also adopt some of the following strategies:

  1. Create a learning environment where students know that linguistic diversity is valued and promoted, not punished. 
  2. Use translingualism to foster students’ educational and professional growth by promoting intellectual curiosity and interest in human issues across nations and cultures, in perspectives and value systems beyond geopolitical borders, and in global citizenship. 
  3. Foster rhetorical linguistic competence/agency by encouraging and helping students to select the language(s) that best help them communicate, learn, and be themselves.
  4. Allow  students to decide what language they want to use, when and with whom and why. 
  5. Demonstrate the benefit of  using a person’s entire linguistic repertoire by modeling multilingual/translingual communication by talking about your own and by discussing linguistic diversity as a positive and productive phenomenon. 
  6. Promote an open language policy, or a policy of accepting any and all languages except when a certain language is required for a specific purpose. 
  7. Here is a pair of blog posts on facilitating academic transition and classroom engagement for international students, (some issues about language are addressed in the context of cross-cultural educational adjustment for international students). For a quick summary, you can also view the handout webpage version on international student adjustment
  8. Here’s another pair of blog posts on bringing transnational/global issues and perspectives into the college classroom (including through translingual activities).
  9. Support students with academic skills, including by creating a welcoming environment for them who may be daunted by academic language and academic culture of your class/institution; facilitate their learning by making the transition/navigation accessible. Here is a handout on how to make the learning transition accessible for international students; note that these strategies can also enhance access for domestic students. 
  10. Pay attention to the language dimension of your teaching practices, whatever the discipline and topic of your teaching. Here are two useful documents on the importance of being aware of language diversity:    
  11. Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World 
  12. Reframing Language Education for a Global Future 

1d. Assessment 

When setting or marking assessments, consider what role we are assigning to language in relation to the learning outcome and why: 

  1. Do not expect or demand “perfection” in our students’ language performance. Language learning is a process: even when language proficiency is the curricular goal, consider the benefits of not focusing on “correctness” only. Achieving clear, concise, and correct communicative ability is a long, ongoing journey– and demanding it all at once or punishing less than perfect proficiency is counterproductive. Strictly speaking, there is also no universal definition of what is “clear” or “correct” communication.
  2. Clear and effective communication are learning goals in language/writing courses and are also desirable in other courses. However, the demand for clarity often acts as a proxy for social and political processes of exclusion and domination:  
    1. Students make rhetorical decisions to use varieties and vernaculars of English; academia should be a place to teach and foster this ability.
    2. The ability to use different “accents,” styles, genres, modes, and languages enhances communication in both community and professions.
    3. We should be aware of potential, implicit bias towards students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, which may be a result of our socially acquired views, institutional policies, or disciplinary culture.
  3. Allocate a specific amount of credit for language/editing issues, reflecting the relative importance of learning objectives. Once decided, stick to it: do not allow language to become the main or sole criterion used in evaluating students’ work.
  4. Don’t allocate much or any credit for grammar issues when polished language is not a significant course or assignment objective (for example in a lab report or personal narrative). 
  5. Don’t let “lingering language issues” distract usus or our students from teaching/learning focus/priority; research shows that we all take 3-7 years (some say up to 11) to learn and eliminate grammatical lapses when using a new language to do complex tasks. 
  6. Continue to learn about the varieties and accents students use in both speech and writing; “accent” in writing is not the lack of “academese” but rather the presence of variations in wording, syntax, or current/local/disciplinary usage. 
  7. Educate students about genres, contexts, or audiences that demand careful editing and teach them relevant language items as part of course and assignment objectives; on the other hand, encourage them to NOT focus on language if it undermines other objectives
  8. Refer students to relevant support on campus instead of using punishment as a prompt for learning. 
  9. Watch out for implicit language bias (negative and positive) creeping into our assessment, leading us to ignore non-language weaknesses (or strengths) when we see language problems (or strengths).
  10. Help students to find patterns of their own linguistic errors or stylistic weaknesses (relative to the kind of language/style they mean to or should use in the given text); teach them to draft and revise text. 
  11. Use track-change or suggesting mode (or marginal comments) to offer one or more alternatives – instead of simply underlining or circling “problems”; even in a language/grammar course, instructors should not assume ignorance or carelessness and instead should alert the writer to a language item (if it is relevant to the assessment at hand). 

1e. Mentorship 

Mentorship is a key element in building community and a powerful tool to promote inclusive attitudes and behavior. As a mentor:

  1. Foster multilingual/translingual learning processes and environments as a mentor.  
  2. Inspire your mentees, whether students or colleagues, to be their full multilingual and multicultural selves. 
  3. Be a mentor to your students. Share your own experiences in learning language(s) and how to use them effectively. Do not be afraid to discuss anxieties, difficulties or moments in which you felt language diversity led to discrimination.
  4. Encourage peer-to-peer mentoring among your students. Create safe spaces for them to discuss their linguistic repertoires, the way in which these relate to their personal and professional identity, their language anxieties, their positive experiences of inclusion
  5. In your responsibilities for departmental or wider unit policies and practices, make sure linguistic awareness and language justice are an integral part of mentoring briefs and other forms of peer support across your unit.
  6. As a mentor for colleagues, make your language biography and repertoire a part of your mentoring conversations; also discuss your assumptions and practices about language. How do your language skills and how you mobilize them contribute to who and where you are and how others see you? Acknowledge the privilege languages offer, as well as discussing barriers you or your mentee may be facing. 
  7. Develop new mentoring and co-mentoring support networks with a focus on language and linguistic justice. Share teaching practices and strategies with colleagues both within your own discipline and in cognate ones (or even further afield) focusing on language rather than on discipline-bound elements of your teaching. 
  8. Start a self-reflexive diary/note-taking on your own language practices, how you respond to language use, your students’ responses to how you language in classroom situations, the outcomes of any changes you make: what works and what doesn’t? 
  9. In all mentoring contexts, allow time and a dedicated space for reflection on how language is used in establishing and maintaining the mentor/mentee relationship, and also in creating and disseminating knowledge or in engaging with diverse stakeholders of knowledge/education.