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Language of Identity, Language of Access

Liberatory Learning for Multilingual Classrooms

By: Michelle Benegas, Natalia Benjamin

This accessible guide is for ALL educators committed to empowering students with linguistic capital for social mobility while valuing and sustaining home languages.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781071909423
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2024
Page Count: 336
Publication date: August 28, 2024

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Description

Grow students’ linguistic capital AND value their home language

In Language of Identity, Language of Access, authors Michelle Benegas and Natalia Benjamin highlight the urgent need for a revolution in language education that validates home languages and dialects while equipping students with the linguistic tools for social mobility. Their original LILA framework rejects the socially constructed hierarchy of languages and provides students with a broader linguistic repertoire.

This accessible and teacher-friendly guide presents an overview of this liberatory approach to language and literacy, an exploration of linguistically sustaining and expanding instruction, and practical guidance on designing lessons that attend to the language of identity and the language of access. Additional recurring features include:

Voces provide real-life teacher experiences from the classroom
Reflecciónes encourage educators to consider how principles and ideas relate to current practice and promote translanguaging
Practical applications of theories (PATs) provide conceptual frameworks and lesson plans on various topics and activities.
End of Chapter Conversaciónes encourage dialogue and enable educators to implement concepts in their classrooms.

Offering a fresh perspective on academic language as a means to access power and social capital, Language of Identity, Language of Access is a guide for ALL educators committed to linguistically sustaining pedagogies and empowering students with linguistic capital for social mobility.

Author(s)

Michelle Benegas

Michelle Benegas, Ph.D., is an associate professor of TESOL at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A former secondary English Language (EL) teacher, her career began in a newcomer high school. She now prepares English language teachers, as well as general education teachers, to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students. She is co-author of Teacher Leadership for School-Wide English Learning (2020, TESOL Press), and co-creator of the School Wide English Learning (SWEL) Professional Development Series for TESOL Education. Benegas has prepared over 600 EL teacher leaders across the country. Her scholarly interests include EL teacher leadership, teacher leader identity, systemic approaches to improving EL services, and etymology.

Michelle Benegas works with educators! Learn more at benegasconsulting.com/

Natalia Benjamin

Natalia Benjamin, EdS is the Director of Multilingual Learning for Rochester Public Schools and prior to that, she taught high school Ethnic Studies and Multilingual Learners in Rochester, MN. She is dually licensed in K-12 ESL and reading and holds a master's degree in Language Acquisition and Teaching. She advocates for multilingual and multicultural education and is part of the Facing Inequities and Racism in Education - Racial Equity Advocates (FIRE-REA) program. She is also a trainer in Cultural Competency for Education Minnesota. She has been a member of several organizations that support teachers and students: Education Minnesota League of Latinx Educators, Employees of Color Resource Group and Rochester Education Association for her district, and the Women Issues Committee for the National Education Association. She is passionate about the liberation of marginalized students and works on important issues such as identity work, Heritage Speakers, and humanizing pedagogies in education. She is an active member of MinneTESOL and TESOL, and was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year in August, 2021. She has presented at the MELED conference in Minnesota, WITESOL conference, the WIDA conference and the MCTLC conference in Minnesota. She also works with districts nationwide to provide professional development and keynotes on multilingual learning topics.

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

How to Use This Book

A Note on Terminology

Part A: A Liberatory Approach to Language and Literacy in the Classroom

Chapter 1: It’s Time to Do Better - Moving beyond binary thinking about language in the classroom

Embracing Our Polarized Commitments: Finding Middle Ground

Positioning LILA: Challenging a Few of the “Fundamentals”

Language Teaching and Learning

“Additive” Approaches to Language Instruction

Code-Switching

Use of the Term “Academic Language”

The “Haley’s Comet Effect” in Education

Part B: Language of Identity: Practical Applications of Theory

Chapter 2: Foundations in the Language of Identity and Criticality

Language of Identity and Criticality

Using Foundational Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

Culturally Responsive Pedagogies: Identity and Criticality

Historically Responsive Literacy

Translanguaging

Raciolinguistic Ideologies

Community Cultural Wealth

Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors

Background on Language Domains

Chapter 3: Building the Language of Identity: Practical Applications of the Theory of Translanguaging

What is Translanguaging?

Using Mentor Texts

Chapter 4: Building the Language of Identity and Criticality: Practical Applications of Community Cultural Wealth

What is Communtity Cultural Wealth?

Chapter 5: Building the Language of Identity and Criticality: Practical Applications of Language Orientations

What are Language Orientations?

Orientations as a Text Analysis Tool

Part C: Language of Access: Practical Applications of Theory

Chapter 6: Foundations in the Language of Access

Functionalism and the Levels of Language

Planning for Functional Language Instruction through Noticing

Noticing at the Word Level: Phonology

Forecasting Text

Word-Level Text Scanning

Sentence-Level Text Scanning.

Discourse-Level Text Scanning.

Avoiding Unintentional Language Assessment

Designing Targeted Language Assessments

Chapter 7: Building the Language of Access: Practical Applications for Teaching Word-Level Language

Morphology

Word-Level Access Language Objective (ALO) Guide

Chapter 8: Building the Language of Access: Practical Applications for Teaching Sentence-Level Language

Sentence-Level Access Language Objectives

Chapter 9: Building the Language of Access: Practical Applications for Teaching Discourse-Level Language

Discourse-Level Access Language Objectives

Part D: LILA: Putting it all Together

Chapter 10: Planning for LILA in the classroom

Classroom Inventory: Language of Identity and Criticality

Classroom Inventory: Language of Access

LILA School-Wide Inventory

Reviews

"There is an emerging trend to challenge current language learning settings and to dismantle linguistic supremacy, but there is a lack of clear, accessible translation of these ideas into meaningful, teacher-friendly resources. This book accomplishes just that!"

Andrea Honigsfeld
Professor, Author Consultant, Molloy University, NY

"It is refreshing that Benegas and Benjamin build on the construct of academic language as an entrée to the power and social capital of English rather than dismiss these tenets of language education outright. The newer ideologies posed here that are associated with language as a window to access and language as a portal to identity allow us to envision firsthand the evolution of our thinking on what constitutes linguistic and cultural sustainability and its expansion for multilingual learners in schools today."

Margo Gottlieb
Educator, WIDA

“This is a must read for anyone who is committed to empowering multilingual students, validating their native language, and learning how to take an Anti-Oppressive Approach to Language in the classroom. Our students’ native language must be as advantage!”

Jennifer Dickerson
Dual Language Teacher, NYDOE

"As an educator, I have seen the disconnect between teachers and students in regards to language barriers. From how students either struggle transitioning from their home language to language that is more acceptable in the formal school setting. LILA sheds light on what language of identity, language of access practices that exist in our world today with our EL and ML populations."

Amanda Austin
Principal/ School Leader, Iberville Parish School Board, LA

"This book will provide teachers and school administrators with a current understanding of how language may provide a barrier for student learning and growth, and how it can be used for positive outcomes, and inclusivity. LILA moves the needle to help teachers understand language use and acceptance of home languages of their students. It is about time!"

Dr. Laura Metcalfe
School Administrator and Post-secondary professor, Grand Canyon University, AZ

"This is a timely book with wonderful connection of literacy development and equity. The practical examples and templates bridge theory into professional practice and provide a much needed start for teachers.

Louis Lim, Ed.D.
Principal, Bur Oak Secondary School, Canada

"The politics of language and identity are becoming more topical, and it is reaffirming the realization that language and cultural identity are one intertwined package. This book drives forward two, topical, social justice issues- the language of identity, and the language of access, and the message is supported by decades of proven teaching resources. This book is a teacher’s delight, and it demonstrates the Practical Application of Theory (PAT) for teachers who want to make a difference in their students’ lives. And, importantly, it has international application."

Dr Neil MacNeill PhD, EdD, FACEL
Teacher, Mentor, Author, Ellenbrook Primary School, Australia

"The book is a necessary work to support ML teachers and students. It provides a clear, reasoned guidance that supports not only bilingual teachers, but general education teachers as well."

Catherine Sosnowski
Adjunct Professor, Central CT State University