CLA Faculty Works
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/87853
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Browsing CLA Faculty Works by Author "Fitzsimmons-Doolan, Shannon"
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Item 21st century ideological discourses about US migrant education that transcend registers(2023) Fitzsimmons-Doolan, ShannonWidely distributed and often repeated discursive patterns which represent migrants can influence the education of migrant students (Calavita, 1996; Cutler, 2017; Dabach et al., 2017; Santa Ana, 2002). Ideological discourses (e.g., immigrants are threats) are particularly potent structures mediating language, cognition, and social life. Yet, while there has been a recent increase in studies of texts on the topic of migration generally, there are few that focus on the intersection of migration and education or on discursive patterns that transcend registers. This study introduces a multidimensional analysis approach for the identification of ideological discourses from a 9 million-word corpus of 21st century, US texts about migrant education from multiple registers (online comments; national and regional newspaper texts; and federal and state government webpages) using the distribution of lexical variables that characterize variants of migrant/migration. Eleven ideological discourses (e.g., US immigration policies are problematic, but there is no consensus for solutions) were found. Of these, several had not been previously identified, one confirmed a previously identified discourse, and several complemented and extended previously identified discursive patterns on this topic. Together, these findings reveal the highly naturalized ideologically discursive landscape that shapes educational opportunities for US migrant students.Item Double the work: Challenges and solutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adolescent English language learners(2007) Short, Deborah J.; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, ShannonDespite the growing societal awareness of the need for interventions and programs to increase literacy levels of adolescents, education policymakers and school reformers have mostly overlooked the needs of the large and growing English language learner (ELL) population. Though recent reports have helped to focus attention on the adolescent literacy crisis, they offer very little guidance on how best to meet the varied and challenging literacy needs of adolescent ELLs. In virtually every part of the country, middle and high schools are now seeing expanding enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. Rising numbers of immigrants, other demographic trends, and the demands of an increasingly global economy make it clear that the nation can no longer afford to ignore the pressing needs of the ELLs in its middle and high schools who are struggling with reading, writing, and oral discourse in a new language. Although many strategies for supporting literacy in native English speakers are applicable to adolescent ELLs, there are significant differences in the way that successful literacy interventions for the latter group should be designed and implemented. These differences have serious implications for teachers, instructional leaders, curriculum designers, administrators, and policymakers at all levels of government. Moreover, because adolescent ELLs are a diverse group of learners in terms of their educational backgrounds, native language literacy, socioeconomic status, and more, some strategies will work for certain ELLs but not for others. It should be understood that adolescent ELLs are second language learners who are still developing their proficiency in academic English. Moreover, they are learning English at the same time they are studying core content areas through English. Thus, English language learners must perform double the work of native English speakers in the country’s middle and high schools. And, at the same time, they are being held to the same accountability standards as their native English-speaking peers. To bring the issues and challenges confronting adolescent ELLs into clearer focus, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), working on behalf of Carnegie Corporation of New York, convened a panel of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in the field to offer their expertise (see list in Appendix A).The panel agreed to a focus on academic literacy, that which is most crucial for success in school, and defined the term in the following way: Includes reading, writing, and oral discourse for school • Varies from subject to subject • Requires knowledge of multiple genres of text, purposes for text use, and text media • Is influenced by students’ literacies in contexts outside of school • Is influenced by students’ personal, social, and cultural experiences The panel identified six major challenges to improving the literacy of ELLs: • Lack of common criteria for identifying ELLs and tracking their academic performance • Lack of appropriate assessments • Inadequate educator capacity for improving literacy in ELLs • Lack of appropriate and flexible program options • Inadequate use of research-based instructional practices • Lack of a strong and coherent research agenda about adolescent ELL literacy During the course of the project, CAL researchers reviewed the literature on adolescent ELL literacy and conducted site visits to three promising programs. In addition, a sub-study was commissioned from researchers at the Migration Policy Institute to collect and analyze valuable information on the demographic trends and academic achievement of ELLs. At the conclusion of the process, the panel recommended an array of different strategies for surmounting the six challenges by making changes in day-to-day teaching practices, professional training, research, and educational policy. As a result, each “challenge” section in the body of this report is followed by an extensive “potential solutions” discussion. With the small but growing research base on the best practices for developing adolescent ELL literacy becoming more widely disseminated through increased dialogue among educators, researchers, and policymakers, the right strategies for helping these students attain their full potential are being determined. For example, policymakers should consider the following: • Tightening the existing definition of Limited English Proficient (LEP) and former LEP students in Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to ensure that states use identical criteria to designate LEP students and to determine which students are to be considered Fluent English Proficient (FEP) • Developing new and improved assessments of the adolescent ELLs’ native language abilities, English language development, and content knowledge learning • Setting a national teacher education policy to ensure all teacher candidates learn about second language and literacy acquisition, reading across the content areas, and sheltered instruction and ESL methods • Adjusting school accountability measures under NCLB to avoid penalizing districts and schools that allow ELL students to take more than the traditional 4 years to complete high school successfully Encouraging the use of proven and promising instruction for ELLs in schools • Funding and conducting more short- and long-term research on new and existing interventions and programs, and on the academic performance of these adolescent ELLs Although the potential solutions in this report are not exhaustive, they are meant to provide a sound starting point for better addressing the needs of ELLs in the nation’s schools. Moreover, by helping ELLs learn and perform more effectively in school, America’s educational system and society as a whole will be strengthened and enriched.Item Language policies and Englishes in the United States(2024) Fitzsimmons-Doolan, ShannonThis article provides an overview of language policies governing U.S. Englishes (e.g., African American English, Appalachian English, Hawai’ian (Creole/Pidgin) English, and standard/mainstream American English). Several dominant language ideologies, such as the standard language ideology, strongly shape the language policy context for Englishes in the United States. The domains of educational language policy, workplace language policy, and the legal system are explored—revealing layers of institutionalized, covert policies that acknowledge widespread multilectal practices to varying degrees. Recognition and explicit legitimization of such practices through language policies can mitigate some aspects of linguistic discrimination. However, in the US, legal frameworks bound to categories such as race and national origin as well as those that do not incorporate intra-linguistic variation are obstacles to such interventions.Item Shifting linguistic patterns in oyster restoration news articles surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster(2023-03-29) Fitzsimmons-Doolan, Shannon ; Pollack, Jennifer BeseresPopulations of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica are declining globally. With the loss of oysters, sustainable provision of natural resources and ecosystem services are also threatened. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill became the largest marine oil spill in history, imperiling coastal and marine habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. Whereas ecological restoration serves as an important tool in natural resource management, its success depends on achieving ecological objectives and meeting public expectations. However, little is known about how the public perceives ecological restoration—even less in the context of disasters. It has long been understood that mass media messaging helps shape public understanding. Documenting patterned representation of oyster restoration in mass media texts can help set goals, improve stakeholder communication, and ensure required support for restoration activities. To address this goal, this study asks, does newspaper language on the topic of oyster reef restoration change in relation to an environmental disaster? If so, how? A 1.1 million-word Deepwater Horizon Oyster Restoration (DHORN) Corpus—a comprehensive body of newspaper articles about oyster restoration from 3 national and 18 gulf-state newspapers—was developed for the period April 2008–April 2014. The distribution and deployment of collocates of OYSTER* across three DHORN subcorpora delimited by time (pre-, during, and postDeepwater Horizon oil spill) were compared through iterative quantitative and qualitative analysis. Examination of salient collocates in use over time indicated an increase in the representation of oysters as quantifiable entities during/postDWH; at the same time, there was a decrease in the representation of the roles of OYSTER* in the Gulf ecosystem. Furthermore, multiple propositions associating oysters and oyster restoration activity with DWH and oil spills were introduced into language use by the disaster and persisted for years afterwards. This association was not present pre-DWH. Understanding shifts in linguistic patterns of oyster restoration in news articles before, during, and after Deepwater Horizon can be used to deliberately refine communication between the conservation community and both journalists and policymakers to promote conservation initiatives.Item Taxpaying, importing, enforcing: Emerging discourse patterns in online newspaper comments about U.S. immigrant education(Cardiff University Press, 2019-11-15) Fitzsimmons-Doolan, ShannonRecent scholarship suggests that social norms are becoming more permissive of prejudicial talk about immigrants in the United States (Crandall, Miller, & White, 2018). This is in keeping with trends observed internationally (e.g., Krzyżanowski, 2018; Vollmer & Karakayali, 2018). Past studies of discourse about immigration in the United States have identified a number of patterns — most notably those relating immigrants to threat (e.g., Santa Ana, 2002) — though some have found patterns framing immigration as beneficial (e.g., Strauss, 2012). This study explores discursive patterns about immigrant education in online comments from American newspapers. It focuses on change exhibited by exploring salient lexical and thematic patterns in 2016 comments relative to such patterns in 2009 comments. Using a corpus linguistics design, keyword, thematic, and other analytical techniques were applied to identify and describe the most prominent new patterns in the 2016 comments. Seven themes, through which immigration was framed negatively, emerged as new and salient in 2016. The article also includes discussion of cross-thematic patterns (e.g., a zero-sum framework) identified in the analysis.