About this Event
The M.A. Educational Transformation and the Program in Education, Inquiry & Justice invite you to a series on "Challenging Inequities in English Learner Education" featuring Dr. María Cioè-Peña (Montclair State University) and Dr. Laura Ascenzi-Moreno (CUNY-Brooklyn College).
Friday, December 3, 5:00pm-6:30pm ET
Intercultural Center 101
Georgetown University
This in-person event is limited to members of the Georgetown University community and non-Georgetown University members who can provide proof of vaccination. Attendance will be taken at the door. To watch a virtual livestream of the event, please visit .
For questions or accommodations, contact Anne Musica at [email protected].
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s School: Interrogating Settler Colonial Logics in Language Education
María Cioè-Peña, PhD
Racialized students are overrepresented in special and English learner education programs in the United States. Researchers have pointed to implicit bias in evaluation tools and evaluators as a cause resulting in calls for more culturally competent/relevant practices/assessments. However, this paper argues that racial overrepresentation is reflective of larger settler colonial frameworks embedded in linguistic standards that continue to drive education and language ideologies/practices globally but especially in the U.S. schools. First, through an analysis of an orthoepic test used during the Parsley Massacre, I present how the evaluation of accented language has been used to racialize and pathologize people. Secondly, through a comparative analysis of bilingualism in the U.S. and Canada, I show how linguistic variation is only devalued when it emerges from marginalized communities, affirming the white normative gaze as a mechanism for maintaining inequitable power structures. Finally, the talk presents how these logics are present in current manifestations of bilingual education. By indicating how racially-, physically- and/or neurodivergent people are othered, this paper calls on the decolonization of applied linguistics in order to effectively address the over- and disproportionate representation of Black, Indigenous, and/or Latinx students within Special and English Learner programs.
Why a Theory of Reading Is a Social Justice Issue for Emergent Bilinguals
Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, PhD
Focused on the impact that a theory of reading has on emergent bilinguals' reading development and identity as readers, this session will introduce participants to both theoretical and practice-based issues that impact how reading instruction unfolds for emergent bilinguals. Educators at all levels need to understand how policy change takes shape within classrooms, so that the intention of policies can be not only met but further developed through classroom practice. The curricular space within schools - and in particular the realm of reading - is one that is full of opportunities to forge equitable and innovative practices for emergent bilinguals. From this starting point, participants will be familiarized with examples of how they can support equitable policies in reading instruction for emergent bilinguals.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Intercultural Center 101, 3700 O Street NW, Washington, United States
USD 0.00