The idea for this post came to me on the spur of the moment, based on a question a friend asked me on facebook. If you’re teaching an MATESOL course just on grammar pedagogy, what would you put in it? And I thought, wow, that’s an exciting puzzle! The field is just so HUGE! WhatContinue reading “The ideal syllabus for an MATESOL course on grammar pedagogy”
Author Archives: annamend
Chinese-English bilingual education in China: A critical analysis of research
Chinese-English bilingual education is on the rise in China, particularly at the university level, with some trials in K-12 education in the form of (i) bilingual private schools and (ii) experimental public schools in socioeconomically elite areas. In this post, I summarize an article about this educational trend by Prof. Guangwei Hu, a Hong KongContinue reading “Chinese-English bilingual education in China: A critical analysis of research”
Becoming a “legitimate” academic: Disciplinary straightening devices and the imperial archive
This post is a summary of an article by four professors—friends who went to graduate school together—that was published in a recent special issue of Language, Culture and Society. The special issue was titled “Language, Epistemology, and the Politics of Knowledge Production.” The four professors’ article is about the ways in which people who tryContinue reading “Becoming a “legitimate” academic: Disciplinary straightening devices and the imperial archive”
Qualitative researchers beware: How not to take interview data for granted
This is a method post summarizing applied linguist Steven Talmy’s (2010) well cited article on the interview as a social practice. In this commentary/opinion piece that also cites a lot of studies as examples, Talmy argues that we cannot take interview data for granted—that is, we should not collect and report it as a windowContinue reading “Qualitative researchers beware: How not to take interview data for granted”
New: Blog Table of Contents
This blog on bi/multilingualism in primary and secondary education has grown since it was launched in the last days of 2020, now attracting ~1,000 unique visitors per month. While 48% of visitors in 2021 (5,751 out of 11,996) came from the U.S., the other 52% came from around the world. I am grateful for yourContinue reading “New: Blog Table of Contents”
How to analyze classroom talk: Part 4 of 4
This is the fourth and final post on methodology for analyzing classroom talk, preceded by posts on Turn-taking, Contextualization, and Narrative. In this post, we look at how to analyze Interactional Frames. First, we examine what “frame” means and look at ways to analyze how frames are used in small units of talk (e.g., 1-2 sentences) thatContinue reading “How to analyze classroom talk: Part 4 of 4”
How to analyze classroom talk: Part 3 of 4
This is the third post on methodology for analyzing classroom talk, preceded by posts on Turn-taking and Contextualization. In this post, we look at how to analyze Narratives. I begin with a discussion of what “narrative” means in everyday spoken interactions, and how that’s different from our common understanding of narratives. Then we look at how toContinue reading “How to analyze classroom talk: Part 3 of 4”
How to analyze classroom talk: Part 2 of 4
Image source: Wikimedia Commons Welcome to the second post on methodology for analyzing classroom talk, which began with a post on Turn-taking. In this post, we analyze Contextualization. While turn-taking is about who talks, when, and how much, contextualization is about how we understand people’s words, or how we attempt to manage how others understandContinue reading “How to analyze classroom talk: Part 2 of 4”
How to analyze classroom talk: Part 1 of 4
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/burma-myanmar-asia-girl-children-5176041/ This post is the first of a series of posts on how to analyze classroom talk with regard to four aspects of that talk: Turn-taking, Contextualization, Narration, and Framing. They are summaries of the four chapters on how to analyze classroom talk in Ivy League professor Betsy Rymes’ textbook, Classroom Discourse AnalysisContinue reading “How to analyze classroom talk: Part 1 of 4”
Theorizing Pedagogy for Heritage Language Teaching
This post is a follow-up to another I have written about maintaining national linguistic diversity that was a summary of a panel/discussion at the Heritage Language Exchange, University of California System. In this post, I summarize and respond to Guadalupe Valdés’ classic article “Heritage Language Students: Profiles and Possibilities.” Heritage language (HL) learners can beContinue reading “Theorizing Pedagogy for Heritage Language Teaching”
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