Welcome to Volume 41, Issue 2 of MinneTESOL Journal! This issue explores topics related to the sociolinguistic aspects of English teaching, engaging students in research, sharing our work with others, and much more. Please enjoy and share with your colleagues.
In “Caminos hacia el biliteracy: Developing critical consciousness through Youth Participatory Action Research,” Deborah Palmer, Laura Meinzen, Maya Milán, and Michelle Renée Valladares discuss the merits of engaging multilingual youth in action research about language policy. They argue that it supports biliteracy development, communication, and research skills, as well as inspiring advocacy for themselves and others.
Kenneth Fields discusses how adolescents with Asian-American and Mexican-American heritage are often tasked with the responsibility of acting as language brokers in his article “A comparison of the socioemotional burdens of adolescent Asian-American and Mexican American language brokers.” The article explores how language brokering applies various socioemotional stressors to adolescents who are asked to use their bilingual skills to help their family navigate everyday topics. This literature review uses evidence from five separate studies to compare the effects that language brokering has on America’s Asian-American (Korean and Chinese) and Mexican-American youth.
In “Leading from within: The promise of teacher-led communities of practice,” Betsy Parrish shares how, as a teacher educator, she applied community of practice (CoP) principles across diverse educational settings, creating the conditions for teachers to exercise agency in their professional growth. Parrish includes steps that all teachers can use to create their own teacher-led CoPs.
Rooted in efforts to decolonize and reduce linguistic and cultural imperialism, “English for cultural transmission: Diversifying collaboration through linguistic empowerment” describes an approach to English language teaching that empowers language learners who wish to share their traditional customs with a global audience. Eden Merritt and Kate Mastruserio Reynolds show how English for Cultural Transmission (ECT) and English for Dharma Purposes (EDP) are culturally rich. The goals of this article include situating this approach in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and encouraging curriculum development projects.
In “Multilingual family engagement in Minnesota,” Kristina Robertson, Ashley Karlsson, Jurana Aziz, and Claudia Tabini present survey data from across Minnesota on educator perceptions of multilingual family engagement practices in K-12 schools. Based on the survey results, they make policy recommendations for improving culturally responsive practices, multilingual communication practices and staffing, and ongoing training and support for high-quality multilingual family engagement practices.
Kaycee Rogers and Lisa Velarde present an analysis of the current research on ESL-aligned and bilingual approaches to English language development, identifying overlaps and gaps between them in their article, “Why not both? Balancing equitable approaches to multilingual education for linguistically minoritized students.” The authors suggest that both approaches need to coexist in schools to meet the needs of all language learners, particularly those from less common, linguistically minoritized backgrounds.
Finally, Aaron Mermelstein offers tips for creating an effective poster presentation in “Guidelines and suggestions for effective poster presentations.” Not only does the article give suggestions about the content, visuals, and style of posters, but it also recommends how to interact and network with the audience.
