August Newsletter

By Kelly Slater, University of North Georgia

During my junior year at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), I got to know and became close friends with many international exchange students. They had all decided to study abroad in the U.S. to improve their English skills, and were taking Intensive English classes, direct enrollment classes, or a combination of the two.

The more I asked these friends about their experience studying abroad at Ole Miss and how they thought their English was improving, the more I kept hearing similar replies. They were satisfied with their classes, liked their instructors, and enjoyed being at Ole Miss. However, they often expressed that they didn’t have many opportunities to meet and connect with domestic students and practice their English in a more casual environment. One South Korean student even said that she had been at Ole Miss for several months, but that I was the first American person that she had become friends with. This really surprised and saddened me. I realized how important this was, especially for students who were studying English only and had only fellow international students as classmates.

I wanted our ...

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Published in 2014, Students with Learning Disabilities in an Inclusive Writing Classroom (Jacobs & Du, 2014) presents a case study on two fourth-grade students who were classified students with learning disabilities. The article showcases the writing behaviors, processes, and growth of the two students, Julia and Tyrone. Through specific examples of the students’ writings, the authors advocate for valuing the students’ family literacies and “out-of-school multiple literacy practices” (Jacobs & Du, 2014, p. 110) to sustain what sustains them, under the pressure of standardized test preparation.

As I am preparing to teach a writing methods course for preservice teachers, I can see this article being a useful resource for my students. It not only showcases Julia and Tyrone’s work, but it also presents a variety of specific strategies for writing instructors to foster students’ out-of-school literacies. Preservice teachers could use the pedagogies presented in this article to think about what could work in their contexts to empower their students with diverse backgrounds.

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Tamara Moten is a Ph.D. student at The University of Georgia, in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, and is currently the Conference Chair for the Journal of Language and Literacy Education (JoLLE), and a member of Literacy Research Association (LRA). Her research interests include (but not limited to) early and adult literacy development, cultural relevant teaching, curriculum and instruction, academic achievement, and program development. Her ongoing research addresses the literacy development of African American collegiate athletes, out of school literacy learning among African American families, and capturing the voices of African American women. Previously, Tamara received her Master’s degree in Instructional Leadership with a focus on Educational Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she shaped the literacy development of elementary Black boys and UIC student-athletes. She was also awarded a sports scholarship at UIC during her undergraduate career in gymnastics. She has since retired but her love of the sport remains. She has transitioned from doing the sport to becoming an advocate for athlete’s educational and career success.

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