TAL 731: Language Policy and Planning
The course focuses on the areas that have been of particular interest to sociolinguists and language planners, namely, status planning, corpus planning, prestige planning, language-in-education planning, the language rights of linguistic minorities, and the more recent movements from macro issues on language policy and planning (LPP) to micro issues involved in indexing linguistic, ethnic and racial identities. In addition, the course will address matters of migration, imperialism, state formation, and political conflicts due to LPP in the United States as well as in countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
TAL 733: Languaging and Literacies
This course will provide an introduction to theories and research on languaging and language development. The course is grounded in contemporary understandings of language as a set of meaning-making practices that learners develop across the lifespan as they engage with diverse contexts and communities of language use. Key areas of focus include theoretical perspectives on languaging and language development; language used for academic purposes; language assessment; bilingual/multilingual education; and multimodal communication. Within each area, students will read both foundational and contemporary work as well as explore methodological approaches for conducting research. Students will also grapple with enduring tensions and ongoing debates in the literature, particularly as they relate to teaching and learning in linguistically diverse K-12 contexts.
TAL 734: Theory and Research in Literacies and Literacy Development
This doctoral-level seminar explores a broad array of topics influencing the study and teaching of literacy, including the history of literacy/ies research; major theories and models of literacy development; issues in literacy development (including individual differences); motivation and special populations; evidence-based literacy instruction; connections between reading, writing, and learning; and reading and writing online and multimodal texts. Readings for this course include foundational papers, as well as recent studies, policy analyses, and reviews.
TAL 735: Special Topics in Language and Literacies: Current Issues
This seminar addresses current issues in language and literacies from theoretical, policy, practice, and research perspectives. Topics may include current issues related to languaging, literacy learning in and out of school, assessment, equity, and access for all learners. Additionally, research methods for investigating languaging and literacies, such as design-based, discourse, applied linguistics, multimodality, classroom observation, and community-based/engaged literacy scholarship.
