You Must Read This Book!

Integrating Multilingual Students into College Classrooms - Practical Advice for Faculty: Johnnie Johnson Hafernik and Fredel M. Wiant

Overview

In this slim volume, Johnnie Johnson Hafernik and Fredel M. Wiant have created a clear and practical guide for faculty across the curriculum who are interested in helping the multilingual students in their classes succeed.  An added bonus is that most of the practical suggestions that Hafernik and Wiant provide would help support the learning of all students in a classroom, not just those negotiating between multiple languages. 

The book is divided into two sections: the first section has two chapters that focus on “The Context” while the second section contains six chapters that focus on “Understanding and Addressing Language Skills.”  In the first chapter, “Our Students,” Hafernik & Wiant discuss types of multilingual students—creating categories and then problematizing them.  They also focus on the need for faculty to both understand the nature of the language differences these students bring (for example, no amount of hard work will magically turn these students into native speakers!) but also see these language differences as a resource and opportunity and not simply a problem. 

In the second chapter, “Constructing Classrooms Where Students Can Succeed,” Hafernik & Wiant pose a series of important questions that instructors need to ask themselves including, “How can we integrate multilingual students into the academy, help them learn, and increase their chance of success?” (26).  In order to begin to answer these questions, Hafernik & Wiant discuss what they see as four fundamentals of second language acquisition (SLA) that apply especially to an academic context:

1) Languages are dynamic and connected to their contexts and their learners (26-27).

2) Identity plays an important role in language acquisition (27-29).

3) Everyday language and academic language are very different (29-30).

4) Multilingual students do not become “native” speakers. A few courses will not perfect students’ English (30-31).

They then offer some general advice for faculty on how to create productive classrooms for their multilingual students. They include both suggestions that focus on ways instructors can think about their students as well as suggestions that focus on how instructors can help their students become “members of the academy” (36) and “insiders in their disciplines” (38). 

In the second section of the book, entitled “Understanding and Addressing Language Skills,” each of the next five chapters focuses on a different skill: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and working in groups.  The last chapter in this section deals with issues of assessment. The skills chapters are all organized in a similar way. First, Hafernik & Wiant discuss the complex nature of the skill in academic contexts.  For example, they break down the skill of speaking into “formal academic speaking tasks,” “semi-formal academic speaking tasks,” and “informal tasks” (53).  Then, they offer a list of “practical tips” for helping students with the skill—often breaking those lists down to address the different types of speaking or reading or writing needed in a classroom situation.

Reflection/Response

The Book I Wish I Had Written

In mid-February, I did a workshop for some English, Psychology, and ESL faculty at Elgin Community College about “Supporting Multilingual Writers” and though I had this book on my to-read list, I hadn’t yet read it.  I wish I had because my ideas are very much in sync with those of Hafernik & Wiant, and they said much of what I wanted and tried to say in my presentation but even better.  It was also clear that they’ve read a lot of the scholars I’ve read-both in TESOL and Composition Studies.

This makes sense since Hafernik’s training is in TESOL and Linguistics and Wiant’s background is in Rhetoric, Composition, and Communication.  Their collaboration developed as their two departments, ESL and English, began to work together at University of San Francisco and the end result was the formation of a single department of “Rhetoric and Language.”   They suggest that even where a common space or department isn’t possible, “creating community” across disciplines to address issues of concern, such as supporting multilingual students, can benefit both students and faculty (2).  This stood out to me because one of the things I want to do is to begin conversations on my campus about the needs of multilingual students and the important role that all faculty play in helping them develop and succeed as learners and members of the academy.

Five Key Principles

One of many parts of the book that stood out to me was the list of five principles or “common understandings” (3) that Hafernik & Wiant outline in the introduction and return to in their Epilogue.  Here is the list from the end of the book:

1. Multilingualism is positive and should be encouraged.
2. Emerging English proficiency and limited awareness of US academic norms do not mean limited intelligence or limited academic ability.
3. Compartmentalizing courses or marginalizing multilingual students is counterproductive for all members of the academy
4. Labels such as ‘remedial’ or ‘developmental’ to describe multilingual speakers are seductive and misleading.
5. All faculty can and should assist multilingual students in improving their English proficiency and their knowledge of ‘how to be’ a member of the academy. (134)

These ideas are ones that underlie many, if not most, of the suggestions they give to faculty and these are ideas I believe in strongly as well.  In many ways, the first four statements all connect to the idea that difference is not deficit.  It can be way too easy to focus on what students lack—advanced vocabulary, the ability to deploy articles correctly, expertise in a certain type of academic writing—and miss the resources they bring by being functional (if not fluent) in more than one language.  Even well-meaning instructors can sometimes interpret lack of experience as lack of ability.  Hafernik & Wiant would argue, like many of the theorists I’ve read, that multilingual students need exposure to and practice with rigorous academic practices, but they may need language support while doing so. 

The fifth point is basically why Hafernik & Wiant wrote this book.  They believe that all faculty have a role to play in multilingual students’ development.  In chapter two, they argue:

Whose responsibility is it to help students understand the workings of the academy, adjust to it, and become full participating members? The answer is ‘Everyone’s’.  Each of us can ease the transition for students by simply making what we take for granted explicit for students (37).

Hafernik & Wiant have clearly read Mike Rose’s Lives on the Boundary as they suggest that faculty can play a powerful role in “inviting” multilingual students into the academic community in general as well as to their specific discipline. The fifth understanding is also the one I based my sabbatical research around—that teaching language and academic literacies is everyone’s job—not just the job of the English or ELI teacher.  Becoming part of an academic community is an ongoing process—not something that can be done in one or two steps (or even one course). 

Back to the Importance of Second Language Acquisition

Like Dana Ferris, Hafernik & Wiant bring in concepts from second language acquisition—only the four they focus on (see overview above) have even wider implications for multilingual students.  I could easily spend a blog post reflecting on each one (Yes, I just put that on a sticky note for myself) but for now, I’ll focus on their last point—about how multilingual students do not simply “become” native speakers.  A quote related to this that jumped out at me was this:

Throughout their academic careers, multilingual students, like native English speakers, continue to improve their academic language proficiency and academic skills.  We, as faculty, can help them in this process but can’t assume that students will become native English speakers (31).

This may be a tough idea for many faculty to wrap their head around because they see difference solely as deficit—an absence instead of a presence.  I’ve heard faculty mutter, “How did this student get out of ESL?” when the writer’s text showed that he was perfectly able to make important academic writing moves—create a thesis, support an argument, etc. but still struggled with prepositions and the occasional word order.  Again, the problem is focusing solely on what the student can’t yet do and ignoring what they can.

Final Thoughts

Now I have two books that I think every faculty member should read—no matter what they teach:  John Bean’s Engaging Ideas and Hafernik & Wiant’s Integrating Multilingual Students Into College Classrooms.  Go out and buy yourself a copy now!