English as a Second Language in STEM Spaces of Higher Education (NeMLA 2024)
Boston, MA, at Sheraton Boston Hotel
Organization: NeMLA (2024 conference sponsored Tufts University)
Event: NeMLA 2024
Dear colleagues,
We invite submissions to the session “English as a Second Language in STEM Spaces of Higher Education” at NeMLA 2024. Please, see a more detailed description below and links to the submission portal at the bottom of the message.
Description of the CfP. English is a second (3rd, 4th, &c.) language to a lot of STEM students in higher education. These students have markedly different experience navigating that required writing/speaking proficiency components. However, most institutional policies regarding writing/speaking proficiency for both undergraduate and graduate students (both as students themselves and in their TA positions) do not factor bilingualism/ESL and are oriented solely at Anglophone monolinguals. In this session, we seek to draw attention to experiences with English of several stakeholder groups in higher education; pointing out that ESL speakers are under-investigated and often treated unfairly (Lacosse et al. 2020 in ScienceAdvances). We invite abstracts on topics that consider one of the following in scholarly light.
(1) for undergraduate or graduate students:
(1.1) how are experiences of STEM-ESL students distinct from English monolinguals?
(1.2) what are the differences in experiences across STEM-ESL students from different sociocultural backgrounds/ different first languages?
(1.3) how can STEM or writing/speaking proficiency curriculum be adjusted for bilinguals/ESL students surpassing ESL or “academic writing” programs to shift the foci away from anglophone-monolinguals?
(2) for graduate TAs:
(2.1) what are different approaches to English proficiency requirements for TAs in STEM fields – and pros and cons for each?
(2.2) what are the implications in the classroom stemming from having an ESL vs. anglophone-monolingual TA?
That being said, proposals on other stakeholders who we omitted above (e.g., pre-tenure scholars, publishing, &c.) are also welcome. In considering proposals, we hope to invite contributions representative of as many as possible groups from above. We particularly welcome proposals from contributors outside the US who experience similar issues with language other than English as primary in a given country/university/homogenous speech-community.
Submission link: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/20334
Submission deadline: September 20, 2023 (please consider submitting early)
Decision notification date: end of September 2023
Conference dates: March 7-10, 2024 in Boston, MA at Sheraton Boston Hotel
We look forward to your submissions!
Best,
Karen C. Chou, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, F.SEI, ENV SP
Clinical Professor Emerita,
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Chair
Residential College of Science & Engineering at Slivka Hall
2145 Sheridan Road, Room A218
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208
e-mail: karen-chou@northwestern.edu
Daniil M. Ozernyi
Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University
doz@u.northwestern.edu
https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/20334
Karen C. Chou