University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 Re-imagining Education for Linguistically, Culturally, and Racially Diverse Students in a Changing Era: One U.S. School's Alternative Vision Ming-Hsuan Wu University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, and the Education Commons Recommended Citation Wu, Ming-Hsuan, "Re-imagining Education for Linguistically, Culturally, and Racially Diverse Students in a Changing Era: One U.S. School's Alternative Vision" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 947. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/947 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/947 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Re-imagining Education for Linguistically, Culturally, and Racially Diverse Students in a Changing Era: One U.S. School's Alternative Vision Abstract This dissertation sets out to describe, interpret, and understand how an urban K-8 charter school in Philadelphia that serves linguistically, culturally, and racially diverse students from low-income communities seeks to offer a type of education that recognizes its students' minority status in the broader society and exceeds the education typically available for this group of students. In particular, this research asks how teachers circulate and enact their vision of creating an equitable education for all students and how middle school students' identities are shaped by this vision. Drawing on the concepts of imagined communities in education, critical pedagogy, language ecology and Gee's (2000) analytical perspectives on identities, the research explores innovative teaching and learning at this socially engaging urban school. Data from critical ethnography and critical discourse analysis indicate that curriculum has a strong focus on diversity, social justice, and students' racialized experiences, which in turn have an impact on middle schoolers' interracial/interethnic friendships. One unique educational alternative, Mandarin education, which offers students an opportunity to learn Mandarin either as a foreign language or heritage language before college, is highly contested among students for reasons related to the role of Mandarin in the local and broader language ecologies. Studying a school such as this one in its particular sociopolitical context and understanding how students navigate their school life become the basis for more grounded and informed discussions about how to create a more equitable education in contemporary educational contexts. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Nancy H. Hornberger Subject Categories Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Education This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/947 RE-IMAGINING EDUCATION FOR LINGUISTICALLY, CULTURALLY, AND RACIALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS IN A CHANGING ERA: ONE U.S. URBAN SCHOOL’S ALTERNATIVE VISION Ming-Hsuan Wu A DISSERTATION in Education Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Supervisor of Dissertation ______________________________ Nancy H. Hornberger, Professor of Education Graduate Group Chair: ______________________________ Stanton E.F. Wortham, Professor of Education Dissertation Committee: Nancy H. Hornberger, Professor of Education Yuko Butler, Associate Professor of Education Yasko Kanno, Associate Professor of TESOL, Temple University ii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Ping-Charng Wu and Tsai-Mei Fan. Thank you for teaching me how to dream and giving me all the support as I seek to realize my dream. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have told me that writing a dissertation is an individual pursuit and oftentimes a lonely journey. As I look back on my journey, I realize that for me, this has never been an individual journey because many have helped me along the way. First of all, I want to thank the teachers and students at PCCS who generously welcomed me to join their journey of teaching and learning. Their support and participation have made this dissertation possible. I am fortunate to have had incredibly supportive mentors as well. My deepest gratitude goes to my dissertation chair, Dr. Nancy Hornberger, who has given me both the freedom and the guidance to become a better researcher and scholar. I am also thankful to her for carefully reading and commenting on countless revisions of this manuscript. Dr. Yuko Butler’s encouragement of my efforts and continued faith in my abilities since I came to Penn GSE has paved the way for the completion of this dissertation. I am grateful to her for raising important questions about my dissertation and helping me enrich my ideas. Dr. Yasuko Kanno’s insightful comments and constructive criticisms were thought-provoking, and they have helped me tremendously at different stages of my writing. A special thank you goes to Dr. Antonia Darder of Loyola Marymount University who introduced me to critical pedagogy when I studied at the University of Illinois, and whose enthusiasm for creating a more equitable education for all students has had a lasting effect on me and my work. I am also indebted to Dr. Cheri Micheau, who brought me to my research site and suggested that I write my dissertation on the school. iv Many colleagues and friends have accompanied me during this journey and made me feel that I am never alone in my pursuit of knowledge. To Genevieve Leung, I thank you for all the feedback that you gave me as a dear friend and sincere colleague. This journey would not have been possible had you not always been there when I needed an extra push. To Kathy Lee, I thank you for being my biggest cheerleader and writing partner. To all the student moms in Educational Linguistics, Elaine Allard, Sarah Gallo, and Hoa Nguyen, I thank you for showing me that even though researching, writing and raising a child at the same time is never easy, it also entails much happiness. Special thanks goes to Chia-ying Pan, who is especially encouraging and supportive as a friend. I thank you for always making time to listen and making me grounded. I also want to thank my parents, Tsai-Mei and Ping-Charng, for their faith in me and for allowing me to be as ambitious as I wanted. Also, I thank my sister, Yi-Chen, and my brother, Tong-Wei, for their endless encouragement from far away. Most important, I would like to thank my husband, Sung-po Lin, for practical and emotional support as I added the roles of wife and then mother to my journey. I am also indebted to my children, Yo-Shuan Emery and Jun-Ting Chloe. I thank Yoyo for her patience with my writing schedule and Ting for her timely arrival just weeks after I defended my dissertation. v ABSTRACT RE-IMAGINING EDUCATION FOR LINGUISTICALLY, CULTURALLY, AND RACIALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS IN A CHANGING ERA: ONE U.S. URBAN SCHOOL’S ALTERNATIVE VISION Ming-Hsuan Wu Nancy H. Hornberger This dissertation sets out to describe, interpret, and understand how an urban K-8 charter school in Philadelphia that serves linguistically, culturally, and racially diverse students from low-income communities seeks to offer a type of education that recognizes its students’ minority status in the broader society and exceeds the education typically available for this group of students. In particular, this research asks how teachers circulate and enact their vision of creating an equitable education for all students and how middle school students’ identities are shaped by this vision. Drawing on the concepts of imagined communities in education, critical pedagogy, language ecology and Gee’s (2000) analytical perspectives on identities, the research explores innovative teaching and learning at this socially engaging urban school. Data from critical ethnography and critical discourse analysis indicate that curriculum has a strong focus on diversity, social justice, and students’ racialized experiences, which in turn have an impact on middle schoolers’ interracial/interethnic friendships. One unique educational alternative, Mandarin education, which offers students an opportunity to learn Mandarin either as a foreign language or heritage language before college, is highly contested among students for reasons related to the role vi of Mandarin in the local and broader language ecologies. Studying a school such as this one in its particular sociopolitical context and understanding how students navigate their school life become the basis for more grounded and informed discussions about how to create a more equitable education in contemporary educational contexts. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgements…………………………..………………………………………......iii Abstract…………………………..…………………….………………………………….v List of Tables…………………………..………………………………………………...xii Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………..……………………………………….1 1.1 Background Information and Introduction …………………….……………..1 1.2 The School and the Study …………………….………………………………3 1.3 Research Questions……………………………………………………………6 1.4 Preview of the Dissertation……………………………………………………7 Chapter 2: Conceptual Underpinnings………………………………………….…………9 2.1 Overview ………………………………………………………………………9 2.2 Imagined Communities ……………………………………….………………9 2.3 Gee’s (2000) Four Perspectives