Tri-College Collaborations on Multilingualism
Tri-college Linguistic Diversity Series
Since 2018, Swarthmore’s Multilingual Writing Specialist Professor Natalie Mera Ford has collaborated with her counterparts at Bryn Mawr and Haverford to develop additional Tri-College resources and community for writers for whom English is an additional language. This partnership led to the Multilingual Writing Specialists designing and facilitating a reading/discussion group series based on themes related to multilingualism and linguistic justice in higher education. Sponsored by Mellon Seed Grants, the interactive workshops have benefited from the participation of more than 100 members of Tri-College faculty, students, and staff in eight meetings over the past three years. Natalie and her Bi-Co colleagues are now launching a fourth year of this work and look forward to exploring further ways to advance and celebrate linguistic diversity and agency in the liberal arts. Please see below for details about past and upcoming workshop focuses. If you would like to join this conversation, please email nford1@swarthmore.edu.
Thanks to Betty Litsinger, Barbara Hall, Susannah Bien-Gund, and Vanessa Petroj at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges for their work with Natalie Mera Ford on this project!
*See visual timeline here [pdf].
|
2018 |
Mellon Brainstorming Grant |
Multilingual support discussions, generating ideas for effective resources to offer Tri-College students. |
|
2019-2020 |
Mellon Seed Grant workshops – Internationalizing the Liberal Arts through Linguistic Inclusion |
November 2019 – "Translanguaging," exploring the practices of a bilingual or multilingual individual employing their full culturolinguistic repertoire in oral or written communication.
February 2020 – "Translation," engaging with various forms of translation in the liberal arts classroom and/or campus.
April 2020 – [postponed due to covid] |
|
2020-2021 |
Mellon Seed Grant workshops –
Reimagining the Liberal Arts: Valuing & Advancing Linguistic Diversity |
October 2020 – "World Englishes & Virtual Learning," addressing multilingual contexts that include varieties of English as a global language for virtual learning.
February 2021 – "Reframing Feedback for Multilingual Student Writing," focusing on responding to multilingual student writing through a justice lens.
April 2021 – "Spoken Language Diversity," discussing ways to recognize and celebrate spoken language diversity in our academic environments. |
|
2021-2022 |
Mellon Seed Grant workshops – Empowering the Liberal Arts with Linguistic Equity and Linguistic Justice |
November 2021 – "Strategies for a Language Diverse Classroom," sharing strategies that promote inclusion and appreciation for our language diverse classrooms.
February 2022 – "Technology to Foster Language Inclusion," learning about digital features that support access and expression across language backgrounds.
April 2022 – "Rhetorical Equity in Research Language Practices," interrogating linguistic disparities in academic research and publication. |
| 2022-2023 |
Mellon Seed Grant workshops – Transforming Our Practices Around Multilingualism: In the Classroom, Communication, and Beyond |
November 2022 – "Building and Fostering Community Across Language Backgrounds," developing additional strategies to create more linguistically inclusive learning communities.
February 2023 – "Recalibrating Classroom Engagement, Activities, and Assignments for Multilingual Inclusion," hearing from a multilingual student co-facilitator and envisioning next steps for our classrooms and campuses.
April 2023 – "Reflecting on and Reimagining Evaluation Across Language Backgrounds," addressing strategies that promote inclusion and appreciation for our language diverse classrooms. |
