SPCL 7823 Psycholinguistics, Bilingualism, & Counseling in Schools: ASSIGNMENTS & RUBRICS

This website is a critical part of this course, both as a learning platform and as the site to obtain the readings, videos, and course information (both included and not included in the syllabus). Students are expected to engage in a multi-level process of critical self-reflection, an important component of multicultural competence and cultural humility development. Each session link is filled with resources, and students are encouraged to preview the class material prior to each session and then review the material after each class. The learning process is cumulative, with each session integrating the content from earlier sessions. The readings are posted in the Bibliography section but also linked in each class session. Quiz questions are generated from the content of the assigned readings posted on this website. The website is intended to optimize the learning process, and the instructor looks forward to your feedback.

Students are required to keep up to date on class readings and assignments, and to be active team members. If students miss a class, they miss whatever their team did. The team process is critical to learning, and the content of each session will be reflected on the midterm and final exams. Most teams, in real life and here, will forgive a single absence for which students have a good reason, and be less forgiving of multiple or casual absences. More than one absence and/or tardiness will affect the course grade (two points per absence and one point for lateness). Attendance is taken at the beginning of class and it is expected that all students will be present at the start of class.  Brooklyn College abides to the state law regarding non-attendance because of religious beliefs. If you are unable to attend class for religious reasons, please notify the professor in advance to make the necessary arrangements.

Midterm & Final Participation Self-Assessment: Twice during the semester, at the midpoint and at the end, students assess their level of class participation using the following Class Participation Rubric. Students evaluate their own level of participation and award points out of 10 using the criteria described below.

The self-assessment form will include the following items:

• The number of class participation points I believe I have earned
• Number of classes missed with reasons/explanations for absences
• Provide an explanation for your self-assessment.  Please note that it is impossible for you to get a grade of 9 or above if you have missed more than one class during this marking period.

This self-assessment process provides an opportunity for students to get feedback from their professor on their level of class participation. It is the professor’s assessment that is used for grading purposes; often there is consistency between the students’ self-assessment and that of the professor; if there is a difference, then it provides an excellent opportunity for feedback.

Midterm Self Assessment DUE: Saturday, March 16

Final Self-Assessment DUE: Saturday, May 14

Each class session will begin begin with an individual quiz (iRAT), followed by the same quiz (tRAT) taken with the team. Each RAT has five multiple-choice questions on the major concepts of the assigned readings. The lowest two RAT scores will be dropped.

Using the Bilingual Interview Protocol, interview an immigrant adult for whom English is their second language.  The purpose of this assignment is to explore an individual’s history and experience with second language acquisition, as well as how the individual’s identity, emotions, and memory processes relate to language proficiency and history. You must use the Interview Protocol for this project and attach your completed protocol to your written paper. In addition to asking questions as per the interview protocol, the individual will hand-write, in your presence, a paragraph or two on what it means to be bilingual.  You will compare the quality of the oral interview (oral language proficiency) and the quality of the written paragraph (i.e., Is the level of writing what you expected, given the proficiency level exhibited during the interview?).

Written Assignment: In an integrated essay about your interviewee, write up your findings, including your observations and thoughts about this task according to the rubric. You should structure your paper with the following headers and integrate the applicable prompts into each section of the essay:

BACKGROUND: Describe your interviewee in terms of age, ethnicity, languages spoken, immigration history, education history, family history. How do you know this person? Anything else you want to include?

LINGUISTIC HISTORY: Describe your interviewee’s second language learning process. If the individual knows more than two languages, then you need to describe the development of the other languages as well.  Describe the person’s progress through second language acquisition. What about normal processes of second language acquisition? Does the person engage in code-switching on a regular basis? What function does the code-switching serve? What about the factors that influence second language acquisition? What about BICS vs. CALP? Analyze the paragraph (“What It Means to Be Bilingual”). Was the paragraph written well? Was there a discrepancy between oral language proficiency in English and written ability in English? Consider anything else we discussed in class. Attach paragraph to paper.

IDENTITY: How does the interviewee identify ethnically/racially/culturally? Use Tse’s model and describe the person’s progress through each stage. What is the relationship between the way the person identifies and their proficiency in the languages known? If a parent, how does second language acquisition influence their parenting style? Consider the individual’s sense of self – a bilingual integrated self? A dual self? What languages does the person dream in? If they were to write in a diary, in which language would it be? Consider the psycholinguistic history questions. Does the person behave and think differently in each language?

EMOTIONS, MEMORY, THINKING, & LANGUAGE: With respect to your interviewee, how do emotions interact with language? When angry? When arguing? When cursing? When uttering deepest feelings? When anxious? In inner speech? When saying “I love you”? When trying to recall difficult memories? When succumbing to road rage, in what language is it? Did the individual experience negative emotions when learning the second language (e.g., anxiety)? Are your interviewee’s memories language-specific? Ask the person to recall a dream. How did language factor in? When discussing a difficult event with a bilingual friend, does it make a difference in which language you describe it? Are certain things remembered better in a particular language? What language does the person think in? At the end of a long day, when tired, does the person still think in the same language?

CRITICAL SELF-REFLECTION: How do your experiences relate to your interviewee’s? How did the interview process go? Would you have done anything differently? Were you surprised by anything? What feelings and thoughts were triggered for you by this assignment?

Attach the completed interview protocol (there is no need to type up the responses on the protocol; hand-written is fine) and the paragraph written by interviewee.

DUE: Saturday, April 6

This critical reflective writing activity requires students to explore self and counselor practices in relation to their work with proficient bilingual and emergent bilingual students. Use all your course experiences to date (readings, other course materials, class dialogues, etc.) to inform your work on this paper. Each of the following prompts is to be integrated in your essay. You can divide your paper using headers based on the rubric (i.e., My Background; My Linguistic History, Identity, Emotions, & Cognitions; My Own Counseling Preferences; My Future Practice with Bilingual or Emergent Bilingual Students).

My Background

Describe your background in terms of age, ethnicity, languages spoken, immigration history, education history, and family history.

My Linguistic History, Identity, Emotions, & Cognition

Describe your second (and third, if applicable) language learning process. If you do not speak a language other than English, describe your bilingual development when you were learning another language in school.

Describe your progress through the stages of second language acquisition. What about normal processes of second language acquisition? Do you engage in code-switching on a regular basis? What function does the code-switching serve? What about the factors that influence second language acquisition? What about BICS vs. CALP, including if you learned a second language as a foreign language subject in school? What about BICS and CALP in your first language?

How do you identify yourself ethnically/racially/culturally? Use Tse’s model and describe your progress through each stage. What is the relationship between the way you identify and your proficiency in the languages known? If a parent, how has second language acquisition influenced your parenting style? If you only speak one language, apply Tse's model to your ethnic-racial identity to the best of your ability. Consider your family’s use of language as you were growing up. Also, are you/have you been in a relationship with a bilingual? If so, consider how this relationship and use of language have influenced you.

Consider your sense of self, as it applies to languages in your life and to counseling, in general. Do you have a dual self? A bilingual integrated self? A monolingual integrated self? Elaborate with examples.

Consider how language interacts with your emotions and cognitive processes. Specifically, consider the following:

• How do your emotions interact with language? When angry? When arguing? When cursing? When uttering deepest feelings? When anxious? In inner speech (speaking to oneself in one’s mind)? When saying “I love you”? When trying to recall difficult memories? When succumbing to road rage, in what language is it? Did you ever experience negative emotions when learning the second language (e.g., anxiety)?
• What languages do you dream in?
• If you were to write in a diary, in which language would it be?
• Do you behave and think differently in each language?
• If you are bilingual, when discussing a difficult event with a bilingual friend, does it make a difference in which language you describe it? Has your use of languages ever reflected the detachment effect?
• Are certain things remembered better in a particular language?
• What language do you think in? At the end of a long day, when tired, do you still think in the same language?
• What happens with taboo words? Does the language used make a difference?
• If you only speak one language, apply these questions to your own experiences to the best of your ability: What about when you were learning a language in school? Are you/have you been in a relationship with a bilingual? If so, consider how this relationship and use of language have influenced you with respect to memories, etc.

My Own Counseling Preferences

Consider how language and culture factor into your preferences when it comes to counseling. Specifically, consider the following: In what language would you want to be counseled and why? What would be the preferred culture of your counselor/therapist and why? If you only speak one language, reflect on whether having bilingual family members and/or bilingual significant others would make a difference in your selection of a counselor and why.

My Future Practice with Bilingual or Emergent Bilingual Students

Consider your future practice as a school counselor or school psychologist working with bilingual or emergent bilingual students. What will that look like? What interviewing and counseling strategies will you use? You should consider and integrate the multiple counseling strategies explored in the readings and in class throughout the semester. Consider your work in a culturally and linguistically diverse school. How has this course informed your future work?

You should review the rubric before you write your paper. The paper will vary in length based on an individual’s personal history and experiences; however, this assignment is considered a comprehensive personal review and reflection. Consider 8-10 content pages (not including title) to be a target. You should structure your paper using headings that reflect the main categories in the rubric, and the content should address each the prompts delineated above and placed within each appropriate section according to the rubric categories (headers). Your writing will be evaluated for its reflective nature and your shared understanding of multiple cultural and linguistic elements, characteristics, and dynamics included in this course.

DUE: Saturday, May 11

Each individual will evaluate the contributions of all the other team members by completing the midterm peer evaluation via a google form link. The results will be disseminated anonymously to all team members by Prof. Elizalde-Utnick. The purpose of this evaluation is to give feedback to each team member to maximize team accountability.

DUE: Saturday, March 16

At the end of the term, it is necessary for all members of this class to assess the contributions that each member of the team made to the work of the team.  You will divide 100 points amongst your teammates based on the contributions they made to the team throughout the semester. This contribution should presumably reflect your judgment of such things as: 1) Preparation (Were they prepared when they came to class?); 2) Contribution (Did they contribute productively to group discussion and work?); 3) Respect of others' ideas (Did they encourage others to contribute their ideas?); and 4) Flexibility (Were they flexible when disagreements occurred?). It is important that you raise the evaluation of people who truly worked hard for the good of the group and lower the evaluation of those you perceived not to be working as hard on group tasks. You will submit your final peer evaluation via a google form link on Blackboard.

DUE: May 14

Students will complete this assignment in pairs. Find and evaluate two books (an elementary school book and a book for adolescents) you would use to help children and youth cope with life circumstances related to their emergent bilingual and/or immigrant student status. Both students in each paired group are expected to have collaborated fully on this project, including reading and discussing all book selections, as well as writing the paper and creating the presentation slides.

Paper Layout: Your evaluation of each book should be no more than two pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font. Begin each evaluation with a bullet list that includes the following information:

• The name of the author, the title of the book, the date and location of publication (point form)
• The issue/theme addressed by the book (point form)
• The recommended age range for which you would use the book (point form)
• A brief summary of the book’s plot and characters (brief, complete sentences)
• Ideas for pre-reading activities (point form)
• Ideas for discussion starters (point form)
• Ideas for related follow-up activities based on the book (point form)

After your bullet list, write a well-developed paragraph (approximately 8-12 sentences) that answers the following questions in complete sentences:

• How would you use this book with children (one-to-one, group, reference)?
• Would you use this book with children of different ages?
• What are the limitations of the book for use with children?
• What else seems relevant or important to you about using this book in bibliotherapy?

You should review the rubric before you write your paper.

Presentation: Each paired group will select one of the books to showcase and present to the class; coordinate this with the instructor, as it would be helpful for the class to see a variety of books and age ranges across all of the presentations. The duration of the presentations should be 20 minutes. The slide presentation should provide all the elements delineated in the paper portion of the assignment (see above). Presenters also need to lead at least 5 minutes of discussion at the end of the presentations by using prompts. The use of a slide presentations is required; the slide presentation should be saved as a PDF file and uploaded to Blackboard on the day of the presentation. Students should review the presentation rubric while planning their presentation. 

DUE: May 14/21 (on the day of your presentation)