Global Meaning Making

Lori Czop Assaf works at Texas State University in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses and coordinates the Early Childhood- 6th ESL Undergraduate Program. Assaf directs a study abroad program in rural Eastern Cape of South Africa and conducts research in Chile. As a Fulbright Scholar, Lori worked in Indonesia with university faculty, local classroom teachers, and primary grade students teaching language and literacy instruction. Her research includes teacher education, writing instruction and multicultural teaching and learning with a special focus on emergent bilinguals and English language learners. Patience Sowa is a Senior Literacy and Language Advisor in the International Education Division of RTI International’s International Development Group. She provides technical support to RTI country projects in literacy and language, and teacher professional development. Sowa has worked in multicultural and multilingual contexts in Africa, the Middle East and North America, as a teacher and teacher educator. Her research interests include preservice teacher preparation and teaching in bi/multilingual contexts. An international editorial board member of Teaching and Teacher Education, one of her recent publications is, “Higher grounds: Practical guidelines for forging learning pathways in upper primary education”. Katina Zammit works at Western Sydney University in the School of Education. She teaches literacy courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, and Deputy Dean, Katina guides the development and accreditation of teacher education programs and post-initial teacher education programs. Zammit works closely with colleagues in school and fellow academics in Australia and other countries to improve student engagement in learning and literacy outcomes for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and/or living in poverty. Her research interests include multiliteracies, writing and creating texts in multiple modes, transformative pedagogies and pedagogical leadership.

Preface; Robert Tierney

Section 1. Literacy Programs, Policies and Curriculum

Chapter 1. Introduction: Stitching a Global Meaning Making Patchwork Quilt; Patience Sowa, Katina Zammit, and Lori Czop Assaf

Chapter 2. International Literacy Development in the Peruvian Amazon: Three Problematic Assumptions; Desirée Pallais-Downing

Chapter 3. Becoming Global Meaning Makers: The Making and Remaking of Literacy Education Expertise and Practice in Belize; Odelia Caliz, Ray Lawrence, Rashid Murillo, Denise Neal, Jennifer Sanders, Yvonne Tyndall-Howell, and Deborah Williams

Chapter 4. Tapasā: An Invitation to Decolonize Literacy Teacher Education in Aotearoa New Zealand; Jessica Cira Rubin and David Taufui Mikato Fa’avae

Chapter 5. Academic literacies from the South to the South: Tensions and Advances in Three Initiatives Located in Ibero-America; María Constanza Errázuriz, Lucía Natale, and Juan Antonio Núñez Cortés

Section 2. Language of Instruction Policies and Practices

Chapter 6. Challenges and Practical Considerations of the Choice of Languages of Instruction in Low and Middle Income Countries; Patience Sowa

Chapter 7. Challenging Existing Spaces: Deconstructing Indigenous Power Imbalances within Aotearoa New Zealand; Rachel Martin and Amanda Denston

Chapter 8. Between Many Worlds: Which Language to use in Primary Schools - Mother Tongue, Vernacular, or English?; Carol Abiri and Katina Zammit

Chapter 9. Community Mapping in One Rural Community in South Africa: Teacher Candidates Grapple with Colonizing Influences on Language and Literacy; Lori Czop Assaf, Kristie O’Donnell Lussier, and Meagan Hoff

Section 3. Engaging in Global Literacies

Chapter 10. Interrupting Existing Frames and Being Mindful: An Examination of Culturally Responsive Teachers of High Performing Immigrant and Refugee Youth in a German Secondary School; K. Dara Hill

Chapter 11. Cosmopolitanism to Frame Teaching Global Literacies; Shea N. Kerkhoff and Ming Yi

Chapter 12. “My Way is a Little Bit Wrong:” How Refugee-Background Students Negotiate the Boundaries of American Academic Literacies; Meagan Hoff

Chapter 13. School Interrupted: Issues and Perspectives from COVID-19 Remote Teaching; Chinwe H. Ikpeze and Susan Schultz

Chapter 14. Voices of Chinese Students: What Motivates them to Read?; Jiening Ruan and Susan Schultz

Chapter 15. Conclusion; Katina Zammit, Lori Czop Assaf, and Patience Sowa