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Learning Outcomes

TopThis UTWP module helps students produce expository writing that readers will recognize as increasing their understanding of a given topic. These modules develop five sets of core strategies that underlie successful scholarly writing in the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics:

Analyzing how authors problematize what other authors say and how they argue their responses to these problems,
Entering the conversations between these authors by problematizing their arguments and arguing why one’s problem and response are reasonable with available evidence,
Organizing and wording ideas to help readers understand a line of reasoning,
Documenting sources so readers can check one’s use of other scholars’ ideas, and
Revising the content, wording, and organization of a paper, as well as surface features such as spelling, punctuation, etc.

Synopsis

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This course examines the relationship between language and migration. What does it mean to live a life in a new language? What are the different kinds of migration and how well do the languages of different migrants travel? Why are languages not equally mobile? In small, interactive classes, students will explore these questions through the lenses of a wide range of texts from autobiographies to movies to scholarly articles. Students will be encouraged to develop their own informed views regarding the issues and they will be guided in making the rhetorical decisions that best argue their view in writing.

Syllabus

TopUNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE AND MIGRATION ISSUES

This unit introduces you to language and migration issues and to ways of critically reading and responding to texts. A range of texts (i.e. newspaper articles, autobiographical essays and research articles) are used to help you understand how issues can be approached from different perspectives and how rhetorical strategies may vary depending on one’s purpose and intended audience. You will be encouraged to develop a questioning stance regarding the issues. You will also be guided in how you can summarize, annotate and respond to texts from such a stance. You will be required to submit a reflective summary of an assigned text at the end of the unit.

Readings

Castles, S. (2002) Migration and community formation under conditions of globalization. International Migration Review 36 (4): 1154 – 1157. (excerpt)

Francis, S. (2002, May 23). Abolishing America: no assimilation, no nation. Retrieved 11 August 2010, from http://www.vdare.com/francis/no_assimilation.htm

Hoffman, E. (1989). Lost in translation: a life in a new language. USA: Penguin Books, pp. 99 – 108.

Krauthammer, C. (2005, June 17). Assimilation nation. The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 August 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601376.html.

Piller, I. (2001). Naturalization, language testing and its basis in ideologies of national identity and citizenship’ International Journal of Bilingualism 5: 259 – 278. (excerpt)

Rodriguez, R. (1993). From Hunger of Memory. In Brown, W. and Ling, A. (Eds.). Visions of America: personal narratives from the promised land (pp. 229 -232). New York: Persea Books.

Singh, K.B. (2009, August 15). Why new PR finds routine joys tough. The Straits Times, p. A42.

Sungho. Assimilation of immigrants. Retrieved 11 August 2010, from http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Tolerance/sfor/assim02.html.

Tan, D. (2009, August 15). Immigration is the most significant change in Singapore. The Straits Times, p. A42.

Writing Assignment 1 (400-word Reflective Summary)

Select one of the following readings. Note that these are excerpts from autobiographies:

Hoffman, E. (1989). Lost in translation: a life in a new language. USA: Penguin Books, pp. 99 – 108.
Rodriguez, R. (1993). From Hunger of Memory. In Brown, W. and Ling, A. (Eds.). Visions of America: personal narratives from the promised land (pp. 229 -232). New York: Persea Books.

Write a reflective summary of the reading you selected. Your summary should be informed by your understanding of the debates around language, migration and integration. Consider the following:

To the author, what does it mean to live a life in a new language? In this excerpt, what are the author's (explicit and/or implicit) ideas or insights regarding language in the process of migration and/or integration? How does his/her narrative reflect these ideas or insights?
How does the reading clarify, enrich or broaden (or not) your understanding of the debates around language, migration and integration?
What questions and/or insights does the reading raise in your mind regarding particular claims or arguments made in debates about language, migration and integration?

For your interest: Online discussions about migration

BBC News (2007, 19 March). Have your say special : migrant world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/special/migration/default.stm

The Economist (2009, September). Economist debates: international migration [On-line]. Available at: http://www.economist.com/debate/debates/overview/
153?source=hptextfeature

UNIT 2: APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE AND MIGRATION ISSUES

This unit focuses on approaches to understanding contemporary language and migration issues. It highlights how writers position themselves and the rhetorical decisions they make. Reinforcing and building on the critical reading strategies introduced in Unit 1, this unit encourages you to discover how texts are connected or related to each other and how writers make (or do not make) such connections in their writing. You will be guided in using texts as lenses for reading, analyzing and writing about other texts. You will be required to submit a comparative paper at the end of the unit

Readings

Blommaert, J. (2003). Commentary: a sociolinguistics of globalization. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7 (4), 607 – 623.

Creese, G. (2010). Erasing English language competency: Africant migrants in Vancouver, Canada. International Migration and Integration 11: 295 - 313.

Lan, P. (2003). “They have more money but I speak better English”: transnational encounters between Filipina domestics and Taiwanese employers. Identities: global studies in culture and power 10: 133 – 161.

For your interest:

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J.Richardson (Ed.). Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241 - 258). New York: Greenwood Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press.

Urciuoli, B. (1997). Good English as symbolic capital. In Exposing prejudice: Puerto Rican experiences of language, race and class, pp. 107 – 133.

Writing Assignment 2 (600-800 word Comparative Paper)

Discuss how Creese (2010) and Lan (2003) are related to each other in terms of how they view and/or problematize the mobility of linguistic capital, how they reinforce or call into question ideas or assertions, and how they suggest new ways of viewing language and migration.

UNIT 3: TOPICS IN LANGUAGE AND MIGRATION

This unit focuses on helping you develop, research and write about your own topics in relation to language and migration. You will be encouraged to develop your own informed stance regarding the topic of your choice. Reinforcing and building on the critical reading and writing strategies introduced in Units 1 and 2, you will be guided through the process of positioning yourself as a participant in an ongoing ‘conversation’ regarding language and migration and of making rhetorical decisions on how to best argue your conclusion. You will be required to submit an expository paper on a topic of your choice at the end of the unit.

Writing Assignment 3 (1,000 – 1,500 word expository paper)

Based on your interview with a migrant, write a short paper that discusses and analyzes selected aspects of your interviewee’s experiences based on the theoretical perspectives and issues we have covered in this course (i.e. language and social integration, language and mobility). You should include at least two secondary sources you found on your own.

Presentations

On the last week of classes, you will give a 10-minute presentation of your Assignment 3. There will be a 5 minute question and answer session after your presentation. Think of the presentation as a means of getting feedback on your paper before you write and submit the final draft. The presentation is 10% of your grade.

Assessment

TopModule assignments and other graded activities are weighted as follows:

Papers (80%): Assignment 1 (20%), Assignment 2 (25%), Assignment 3 (35%)
Individual presentations (10%)
Class participation (10%)

The objective of this module is for you to develop thinking and composing skills that make your ideas valued by peers and teachers. To do this you have to try things with your writing that you have not done before. The grading of your assignments is designed in three ways to encourage you to take chances.

First, we will multi-draft all papers. Your classmates and tutor will read and comment on your papers at least twice, and you will have a chance to revise them before submitting them for a grade. Second, the grades for the three papers are weighted. Beyond this, if you happen to receive a higher grade for your second paper than for your third, the second paper will be weighted as your third paper and the third paper will be weighted as your second paper. Third, there is no final examination for this module. Your course grade is based on your three papers, presentations, and participation. Your grades for the papers will come from writing produced under conditions that you control to a large degree. Likewise, highest grades for presentations and participation are not given for right answers but for:

raising uncertainty about a topic which starts other students thinking about the topic in new ways and
being clear (you can always be clear about why the topic not clear) and well organized (you can be easy to follow even when the topic is complex).

Module Overview

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