Generation 1.5 Students and the Language Demands of Community College

George C. Bunch

As the US public school population becomes more linguistically diverse, and as higher education is increasingly necessary for 21st Century economic and civic life, a greater understanding is needed of the linguistic challenges facing students as they pursue postsecondary education. The proposed project aims to develop a framework for documenting language demands facing US-educated language minority students (“Generation 1.5”) as they pursue higher education at the community college level, the first step in many students’ postsecondary endeavors. A multidimensional framework, based on functional and sociocultural perspectives on language, will identify the language demands associated with one professional program and one transfer program at a central California community college. Administrative and instructional documents, interviews with instructors and students, and classroom observations will be used to evaluate which language demands are most crucial to the completion of the academic work required for the program, which of the demands present significant challenges, and what strategies students used to meet the challenges. The study will inform research, policy, and practice related to the preparation of language minority students for college-level coursework as well as larger efforts to understand how language ideologies influence academic and language development opportunities throughout students’ academic careers.

About George C. Bunch

George C. Bunch is assistant professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. An experienced K-12 teacher and teacher educator, he holds a PhD in educational linguistics from Stanford University and a MA in bilingual education and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research explores how conceptions of academic language and literacy impact the education of immigrant students, both in K-12 schools and higher education. Current and recent projects focus on policies and practices impacting language minority students in community colleges, the language demands and opportunities associated with innovative K-12 curricula and assessment, and the preparation of mainstream teachers for working with linguistically diverse students. He has authored or co-authored articles appearing in Linguistics and Education, Language and Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, as well as chapters in Preparing Teachers for a Changing World (edited by Linda Darling Hammond and John Bransford, Jossey-Bass, 2005), The Education of Language Minority Immigrants in the United States (edited by Terry Wiley, Jin Sook Lee, and Russell Rumberger, Multilingual Matters, 2009), and several volumes published by Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).