Dear Colleagues,
I invite you to submit a proposal for an upcoming special issue of TETYC (Teaching English at the Two-Year College) on conversations surrounding race and racism in two-year college writing instruction. The CFP is below, and attached.
TETYC is a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). More information may be found here.
Proposals are due February 1, 2024. All submissions and questions may be directed to cche.
Best,
Charissa Che
Special Issue on Race and Teaching English in the Two-Year College
Guest Editor, Dr. Charissa Che
Call for Proposals:
Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC) invites proposals for a May 2025 special issue dedicated to conversations surrounding race and racism in two-year college English studies. With efforts at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education have come increased interest in developing antiracist pedagogy. Two-year colleges – often “majority minority” institutions comprising mostly students of color – are robust sites where this work is taking place, not only in theory, but in direct impact with our racial and minoritized students.
Importantly, some gaps remain in the ways we conceptualize and “do” this antiracist work. While Mara Lee Grayson calls for a pedagogy of racial literacy – the ability to read and write about race and racism – in FYC, Emily Suh asks us to first look at whether and how we foster students’ reading skills so they can critically engage with diverse texts (Sealey-Ruiz, Suh 116). Additionally, we must do the work ourselves: race-conscious writing instruction must acknowledge that conversations around ideology, power, and race altogether influence our work as educators. Melissa Tayles calls for ELA instructors to actively pursue racial justice in their work by “constantly question[ing] their own practices and the practices of others, as they recognize and disrupt the ways in which schools contribute to racial inequity, anti-Blackness, and discrimination” (Tayles 42). Rooted in the English language is a history of racism, colonialism, and oppression, and raciolinguistic ideologies continue to inform our valuing of “standard” English practices: what gets standardized, and what is seen as in need of remediation (Lawton and de Kleine). In effect, English language ideologies lead to the promotion of the interests of dominant groups over those of marginalized communities (Lippi-Green).
As such, this issue aims to be a resource for two-year and college and first-year writing instructors, particularly at HSIs (Hispanic-serving institutions) and HBCUs (historically black college or universities), interested in contributing to the nationwide exchange of antiracist praxis, research, and overall discourse taking place in our current moment. We seek articles that further the conversation on the role of race and racism in language and literacy instruction at community colleges, with the goal of creating antiracist pedagogies that honor the identities, experiences, and competencies of our racially diverse students.
Guiding Questions
In putting together this issue, we are guided by the following questions:
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When it comes to devising antiracist literacy pedagogies, where do theory and praxis meet? What specific practices in writing instruction can effectively address racial difference and inequalities?
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What obstacles arise when it comes to teaching critical race theory, or discussing race, in our classrooms?
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In what ways do we implicitly uphold racist practices in our English instruction, curriculum design, assessment, writing program administration, and other areas, and how can we recognize and reform this?
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How can racist and racialized language ideologies be addressed in WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) / WID (Writing in the Disciplines) programs, or in other contexts?
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How do racist and racialized language ideologies manifest in the treatment of specific marginalized groups within higher education?
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What are current attitudes held by instructors and administrators towards racial difference, and its relationship with language? How do these attitudes impact student experiences and outcomes?
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How can we expand the way we teach writing to account for diverse Englishes and other languages and dialects?
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How can we best foster racial literacy and antiracism, broadly, in the way we practice our profession, as instructors, researchers, and colleagues?
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Given state legislation, some instructors are unable to do DEI and antiracist work at their institutions. What are some ways they can instruct in racially-conscious ways, within these limitations?
Topics
Some possible topics include the relationship between race and
LANGUAGE
● Standardized English instruction
● Second language/multilingual students
● Linguistic racism
● Raciolinguistic justice
● Critical language awareness
IDENTITY
● Intersection of race with gender, class, educational background, and other identity
markers
● 1st generation and generation 1.5 college students
● Student and instructor identities
● HSIs, HBCUs, Indigenous education
● Impostor syndrome among BIPOC
PRAXIS
● Anti-racist instruction
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Teaching racial literacy
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Culturally-sustaining pedagogies
● Trauma and writing
● Writing centers
● Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines (WAC/WID)
● Writing Program Administration (WPA)
● Multimodal/digital writing
● Professional development of community college faculty and graduate students
● Remedial/developmental/basic writing
● ESL/ELL programs
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Institutional limitations to antiracist praxis
Types of Submissions
This special issue will feature types of submissions typically found in an issue of TETYC (More information and specific criteria for each are found here):
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Feature articles – contributing to existing praxis/theory in the literature with original research (4,000–7,000 words)
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Instructional Note/What Works for Me – successful antiracist classroom/administrative approaches (750–4,000 words)
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Book Reviews – of texts related to race and writing studies at or outside of the two-year college (750-1,000 words)
Timeline
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Submit 500-word proposals by February 1, 2024 to the cche. Proposals should identify the type of submission (see above), major questions and/or arguments that will be addressed, provide a scholarly context, and (if applicable) describe the methodologies that will be used. TETYC uses MLA documentation, 8th edition.
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Complete manuscripts will be invited by April 2024 after proposals are reviewed by the journal’s editorial board or additional invited peer reviewers.
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Complete manuscripts will be due to the editor by March 2025.
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Publication will be in the May 2025 issue.
Additional Notes
Contributors should have teaching and research experience at a minority-serving institution, open-access institution, or two-year college. Submissions integrating theory and praxis across disciplines, in “non-standard” English, or in a format outside the “traditional” genre of academic writing, are also welcome.
Questions can be directed to cche.
Works Consulted
Abreu, Joshua, Milagros Castillo-Montoya, and Kirsten Kortz. "Community College English
Instructors’ Perceptions of Learning and Enacting Culturally Sustaining Teaching
Strategies." Journal on Excellence in College Teaching 30.1 (2019): 27-50.
Bahr, Peter Riley. "Deconstructing remediation in community colleges: Exploring associations
between course-taking patterns, course outcomes, and attrition from the remedial math
and remedial writing sequences." Research in Higher Education 53 (2012): 661-693.
Grayson, Mara Lee. "Race talk in the composition classroom: Narrative song lyrics as texts for
racial literacy." Teaching English in the Two Year College 45.2 (2017): 143-167.
Grayson, Mara Lee. "Writing toward Racial Literacy." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing,
Volume 4 (2021).
Inoue, Asao B. "Classroom writing assessment as an antiracist practice: Confronting white
supremacy in the judgments of language." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching
Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 19.3 (2019): 373-404.
Jones, Veronica, and Victor Sáenz. "Enacting a Latino male-serving organizational identity: The
role of HSI community colleges." Community College Journal of Research and Practice
44.10-12 (2020): 835-853.
Lamos, Steve. "Minority-Serving Institutions, race-conscious" dwelling," and possible futures for
basic writing at Predominantly White Institutions." Journal of Basic Writing (2012): 4-35.
Lawton, Rachele, and Christa de Kleine. "The need to dismantle “standard” language ideology
at the community college: An analysis of writing and literacy instructor attitudes." Journal
of College Reading and Learning 50.4 (2020): 197-219.
Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an Accent : Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the
United States (Edition 2). 2nd ed., Routledge, 2012.
Martinez, Aja Y. Counterstory. "The rhetoric and writing of critical race theory." National Council
of Teachers of English (2020).
Ngo, Federick, and Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza. "’Now We Come Here, We Feel it’: Experiences
of Anti-Asian Racism Among Community College Students in ESOL Programs."
Community College Journal of Research and Practice (2023): 1-13.
Sanchez, Sergio, and Stephanie Pulles. English as a second language in California’s
community colleges. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California, 2019.
Sealey-Ruiz, Yolanda. “Building Racial Literacy in First-Year Composition.” Teaching English in
the Two-Year College, vol. 40, no. 4, 2013, pp. 384–98.
Suh, Emily K., and James M. Dyer. "(Re) centering Antiracist Reading in Reading Scholarship:
Reading Strategy Applications for Antiracist Reading Praxis." Journal of College Reading
and Learning 52.4 (2022): 304-320.
Suh, Emily K. "Teaching Reading as Raciolinguistic Justice:(Re) Centering Reading Strategies
for Antiracist Reading." Teaching English in the Two Year College 50.2 (2022).
Tayles, Melissa. "Trauma-informed writing pedagogy: Ways to support student writers affected
by trauma and traumatic stress." Teaching English in the Two Year College 48.3 (2021):
295-313.
Wilson, Asif. "Exclusion and Extraction: Situating Spirit Murdering in Community Colleges."
Educational Foundations 34.1 (2021): 47-67.
Charissa Che, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
English Department
Queensborough Community College (CUNY)
Book Review Editor, TETYC (Teaching English at the Two-Year College)
Incoming Associate Chair, TYCA (Two-Year College Association)
Twitter: @CharissaChe
CFP – TETYC Special Issue on Race and Teaching English in the TYC.pdf