Innovator Vol. 36 No. 1 - Winter 06: The M Difference
Return to contents Faculty: Diane Larsen-Freeman
“Language is the water we swim in,” says U-M education professor Diane Larsen-Freeman. “Because of that, we are often oblivious to its complexities and to its learning challenges.”
An applied linguist and the director of the English
Language Institute, Larsen-Freeman recently developed an innovative course, “Educational Linguistics,” to help K-12 teachers who have English language learners in their classrooms. “Most K-through-12 teachers have not received specific training in educating non-native speakers of English,” she says. “And yet, due to the growing
numbers of immigrants to this country, and due to the changing demographics . . . it is likely that most K-through-12 teachers in this country [eventually] will have students for whom English is a second language.”
In the new course, Larsen-Freeman tries to “make language visible. Teachers become aware of language and acquire ways to think about language.” Because “grappling with a new language reminds teachers of how ego-threatening learning a second language can be,” she gives them a lesson in an obscure dialect called Bahasa Indonesia. She believes that the course helps teachers go beyond teaching conversational English to helping their students to master “cognitive academic language, the language of classrooms, of textbooks, of teacher talk and essays.” In helping the children of immigrants achieve success in academia, Larsen- Freeman believes, the School of Education is fulfilling its “social-justice mission.”
Larsen-Freeman fits the class into a busy schedule that includes heading the ELI, writing books (including an 800-page text called “Teaching Language: from Grammar to Grammaring”, and speaking around the world. A few years ago, ESL Magazine named her as one of thirty American ESL pioneers in the twentieth century. Larsen-Freeman was appreciative, but she relishes even more the praise of students, one of whom told her, “You don’t judge people for their language behavior; therefore, neither will I.” Because people who speak English in non-standard dialect are so often looked down upon, says Larsen-Freeman, “I felt very inspired by this comment.”
