Table Of ContentUsing ESL Students’
First Language to Promote
College Success
Emerging from a critical analysis of the glocal power of English and how
it relates to academic literacy and culturally responsive pedagogy, this
book presents translanguaging strategies for using ESL students’ mother
tongue as a resource for academic literacy acquisition and college success.
Parmegiani offers a strong counterpoint to the “English-only” movement
in the United States. Grounded in a case study of a learning community
linking Spanish and English academic writing courses, he demonstrates
that a mother tongue–based pedagogical intervention and the strategic
use of minority home languages can promote English language acquisition
and academic success.
Andrea Parmegiani is a Distinguished Fellow at the CUNY Advanced
Research Collaborative and Associate Professor of English at Bronx
Community College (CUNY).
Routledge Research in Language Education
Researching Chinese Language Education
Functional Linguistic Perspectives book cover
Edited by Mark Shiu-kee Shum, Peter Mickan
Addressing Difficult Situations in Foreign-Language Learning
Confusion, Impoliteness, and Hostility
Gerrard Mugford
Interdisciplinary Research Approaches to Multilingual Education
Edited by Vasilia Kourtis-Kazoullis, Themistoklis Aravossitas,
Eleni Skourtou, Peter Pericles Trifonas
From Language Skills to Literacy
Broadening the Scope of English Language Education
Through Media Literacy
Csilla Weninger
Critical Literacy with Adolescent English Language Learners
Exploring policy and practice in global contexts book cover
Jennifer Alford
Education Policy for the Promotion of Trilingual
Education at Primary Level
A comparative analysis of Ireland and Catalonia
Elena Prats Porcar
Using ESL Students’ First Language to Promote College Success
Sneaking the Mother Tongue through the Back Door
Andrea Parmegiani
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
Using ESL Students’
First Language to Promote
College Success
Sneaking the Mother Tongue
through the Back Door
Andrea Parmegiani
First published 2019
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Andrea Parmegiani to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-29677-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-09976-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To anyone who has ever made the effort to learn
another language, especially if as part of a quest for
a better life
Contents
List of Tables viii
Acknowledgments ix
Contributor xi
Introduction xii
I Linguistic Diversity and the Achievement Gap
in the United States 1
II Language Inequality: Theoretical Perspectives
and Implications for Academic Literacy 21
III Using Spanish as a Resource at Bronx
Community College 56
IV Impact on Learning Outcomes 87
V Conclusion 121
Index 133
Tables
4.1 Target Class Pass Rates 96
4.2 Percentage of Students Who Enrolled in First-Year
Composition 97
4.3 Number of Semesters to First-Year Composition 97
4.4 Average Credit Accumulation While Enrolled in
the Learning Community (target semester) 98
4.5 Average Credit Accumulation the Semester after
Completing the Learning Community (target + 1) 98
4.6 Average Credit Accumulation the Second Semester
after Completing the Learning Community (target + 2) 98
4.7 Average GPA While Enrolled in the Learning
Community (target semester) 98
4.8 Average GPA the Semester after Completing the
Learning Community (target + 1) 99
4.9 Average GPA the Second Semester after Completing
the Learning Community (target + 2) 99
4.10 One-Year Retention Rates 99
4.11 Current Enrollment Status: Graduated 99
4.12 Current Enrollment Status: Still Enrolled 99
Acknowledgments
Writing a book has been a dream since I was a child. The people who
have helped me make this dream come true, one way or another, are
way too numerous to be acknowledged individually in these pages. This
doesn’t take anything away from my gratitude. Among these people, my
husband Murray Edelman and my friends and colleagues Hope Paris,
Rebecca Mlynarzyk, and Rafael Coste deserve a special thanks.
Murray spent countless hours helping me navigate the treacherous
waters of quantitative research, dealing with my meltdowns with the
patience of a saint. I would still be lost in a sea of numbers without his
stewardship and intellectual elbow grease. Murray’s patience was also
immense in dealing with my mood swings that came with the writing of
this book.
Hope Parisi and Rebecca Mlynarczyk of Kingsborough Community
College found the time to read earlier drafts of this book in the midst
of their multiple responsibilities as scholars, professors, mothers, and
in Rebecca’s case, grandmother. I am immensely grateful for their time,
cogent input, and faith in me. Without their support, I would not have
been able to claim the “right to speech” the way I have with this book.
Former ESL student and current Bronx Community College adminis-
trator Rafael Coste was a sine qua non for the interview process. Without
Rafael, the interviews—and this book—simply could not have happened.
Without his magic, I would not have been able to find my former stu-
dents, nor would they have opened up the way they did without his
inspiring presence.
Special thanks, of course, to my students, especially to those who took
their precious time to speak to me so candidly and intimately during the
interviews. It has been a blessing, an honor, and a joy to teach and learn
with you and to share what I have learned in the pages of this book.
Many colleagues at Bronx Community College are among the many
people that have helped me make this dream come true “one way or the
other.” I can only mention a few: Robert Beuka, Marianne Pita, Laurel
Cummins, Alexander Lamazares, who have supported the English–Span-
ish link as chairs of the departments of English and Modern Languages.
