Speaking American:

A Journey Across Borders, Languages, and Cultures

What are we planning?

This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish.
Then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump
Republican primary debate in Ronald Regan Library
14 September 2016

The 2016 Presidential campaign and its aftermath highlight the volatile intersections
between national identity, language diversity, and immigration in the United States.
The barrage of daily news stories flashing photos of refugees and immigrants being
turned away at airports or arrested and deported, as well as the resulting social,
economic, and legal entanglements disturb us as we currently navigate the
immigration process together with our 11-year-old daughter. Further, we recognize
these developments as the most recent in a long history of discrimination of people
who travel here to work, learn, and build lives based not only on economic
opportunity but also on the fundamentals of democracy, all of which explicitly
involve the processes of translating meaning across many cultures and languages.
The English language and its use as a lingua franca in this country does not
subordinate this multiplicity of heritage languages, dialects, and cultures through
which individuals and members of communities understand themselves as
American. However labeled, multi-, pluri-, trans-, daily realities here constantly
emerge through many languages, dialects, and language practices.

In this context, we put our training as English as a Second Language (ESL)

educators to work, reporting evidence of language diversity and opening
conversations with colleagues, friends, and family members about the role of
multiple languages and cultures in shaping everyday meaning and communication
along our journey from Kentucky to the Pacific Northwest. The four questions below
guide us:
In what ways are English and its use diverse along our route?
What language practices shape this diversity?
Who is shaped by these practices?
How does all of this matter locally, nationally, and internationally?

The resulting narrative on Twitter and our WordPress blog, we hope, will bring our
previous research and experience, discoveries along our journey, discussions with
you, and conversations at two academic conferences to bear on the larger debates
over language diversity, national identity, and immigration.

How can you participate?

follow us engage us in daily deliberation via our Twitter account and
WordPress blog
share Tweet and post
o questions and comments on your own daily language practices or
those you observe
o news stories, digital media, and research with timely connections to
the discussion
o sites and events you suggest we investigate along our route
o encouragement!

*Note: We ask that contributions critically (evidence-based reason) and

imaginatively (artistic/aesthetic appeals to emotion and reason) approach the
issues humbly with respect for multiple viewpoints shaped by a wide range of
diverse backgrounds. Speech and rhetoric that

intentionally or unintentionally denigrate or otherwise offend the fundamental

dignity of cultures, languages, and individuals are not welcome and will be
erased and possibly reported, if necessary.

What are our goals?

journey by car across eight states between Kentucky and the Pacific
Northwest, creating opportunities for you to guide our research and to
deliberate the value of how and why We the People translate meaning
across dialects of English and across whole languages as part of our daily
experience
connect these insights to the larger debates over language diversity, national
identity, and immigration
 continue to develop ourselves professionally as teachers and researchers by
joining and learning from academic communities dedicated to equitable and
diverse educational practices
cover costs for two ESL-related academic conferences (e.g., registration and
transportation to conference sites) and travel expenses (e.g., gas, meager
accommodation, and basic supplies)