Teaching and the Dilemma of the Personal: Lodoiska's Story

Generación 1.5: A Cultural Historical Agenda for Research at the 2-Year College

“…As Salas (2008Salas ( , 2010 has described in his ethnographic narratives about Sweet Water College (a pseudonym for a 2-year college in Georgia), 1 the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia first institutionalized postsecondary developmental studies programs in the fall of 1974 "as a means of bringing the reading, English, and mathematical skills of marginally prepared students up to standard" (University System of Georgia, 2002Georgia, -2003. Since then, various strands of ESL learning support programs have emerged for students exhibiting "not-American English" 2 features in their writing.…”

“…Notably, Salas (2008Salas ( , 2010 showed that at Sweet Water, students enrolled in two ESL learning support courses had to take the ESL version of a college orientation course. Others were funneled directly into ESL Advanced Grammar and Writing, the capstone developmental writing course, and some directly into ESL Reading Level III, the capstone reading course-or both.…”

“…From a cultural historical stance, we consider the category of the Generación 1.5 developmental writer as a postsecondary reproduction of social and historical activity, actions, and intercultural encounters. The cultural historical tools and social interactions that are available to participants in activity settings mediate how participants eventually perceive themselves (Portes & Salas, 2007, 2010. When 2-year institutions symbolically or, even worse, literally restrict or devalue individuals' cultural identities-a mediating tool that might otherwise propel their developmental trajectories-such restrictions undermine otherwise positive academic self-concepts, diminish motivation, and often fulfill negative self-prophecies and the prophecies of others.…”

“…The institutionalized rerouting of U.S. Latinos to developmental writing coursework demands critical attention. We ground the research agenda with which we conclude this article in an argument for coordinated counteraction-the purposeful activity of making ineffective-or restraining or neutralizing-the usually ill effects of an influence by means of an opposite force, action, or influence (Portes & Salas, 2007, 2010.…”

“…1. Citations referring back to documents from Sweetwater College are intentionally incomplete to safeguard the identities of participants and the institution of that original study (see Salas, 2008Salas, , 2010. 2.…”