Understanding the relationships between students’ first languages and other academic outcomes: How and Why

The Mellon Sawyer Seminar Series on Language Discrimination in Fragile Communities and the FOCUS Program are pleased to present:

Understanding the relationships between students' first languages and other academic outcomes: How and Why

Featuring:
Jennifer Hill
Director, Office of Assessment of Trinity College (Duke)

&

Emma Runia
Trinity'23

It will take place on Thursday, March 30th at 5:00 pm in 153 Rubenstein Library. Light refreshments provided.

The session explores how institutional data systems support (and sometimes fail to support) thoughtful interpretations of language diversity in higher education. Addressing the ostensibly straightforward question, what are Duke undergraduates' first languages?, the presenters demonstrate the difficulty of parsing language backgrounds from the plurality of data sources available to analysts here at Duke. Based on our initial designations of "first language(s)", the session will evaluate a selection of tables and figures illustrating possible associations between first languages and later academic outcomes. However, the ambiguity of our findings about first languages demands a broader conversation about the balance between data accessibility, the authentic representation of student identities, and the security of possibly sensitive student attributes. As this work still is evolving, the presenters invite insights and feedback from attendees.

Please invite your colleagues and students. We look forward to seeing you there!