USU Professor Joshua Thoms co-authored this year's honorable mention winner of the MLA Kenneth W. Mildenberger prize.
By Andrea DeHaan, CHaSS Communications Editor
Utah State University Professor Joshua Thoms’ recent publication “Open Education and Second Language Learning and Teaching: The Rise of a New Knowledge Ecology” was selected for this year’s Kenneth W. Mildenberger honorable mention by the Modern Language Association (MLA). The prize is awarded to a work that makes a significant contribution to the teaching of languages other than English through language, culture, literacy, and literature.
As noted in the MLA committee citation for the honorable mention, “By combining theory and practice with examples for a range of different languages, Carl S. Blyth and Joshua J. Thoms’s book is relevant across many fields and for researchers as well as educators.”
MLA recognizes awardees at its annual convention, which was held in Philadelphia in early January 2024. While Thoms was unable to attend, his co-author Carl S. Blyth, associate professor of French linguistics at the University of Texas, Austin was at the event.
Their publication is a co-edited volume focused on the importance of open-access resources in the applied linguistics field and their impact on second-language learners, educators, and researchers. It seeks to understand how these resources both help and disrupt “traditional approaches to language learning, language teaching, professional development, and the dissemination of research in our field,” said Thoms, a professor of Spanish and applied linguistics in the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
“There’s usually just a small number of people producing teaching materials in any given field, … which oftentimes results in a finite number of voices and views being promoted via traditional publisher-based venues,” said Thoms. “What open access or the open education movement does … is allow for a wider array of folks to weigh in.”
In languages, Thoms said this translates to additional educational materials to address linguistic variation across, for example, the Spanish-speaking or French-speaking world. At USU, open educational resources (OER) remove barriers like the cost of textbooks and provide immediate access to online resources that students can print, remix, and reference before and after courses end.
“It is now very easy for anyone to create and share pedagogical resources alongside traditional publisher-created content,” Thoms said.
The university is committed to providing OER for teaching, learning, and research. USU defines these as online resources that are “free of cost and access barriers.” In fact, USU Libraries has been working with faculty to grow its OER repository and has programs in place to support instructors interested in creating OER materials for their courses.
“Teaching with OER can lead to higher success and retention and graduation rates, particularly for vulnerable students, and the USU Libraries serve as a resource for all instructors who want to explore the opportunities that OER provides,” said USU Libraries Department Head/Associate Dean for Public Services Britt Fagerheim. “Support for OER contributes to USU’s goal of expanding accessible and inclusive learning.”
In the same way that open access makes learning more accessible for students, Thoms said OER creates a more favorable environment for researchers as well.
“That’s helping to move the field along faster, because you're able to share the most current information, the most current research in a way that's equitable, as many more people can have access to it around the world,” said Thoms, “and this is why we see more faculty, particularly younger faculty or faculty who want to be more democratic in their choices using OER and opting to publish their work via open access journals and Creative Commons licenses.”
To learn more about how you can access OER for your courses, please visit: https://library.usu.edu/oer/
For more information about the Kenneth W. Mildenberger prize and the honorable mention recipients, please visit: https://www.mla.org/content/download/191342/file/KWM-2023-Kenneth-W-Mildenberger-Prize-Press-Release.pdf
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