05: Carly Overfelt

In this episode, Katherine and Sarah speak with Carly Overfelt. Carly has been teaching in higher education for over 15 years, especially courses in Writing, Literature, ESL and Linguistics. She has experience with faculty-facing programming and has been part of linguistic diversity curriculum and programming initiatives at three different higher ed institutions so far. What she learned in this work, especially from working with students, inspired her book project, tentatively titled Language Diversity in Higher Education: Where to Start and How to Push, a faculty and staff-facing resource on how to start working towards linguistic diversity and linguistic justice in higher education in the classroom and on the campus at large. Carly, Sarah and Katherine chat about the many different Englishes spoken within the United States and how ideas of “right” and “wrong” Englishes can impact notions of status and create barriers for learners and educators alike. They also affirm that “y’all” is the inclusive second-person plural we all need and deserve. Finally, Carly explains how language diversity on campus is sometimes feared, misunderstood and dismissed by people in power, and highlights the constant navigation of prestige in the language we speak, hear, read and write every day. Mentioned in the podcast: A Linguistically Inclusive Approach to Grading Writing by Hannah A. Franz The work of April Baker-Bell A Pedagogy of Kindness by Catherine J. Denial Are you faculty, staff or administration at a higher education institution? Have you been trying to make your classroom or campus more linguistically inclusive? Or are you a current or former college student who is multilingual or uses historically marginalized Englishes or other languages? If so, Carly wants to hear from you for a research study! This is especially applicable if you were on a campus or in a course designed to support linguistic diversity. The purpose of this study is to collect illustrations and real-world examples in this space in order to inform current and future efforts to support linguistic diversity on college campuses. Please email Carly Overfelt, at [email protected] for more information and to set up a 1-hr Zoom call. Please feel free to share! Connect with Carly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-overfelt-ph-d-99a6a9140/ Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinermatheson/ Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarah-kosel-agnihotri Here is the transcript for this episode.