Imagine a job applicant who speaks five languages with full proficiency. Almost effortlessly, they translate and transcribe even the most complex topics from one language to another. Their linguistic skills would make them an invaluable asset to any company, provided one invisible criterion:
One of these languages must be English.
For many refugees and asylees in the U.S. (a nation without an official language) lacking English proficiency is the unspoken penalty, the barrier preventing them from stabilizing themselves and their families in a new culture, new country and new world.
鈥淢uch of the world is Anglocentric,鈥� Mythili Menon, associate professor of English and linguistics said. 鈥淲e interpret the world through this monolingual point of view, through a language that has hegemony and imperialistic power over other communities.鈥�
But for communities across the world, multilingualism is the norm. Because of this English bias, Menon incepted the Center for Educational Technologies to Assist Refugee Learners.
鈥淓ducation is a big problem for the children, because the school systems in the United States are just so different from their home country,鈥� Menon said. 鈥淭hat was the impetus of the Center, to create novel digital technologies to help people who are disadvantaged and underrepresented in the education system.鈥�
CETARL, which entered its earliest phase of development in the Fall of 2020, employed digital technologies both out of necessity and utility.
鈥淲e knew educational technologies were going to be big, because we didn鈥檛 know how long COVID would last,鈥� Menon said. 鈥淏ut I also knew that games were a safe space for the students. They come from PTSD, from trauma, maybe neurodivergences, but they can be whoever they want in the game. We wanted to provide that for them, because they鈥檇 never had it before.鈥�
Using gamification, CETARL increases English proficiency and teaches middle-school science to refugee and asylee students. A non-playing character, Dr. Kayembe, gives instructions to the students, who play through a digital avatar. Kayembe takes the player through units: the solar system, the human body, physics, and ecosystems and habitats. These cursory STEM modules supplement the instruction from their science classes at school.
Incorporating principles of linguistics, technology, sociology and pedagogy challenged the CETARL development team. But, Menon said, the trial would have been an impossibility without the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of the liberal arts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very easy for people to work in silos and not talk to others,鈥� said Menon. 鈥淏ut in the liberal arts and sciences, we encourage innovation and thinking across disciplines. We get out of our box, to different floors, different departments鈥攏ot a lot of colleges offer that.鈥�
Her team is working to make the Center鈥檚 approach into a scalable model for Wichita Public Schools. 鈥淲e underestimate the power of educational technologies to change lives,鈥� Menon said. 鈥淎 lot more games and educational technology should make its way into the public school classroom.鈥�
However, CETARL鈥檚 reach extends beyond public schools, to all refugee learners in the area. Menon鈥檚 research on underrepresented languages and communities makes her uniquely equipped to lead the charge as the Center鈥檚 principal investigator.
"Why do refugee communities have to trust you?鈥� Menon asked. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛. You鈥檙e not an indigenous person or refugee or asylee. So, it is very important to establish trust, because, at the end of the day, you鈥檙e an outsider.鈥�
A shared language, Menon argues, not only establishes that trust, but broadens job opportunities and greatly facilitates the challenges of day-to-day interactions that go unnoticed by native speakers. By increasing English and digital proficiencies, she and her team at the Center help bridge the gap between the Wichita community and its refugee population.
鈥淩esettling people is one thing,鈥� Menon said of the existing refugee integration process in the U.S. 鈥淕iving them resources to succeed and thrive is another.鈥�
