Ryan Enser (Learning and Instruction)

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/97409678700?pwd=WmFkQ21QU3A1UUtab2ZhOGVvSHEwdz09

Download: Syposium-poster-Enser.pdf

Abstract:

All popular computer programming languages have been constructed from the natural language of English even though it is the native language of only 10% of the global population and is not superior to other languages in its efficacy for constructing programming languages. Because of this, multitudes of native speakers of languages other than English have been excluded from software engineering because they must learn English before they can study programming languages. Although critical pedagogies support the inclusion of linguistically diverse populations (i.e. raciolinguistic ideologies, culturally sustaining pedagogies), up until now, this discussion has not been applied to programming languages. I propose culturally sustaining programming, an approach situated at the intersection of critical pedagogies and programming languages, to empower non-English speaking programmers to construct programming languages from their own natural languages. Affordances of culturally sustaining programming include opening the field of software engineering to substantially more aspiring programmers, developing software engineering industries that economically and materially benefit their linguicultural groups, and creating novel programming languages that serve as linguicultural assets.