When she began her undergraduate studies, Christy Hedges was determined to avoid becoming a speech-language pathologist (SLP) like her mother and aunt. But an introductory course on the subject, coupled with the experience of struggling to communicate in Spanish during a semester abroad in Costa Rica, convinced this Bartlesville native that, “despite my best efforts to stray into another field, it was obvious this profession was for me.”
Several years and degrees later, Hedges has entered what she jokingly refers to as the “family business,” currently serving as a clinical assistant professor of speech-language pathology in The University of Tulsa’s Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. In the following Q&A, she shares some of the fascinating rationale, context and steps her project entails.
Would you share an overview of your current research?
My research begins from the principle that, as SLPs, we should be able to work with and help speakers of any and all languages. Because there are very few assessment tools that are standardized on multilingual speakers, however, such individuals are at high risk for misdiagnosis.
My current line of inquiry focuses on how SLPs can best serve speakers of all languages through the development and use of assessment approaches founded on translanguaging. Guided by this theory, I’m looking at the role assessment of language learning, rather than static assessment of language skills, can play in screening for language disorders. This is a more culturally neutral approach because it removes the biases that standardized assessments inherently bring to evaluating language skills.
What is translanguaging and how does it relate to language assessment?
Translanguaging is a language-use theory that conceptualizes language as a single, unique system for each individual, regardless of the named languages – Spanish, Japanese, English, etc. – that contribute to the linguistic repertoire. This theory helps shape assessment approaches, equalize the inherent power systems created around named languages and supports linguistic justice principles for multilingual individuals.
What do you mean by “linguistic justice”?
Linguistic justice is the idea that all languages and language variations should be regarded as equal. This is a major issue in the United States, where, despite the fact we don’t have an official language, Standard English is the de facto language of business, travel, education, entertainment, healthcare and many other areas of life.
There is a lot of power in being able to speak English – even more so if you speak the standard dialect. English is historically one of the primary languages of colonization, and forced linguistic assimilation is a primary strategy to diminish minoritized cultures in colonized nations, such as ours.
How does translanguaging further this quest for justice and support the work of SLPs?
The theoretical approach of translanguaging acknowledges how multiple languages manifest in individuals. It allows for a variety of “Englishes” to be acceptable and elevated to the same status as the so-called standard. Translanguaging encourages SLPs to consider the totality of linguistic resources available to an individual when they are assessing them for a language disorder. Do our clients struggle to learn language and accomplish a linguistic task when explicitly taught – regardless of the language used? Or are their reported struggles related to the fact that they can’t use English the way we want them to use English?
How does your research inform your teaching and help to prepare your students for their future careers?
When our master’s in speech-language pathology students enter the workforce, they will work with individuals who speak different languages, are from different backgrounds, have different educational experiences and have different ways of interacting with education and health-related decisions. In order to best serve these individuals, students must be prepared with a variety of skills, tools and perspectives to effectively diagnose and treat their clients. Through my research, I help students access and utilize some of these tools and better understand the importance of evidence-based practice.
In my language-learning assessment project, I have benefited from the help of graduate students who assisted in collecting the initial screening data. Currently, I am working with a Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge student who is helping me analyze data from this study and prepare a conference proposal for another on goal-writing.
Beyond the application of your research to the work of SLPs, do you discern a resonance more broadly in our society?
Absolutely. I believe that consideration and awareness of linguistic power systems and the ways language use is regulated are relevant for everyone in the United States today. In the scariest scenario, language becomes so regulated that we all – even native English speakers – lose the right to free speech. If we are telling people that the way the speak is wrong through comparison to a monolithic standard or if we continue to assign judgments of intelligence to variations of English, then we leave the door open for that to happen to all of us.
Research-driven learning
Across all of Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences’ departments and schools, you’ll engage with faculty who are expanding the frontiers of their disciplines while you gain skills and knowledge that prepare you for your own exciting future. Whether you’re planning to launch directly into a health profession, pursue medical or graduate school or conduct groundbreaking research, your path starts here.