Marcia Farr, Ph.D.
Professor
Contact Info:
- E-mail: farr.18@osu.edu
- Office: 216A Ramseyer Hall
- Phone: (614) 292-0095
- Fax: (614) 292-4260
Mailing Address:
- 29 W. Woodruff Ave.
- Columbus, OH 43210-1177
Biographical Information:
Marcia Farr is a sociolinguist whose research and teaching focus on cultural variation in the use of oral and written language and how local ways of using language and literacy affect the teaching and learning of academic literacy. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics from Georgetown University and directed the funding of research on writing at the National Institute of Education from 1976-1982. She edited a research series, Written Language, first for Ablex and then Hampton Press, and she has served on numerous Advisory and Editorial Boards.
Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (Linguistics Program), the Spencer Foundation, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and the Fulbright Foundation. She recently completed a long-term ethnographic study of language and culture among a transnational social network of Mexican families in Chicago and in their village-of-origin in Michoacán, Mexico (Rancheros in Chicagoacán: Language and Identity in a Transnational Mexican Community, University of Texas Press, 2006). A pair of edited books Ethnolinguistic Chicago: Language and Literacy in the City's Neighborhoods, Erlbaum, 2004, and Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago, Erlbaum, 2005) explore language and/or literacy practices in a variety of Chicago communities, including African American, African, Lithuanian, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, "White" working and middle class, Swedish, Mexican, and Puerto Rican.
Research Biography
Marcia Farr is a sociolinguist whose research and teaching focus on cultural variation in the use of oral and written language and how local ways of using language and literacy affect the teaching and learning of academic literacy. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics from Georgetown University and directed the funding of research on writing at the National Institute of Education from 1976-1982. She edited a research series, Written Language, first for Ablex and then Hampton Press, and she has served on numerous Advisory and Editorial Boards.
Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (Linguistics Program), the Spencer Foundation, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and the Fulbright Foundation. She recently completed a long-term ethnographic study of language and culture among a transnational social network of Mexican families in Chicago and in their village-of-origin in Michoacán, Mexico (Rancheros in Chicagoacán: Language and Identity in a Transnational Mexican Community, University of Texas Press, 2006). A pair of edited books Ethnolinguistic Chicago: Language and Literacy in the City's Neighborhoods, Erlbaum, 2004, and Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago, Erlbaum, 2005) explore language and/or literacy practices in a variety of Chicago communities, including African American, African, Lithuanian, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, "White" working and middle class, Swedish, Mexican, and Puerto Rican.
Education
- 1976 - Ph.D. in Linguistics, Georgetown University.
- 1970 - M.A. in Linguistics, American University.
- 1965 - B.A. in English, Ohio Wesleyan University.
Key Appointments
- 2002 - present. Professor of Education and English, Ohio State University.
- 1982 - 2002. Professor of English and Linguistics, Dept. of English, University of Illinois at Chicago.
- 1976 - 1982. National Institute of Education, Senior Research Associate and Team Leader for Research on Writing.
Activities and Honors
- General Editor of series, Written Language, Hampton Press, 1992 - 2000
- General Editor of series, Writing Research: Multidisciplinary Inquiries into the Nature of Writing, Ablex Publishing Co., 1982 -1992.
- Editorial Board of Discourse Processes journal, 1983 - 1991
- Editorial Board of Written Communication journal, 1989 - 2007
- Great Cities Institute Scholar Award, UIC, AY 2001-2002
- Fulbright Research Scholar at El Colegio de Michoacán, Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico; American Republics Research Program (Mexico), 1995-96
- National Science Foundation Fellowship (Support for Graduate School) (September 1970 - June 1971 and September 1971 - June 1972)
Selected Grants History
- Spencer Foundation Research Grant ("Language, Literacy, and Gender: Oral Traditions and Literacy Practices among Mexican Immigrant Families"), June, 1995 - June, 1998. $265,130.
- Spencer Foundation Grant ("Oral Folk Texts and Literacy among Mexican Immigrants in Chicago"), Sept., 1990 - Sept., 1993. $296,700.
- National Science Foundation (Linguistics Program) grant ("Mexican American Literacy in Chicago: A Sociolinguistic Study of Two Neighborhoods"), Aug.1, 1988 through July 31, 1990. With Professor Lucía Elías-Olivares. $75,180.
Selected Publications
- Farr, M. 2006. Rancheros in Chicagoacán: Language and identity in a transnational community. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Farr, M. and Dominguez, E. 2005. Mexicanos in Chicago: Language ideology and identity. In A.C. Zentella (ed.), Building on strengths: Language and literacy in Latino families, and communities. New York: Teachers College Press.
- Farr, M. (ed.). 2005. Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Farr, M. (ed.). 2004. Ethnolinguistic Chicago: Language and Literacy in the City's Neighborhoods. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Farr, M. and Ball, A. 2001. Standard English and educational policy, Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.
- Farr, M. and Nardini, G. 1996. Essayist literacy and sociolinguistic difference, in E. White, W. Lutz, and S. Kamusikiri (eds.), The politics and policies of assessment in writing. New York: Modern Language Association.
- Farr, M. and Guerra, J. 1995. Literacy in the community: A study of mexicano families in Chicago, Discourse Processes Special Issue, Literacy Among Latinos, 19:1, 7-19.
- Farr, M. 1994a. En los dos idiomas: Literacy practices among mexicano families in Chicago. Literacy across communities. Ed. Beverly Moss. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- Farr, M. 1994b. Biliteracy in the home: Practices among mexicano families in Chicago, in D. Spener (ed.), Adult biliteracy in the United States. McHenry, IL and Washington, D.C.: Delta Systems and Center for Applied Linguistics.
- Farr, M. 1994c. Echando relajo: Verbal art and gender among mexicanas in Chicago, in M. Bucholtz, A.C. Liang, L.A. Sutton, and C. Hines (eds.), Cultural performances: Proceedings of the third women and language conference, April 8-10, 1994. University of California, Berkeley.
- Farr, M. (ed.). 1985. Advances in writing research: Children's early writing development. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
- Whiteman, M. F. 1981. Dialect influence in writing, in M. F. Whiteman (ed), Variation in writing: Functional and linguistic cultural differences. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Whiteman, M. F. (ed.). 1981. Variation in writing: Functional and linguistic cultural differences. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Whiteman, M. F. (ed.). 1980. Vernacular Black English and education: Reactions to Ann Arbor. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Courses
- Edu T& L 665: Applied Linguistics
- Edu T& L 803: Language in Society
- Edu T& L 906 : Language Learning across Cultures
- Edu T& L 925.56: Seminar in Language, Literacy, and Culture (topics include 'Varieties of (Global) English and Education', 'Ethnography of Communication', and 'Bilingualism and Language in the Community')
