Research Projects
Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps”
Winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity
Sarah Benor
Jonathan Krasner
Sharon Avni
Each summer, tens of thousands of American Jews attend residential camps, where they may see Hebrew signs, sing and dance to Hebrew songs, and hear a camp-specific hybrid language register called Camp Hebraized English, as in: “Let’s hear some ruach (spirit) in this chadar ochel (dining hall)!” Using historical and sociolinguistic methods, this book explains how camp directors and staff came to infuse Hebrew in creative ways and how their rationales and practices have evolved from the early 20th century to today. Some Jewish leaders worry that Camp Hebraized English impedes Hebrew acquisition, while others recognize its power to strengthen campers’ bonds with Israel, Judaism, and the Jewish people. Hebrew Infusion explores these conflicting ideologies, showing how hybrid language can serve a formative role in fostering religious, diasporic communities. The insightful analysis and engaging descriptions of camp life will appeal to anyone interested in language, education, or American Jewish culture.
Funded by:
Wexner Foundation; Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for studies in Jewish education at Brandeis University; CASJE (The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education); PSC-CUNY Grant
Current project: Speaking of Hebrew: Language, Identity, and American Jewishness
A book project exploring Modern Hebrew in the United States
Funded by:
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
Mellon/ACLS Fellowship, NEH, PSC-CUNY
Current project: Jewish Learning through Cultural Arts
A contemporary ethnographic project exploring Jewish learning in cultural arts settings, supported by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. More information on this research can be found on the project webpage: https://www.brandeis.edu/mandel/projects/culturalarts.html
Mapping Hebrew education in public schools: A resource for Jewish educators
Sharon Avni & Avital Karpman (University of Maryland-College Park)
Funded by: The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) Research Award 2018 ($29,941)
Diversity in the Expansion of Dual Language Bilingual Education: The Case of Hebrew-English Programs in New York City Public Schools
Funded by: The Spencer Foundation ($50,000)
In collaboration with Kate Menken (Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center)
In search of the knowledge base of Hebrew teaching in Jewish day school education
Funded by: The Sylvia and Moshe Ettenberg Research Grant in Jewish Education, Network for Research in Jewish Education, 2017-2018 ($14,476)
Hebrew language learning ideologies and the debate over Hebrew language charter schools
Funded by the BMCC Faculty Development Grant, this study examines the Hebrew language learning ideologies that imbue the Hebrew language charter schools debates using a unique dataset of public texts from online newspapers and key social media posts between 2010 and 2011. Drawing from theoretical frameworks in linguistic anthropology, it identifies the dominant language ideologies of participating stakeholders (i.e., community members, parents, educators, policy makers, and academics) in these debates. This study builds a theoretical framework of how Hebrew-English bilingualism is construed and contested in contemporary American society and creates a model for examining how public texts construct and define dominant themes in schooling.
Meanings of Hebrew: Interviewing Hebrew charter school parents about school choice
The purpose of this interview-based study is to better understand the reasons Jewish and non-
Jewish parents choose to send their children to Hebrew charter schools in New York City and New Jersey.
Past Research Projects
The Academic Socialization of ESL Postsecondary Students: A Language Socialization Perspective
Funded by PSC-CUNY Academic Grant.
The purpose of this study was to examine the academic socialization of post-secondary immigrant students attending ESL remedial writing courses in order to shed light on the process by which these students acquire the norms, values, behavior, and social skills that enable them to participate effectively and appropriately in a post-secondary academic context. The focus of the study was on: how classroom interactions during literacy activities socialize and construct identity and how students perceive their trajectory of learning and their own academic socialization over the duration of a semester.