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Project-Based Learning in Second
Language Acquisition

This book showcases pedagogical tools for learning languages through

interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL). Chapters demonstrate
a diverse range of PBL activities that help students build communities
of practice within classroom settings and across local and global
communities.
Too often, learning a language becomes a static endeavor, confined to a
classroom and a singular discipline. But language is dynamic and fluid, no
matter the setting in which learning takes place. In acknowledging this,
this volume explores how PBL and community-engagement pedagogies
serve to combine learning goals and community service in ways that
enhance student growth and facilitate second-language development in
an interdisciplinary, multilingual, and multicultural higher education
learning environment. Chapters touch on activities and approaches,
including spoken-word poetry, environmental projects, social activism,
study abroad, and in-service learning.
This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate
students in the fields of language education, second language acquisition,
higher education, and comparative and international education.

Adrián Gras-Velázquez is lecturer in the Spanish and Portuguese

Department at Smith College, Massachusetts, USA.
Routledge Research in Language Education

The Routledge Research in Language Education series provides a plat-

form for established and emerging scholars to present their latest research
and discuss key issues in Language Education. This series welcomes books
on all areas of language teaching and learning, including but not limited
to language education policy and politics; multilingualism; literacy; L1,
L2, or foreign language acquisition; curriculum; classroom practice; ped-
agogy; teaching materials; and language teacher education and develop-
ment. Books in the series are not limited to the discussion of the teaching
and learning of English only.

Books in the series include:

Classroom-Based Research on Chinese as a Second Language
Fangyuan Yuan and Shuai Li

Teaching English for Tourism

Bridging Research and Praxis
Edited by Michael Ennis and Gina Petrie

Post-Colonial Curriculum Practices in South Asia

Building Confidence to Speak English
Asantha U. Attanayake

Teaching Content and Language in the Multilingual Classroom

International Research on Policy, Perspectives, Preparation, and Practice
Edited by Svenja Hammer, Kara Viesca, and Nancy Commins

Project-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition

Building Communities of Practice in Higher Education
Edited by Adrián Gras-Velázquez

For more information about the series, please visit www.routledge.com/

Routledge-Research-in-Language-Education/book-series/RRLE
Project-Based Learning in
Second Language Acquisition
Building Communities of Practice
in Higher Education

Edited by Adrián Gras-Velázquez

First published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Adrián Gras-Velázquez to be identified as the author
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-31378-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45743-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents

List of Contributors viii

Acknowledgments x

Introduction 1
ADRIÁN GRAS-VELÁZQUEZ

PART I
Theoretical Intersections 7

1 Diversity and Second Language Acquisition in the University

Classroom: A Multilingual and Multicultural Setting 9
MARÍA JOSÉ COPERÍAS-AGUILAR

2 Project-Based Learning: A Five-Stage Framework to Guide

Language Teachers 25
FREDRICKA L. STOLLER AND CeANN CHANDEL MYERS

3 A Theoretical Approach to Project-Based Learning

in Community-Based Settings 48
EMILY SKALET

PART II
Teaching and Learning 61

4 Community Bridges and Interdisciplinary Language Learning

Projects: Stepping Out of Comfort Zones and Building
Ways to Grow 63
SUSAN G. POLANSKY
vi Contents
5 Project-Based and ELF-Aware Pre-Service Teacher Education
in Turkey: Sample Cases of Discovery, Creativity, Interaction,
and Multilingual and Multicultural Diversity 82
ELIF KEMALOGLU-ER AND YASEMIN BAYYURT

PART III
Immersion and the International 99

6 Social Activism Italian Style: Building a Community

of Practice Through Language Immersion and Civic
Engagement While Studying Abroad 101
BRUNO GRAZIOLI

7 Investigating Environmental Sustainability in an English

Writing Course for International Students: PBL as an
On-Ramp to Academic Belonging 117
SUSAN HUSS-LEDERMAN, PRAJUKTI (JUK) BHATTACHARYYA,
AND BRIANNA DEERING

PART IV
Heritage Learning and Language 133

8 Project-Based Learning in the Context of Teaching Heritage

Language Learners 135
MARIA CARREIRA, CLAIRE HITCHINS CHIK, AND
SHUSHAN KARAPETIAN

9 Círculo Juvenil de Cultura: A 10-Year Experiment in Service

Learning and Community Engagement 153
MARIANA ACHUGAR, KENYA C. DWORKIN Y MÉNDEZ, AND
FELIPE GÓMEZ

PART V
Civic Partnerships 173

10 Multilingual Justice in the Streets and in the Classroom:

Translating a Digital Time Line of US Domestic Worker
Organizing 175
MICHELLE JOFFROY
 Contents vii
11 Language Acquisition Through Service Learning and
Community Engagement: Critical Reflection, Intercultural
Competence, and Action Agency 192
ALISON MAGINN

PART VI
Case Studies in Creative Communications 215

12 ¿Y tú quién eres? Interviews as Project-Based Learning

at a Multicultural College Community 217
ADRIÁN GRAS-VELÁZQUEZ, JULIA CHINDEMI-VILA,
AND AH-YOUNG SONG

13 Every Poem Matters: World Language Acquisition and

Community Building Through Spoken-Word Poetry 236
INÉS ARRIBAS

14 Films for Inclusion: LGBT+ Perspectives in the French

Language Classroom 252
AURÉLIE CHEVANT-AKSOY AND ERICKA KNUDSON

Index 271
Contributors

Mariana Achugar, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Lan-

guages, School of Information and Communication, Universidad de la
República, Uruguay
Inés Arribas, Senior Lecturer, Department of Spanish, Bryn Mawr Col-
lege, USA
Yasemin Bayyurt, Professor, Department of Foreign Language Education,
Boğaziçi University, Turkey
Prajukti (juk) Bhattacharyya, Professor of Geology, Department of Geog-
raphy, Geology, and Environmental Science, University of Wisconsin-
Whitewater, USA
Maria Carreira, Professor of Spanish, Department of Romance, German,
Russian Languages and Literatures, California State University, Long
Beach, USA
Aurélie Chevant-Aksoy, Assistant Professor of French, Modern Lan-
guages and Cultures, Santa Monica College, USA
Julia Chindemi-Vila, Lecturer, Department of Modern Languages and Lit-
eratures, Swarthmore College, USA
María José Coperías-Aguilar, Full Professor, Department of English and
German Philology, Universitat de València, Spain
Brianna Deering, Associate Lecturer, English Language Academy, Univer-
sity of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA
Kenya C. Dworkin y Méndez, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies,
Modern Languages Department, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Felipe Gómez, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Modern Lan-
guages, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie
Mellon University, USA
Adrián Gras-Velázquez, Lecturer, Spanish and Portuguese Department,
Smith College, USA
 Contributors ix
Bruno Grazioli, Resident Director and Faculty, Italian Studies Program in
Bologna, Dickinson College, Italy
Claire Hitchins Chik, Associate Director, National Heritage Language
Resource Center, University of California Los Angeles, USA
Susan Huss-Lederman, Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESL, Depart-
ment of Languages and Literatures, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater,
USA
Michelle Joffroy, Associate Professor of Spanish and Director, Latin
American and Latin@ Studies Program, Smith College, USA
Shushan Karapetian, Associate Director, National Heritage Language
Resource Center, and Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Languages
and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Elif Kemaloglu-Er, Assistant Professor, Department of Translation and
Interpreting Studies, Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology
University, Turkey
Ericka Knudson, Preceptor of French, Department of Romance Lan-
guages and Literatures, Harvard University, USA
Alison Maginn, Associate Professor of Spanish, World Languages and
Cultures Department, Monmouth University, USA
CeAnn Chandel Myers, English/ESL Residential Faculty, English Depart-
ment, Mesa Community College, USA
Susan G. Polansky, Teaching Professor of Hispanic Studies and Head,
Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Emily Skalet, Lead Instructor, Adult Learning Centers, New York Public
Library, Bronx, New York, USA
Fredricka L. Stoller, Professor, TESL and Applied Linguistics programs
within the English Department, Northern Arizona University, USA
Ah-Young Song, Visiting Assistant Professor, Education, Vassar College,
USA
Acknowledgments

I want to thank all the contributors in this volume for their hard work,
patience, and enthusiasm. I especially wish to thank Fredricka L. Stoller,
who, unbeknownst to her, provided invaluable guidance throughout the
writing and editing process. I am also grateful to all my colleagues in
the Spanish and Portuguese Department at Smith College for their can-
dor and support. Thanks also to Matthew Friberg and Elsbeth Wright at
Routledge for making this a seamless process. On a personal note, I want
to thank Josh for, well, everything really. Your support and encourage-
ment mean the world to me. I also thank my parents, Inma and Albert,
for instilling in me my love for learning, and Àgueda and Azalea, my
sisters – oh what patience you both have! The next helado del Peret is on
me. To Peque, thank you for making me laugh every day, and I am sorry
if sometimes you do not get as many belly rubs as you would like.
Finally, I want to thank all my students, past, present, and future. You
make me want to be a better professor. I truly appreciate your willingness
to be my classroom guinea pigs.
Introduction
Adrián Gras-Velázquez

Throughout my career in second and foreign language acquisition, I have

consistently been drawn to learning exercises that take students outside
of the traditional classroom environment and into a vibrant, experimen-
tal one. It is for this reason that I am particularly interested in pedagogies
that get students up on their feet and make them physically and mentally
a part of the learning process. In my experience, no method has been
more effective than project-based learning (PBL). Based on the peda-
gogical principle of “learning by doing,” PBL encourages active student
engagement in the learning process as opposed to passive learning. PBL
also provides an avenue through which students can transfer their skills
to varied and diverse communities outside of the classroom, making it a
valuable and powerful pedagogical method.
PBL enhances conventional teaching exercises while simultaneously
achieving the learning goals for the course. PBL helps “students engage
in many types of learning, including experiential and negotiated learn-
ing, problem solving, and research” (Mikulec and Chamness Miller 81).
Using PBL, students can explore their own interests, develop higher-level
thinking skills, and practice accountability for their own learning expe-
riences. While PBL is not a replacement for other teaching methods, in
the words of Haines, it is “an approach to learning which complements
mainstream methods and which can be used with almost all levels, ages
and abilities of students” (1). More than a “simple incorporation of proj-
ects into the curriculum” (Stoller 21), PBL can be summarized as learning
through the process of producing and completing a project.
PBL is a set of “complex tasks, based on challenging questions or prob-
lems, involving students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or
investigative activities; giving students the opportunity to work relatively
autonomously over extended periods of time; and culminating in realistic
products or presentations” (Thomas in Thuan 329). Although educators
approach PBL from multiple perspectives, many acknowledge that the
definition contains a number of features including the following:

1) being a process and an end product

2) encouraging student ownership
2 Adrián Gras-Velázquez
3) extending over a period of time and not being confined to one
class session
4) integrating different skills
5) committing to both language and content learning
6) facilitating both collaborative and individual work
7) requiring students to take responsibility for their own learning
(through gathering, processing, and reporting information)
8) giving students and educators new roles and responsibilities in
the learning process
9) having an end-product
10) concluding with a reflection of both the process and the product
(Stoller 24)

The work in this volume recognizes the benefits of using PBL to engage
with communities both inside and outside the classroom. Bringle and
Hatcher argue that community engagement is becoming “more salient
within higher education” and that community involvement “can change
the nature of faculty work, enhance student learning, better fulfill campus
mission, and improve the quality of life in communities” (37). Just like
PBL, community engagement or service-learning pedagogies reject the
model of education where there is a “downward transference of informa-
tion from knowledgeable teachers to passive students” and encourages an
“active pedagogy committed to connecting theory and practice, schools
and community, the cognitive and the ethical” (Butin 3). O’Meara
(14–23) highlights several benefits and motivations for faculty to imple-
ment community engagement in the curriculum, including the following:

1) student learning and growth

2) personal commitments to specific social issues, people, and places
3) the pursuit of rigorous scholarship and learning
4) the desire for collaboration, relationships, and partners

PBL and community engagement have similar principles and goals. As

this volume shows, both pedagogical frameworks help students develop
their interpersonal and language skills while contributing to the com-
munity. PBL and community engagement are ideal for second language
acquisition, as they promote and encourage the use of the target lan-
guage, while building cultural and global competencies, as well as
advancing civic involvement. Taking this into consideration, the central
research question addressed by this volume is how do project-based and
community-engagement pedagogies combine learning goals and commu-
nity service in ways that enhance student growth and facilitate second
language development in an interdisciplinary, multilingual, and multicul-
tural higher education learning environment.
 Introduction 3
Chapters
This volume is divided into six parts. Theoretical Intersections (Part I)
establishes frameworks in PBL, community engagement, and second lan-
guage acquisition in multilingual and multicultural settings. In Chapter 1,
María José Coperías-Aguilar discusses how communications in the cur-
rent global network occur in more than one language, making language
teaching a relevant commodity in today’s education. Coperías-Aguilar
argues that although globalization has promoted cultural and linguistic
diversity, it has also brought about homogenization, especially in relation
to the use of the English language.
In Chapter 2, Fredricka L. Stoller and CeAnn Chandel Myers present
and elaborate upon a five-step process for integrating PBL into language
classrooms. Updating Stoller’s previous well-known work on PBL, this
easily adaptable model guides language teachers in planning, implement-
ing, and evaluating PBL. To bring the model to life, the authors present
real-world examples of projects and tasks that have been successfully
integrated into a range of L2 and FL classrooms. Chapter 3 continues this
exploration on PBL in the classroom as Emily Skalet demonstrates how
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and a multicultural education framework
inform PBL and can be utilized to promote active class participation and
community engagement. Incorporating an inquiry-based stance and per-
sonal classroom examples, the chapter reviews PBL design considerations
to engage learners in authentic tasks grounded in their community and
interests.
Part II (Teaching and Learning) discusses PBL and community engage-
ment in public school tutoring and pre-service teacher education. In
Chapter 4, Susan G. Polansky demonstrates how, through a tutoring for
community outreach program, university students build a community of
practice within the college classroom setting and then move into the local
academic community of the public schools. Polansky’s project empowers
the growth of language learning through reflection and self-critique, over-
coming challenges, and appreciating complex roles and perspectives, role
modeling, cultural identity, and diversity within communities of learners.
Chapter 5 is closely linked to the discussion in Chapter 1 of English as a
de-facto language and the need to foster multilingual and multicultural
competences in our students. Within the setting of pre-service teacher
education in Turkey, Elif Kemaloglu-Er and Yasemin Bayyurt highlight
different aspects of non-native speaker realities and multicultural diver-
sity. This chapter reveals how the Standard English-bound attitudes and
expectations of some schools and parents put great pressure on pre-
service teachers willing to emphasize the multilingual and multicultural
diversity in their practicum classes. However, as they assert, this challenge
has paved the way for innovative pedagogical practices, and they argue
that PBL raises English as Lingua Franca awareness through hands-on
4 Adrián Gras-Velázquez
practice comprising discovery, creativity, and interaction as well as multi-
lingual and multicultural diversity.
Still within an international background, Part III (Immersion and the
International) opens with Chapter 6 where Bruno Grazioli discusses
how the combination of community-engaged learning and PBL tasks
enhances US college students’ language learning and supports their inter-
cultural growth while they are participating in a semester of study abroad
in Italy. Grazioli posits that spontaneous and practice-based language
learning arises from the creation of a community of practice, that is an
aggregate of people uniting over a common goal, and through sustained
social interaction in the target language (Italian) with native but also
non-native individuals. Chapter 7 offers a strong counterpoint to the
previous chapter as Susan Huss-Lederman, Prajukti (Juk) Bhattacharyya,
and Brianna Deering present a study on international students going to
a US college setting and working with domestic students to integrate
themselves into the college community. While working in a PBL-driven
syllabus focused on environmental sustainability, international students
reported increased confidence in their writing skills, improved opportuni-
ties to participate in academic discourse, and achieving a sense of belong-
ing within the campus community.
Heritage Learning and Language is the title of Part IV. In Chapter 8,
Maria Carreira, Claire Hitchins Chik, and Shushan Karapetian present a
model of PBL for teaching heritage language learners (HLLs) developed
by the NHLRC at UCLA. Using sample projects from different languages
and proficiency levels, the authors illustrate how PBL can facilitate the
development of oral and written skills, increase linguistic and cultural
awareness, and prepare HLLs to make professional use of the HL. Fur-
thermore, Chapter 8 argues that PBL can help instructors manage a wide
range of proficiency levels, interests, and affective needs that HLLs bring
to class. Chapter 9 discusses the Círculo Juvenil de Cultura program and
how it helped create a space where community, bilingualism, and Latino
cultures are valued. Mariana Achugar, Felipe Gómez, and Kenya C.
Dworkin y Méndez describe how this model of service learning has pro-
moted the university students’ interaction (linguistic and cultural) with
the immigrant community and members of other partnering organiza-
tions of the Latino community.
Part V, Civic Partnerships, examines issues of social justice, religious
engagement, and action agency. In Chapter 10, Michelle Joffroy dis-
cusses how social justice-oriented pedagogies stimulate deeper and more
critical engagement with language as a tool to approach dynamic, mul-
tifaceted, multisited, and political issues. In the chapter, Joffroy shows
how community-based research (CBR) partnerships help harness digital
technologies to innovate teaching and develop intellectually sophisti-
cated and publicly-oriented curricula for the second language acquisi-
tion classroom. In Chapter 11, Alison Maginn considers how community
 Introduction 5
engagement helps foster an understanding of socio-political and social
justice issues, such as educational equity, food insecurity, economic
hardship, homelessness, and the discrimination suffered by immigrants.
Together, these authors highlight service experience to understand the
value of bilingualism, multiculturalism, and the potential for civic agency
through intercultural competence.
In the last section, Case Studies in Creative Communications (Part VI),
Adrián Gras-Velázquez, Julia Chindemi-Vila, and Ah-Young Song dis-
cuss the ¿Y tú quién eres? project in Chapter 12. This project stresses the
importance of community and culture within second language acquisi-
tion. Most case studies at the intersection of PBL and community engage-
ment have centered on students with high-level proficiency rather than
novice learners. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate that many of
the benefits of PBL can be successfully implemented and adapted for the
beginning-level. In Chapter 13, Inés Arribas explains why oral poetry
is vital in both an academic curriculum and language classes. By par-
ticipating in poetry slams, students learn the language (its lexical wealth,
its grammar, its codes, its standards, and its prosody) and also develop
an appreciation for language as an instrument of personal expression
and communication. By creating and performing their own texts, stu-
dents embark on a personal journey through the language and become
accountable for their language acquisition. Finally, in Chapter 14, Aurélie
Chevant-Aksoy and Ericka Knudson explore how language classrooms
still draw most of their material from heteronormative narratives despite
increasing efforts toward diversity. Through film and PBL, the authors
discuss representations of gender and sexuality in the French-speaking
world, arguing about the importance of analyzing gendered social con-
structions and cross-cultural comparisons of the LGBT community while
placing special emphasis on French as a gendered language.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jamie Worms in the Latin American and Latino/a
Studies Program at Smith College for her comments and sugesstions in
this chapter.

References
Bringle, Robert G., and Julie A. Hatcher. “Innovative Practices in Service-Learning
and Curricular Engagement.” Institutionalizing Community Engagement in
Higher Education: The First Wave of Carnegie Classified Institutions, edited
by Lorilee R. Sandman, et al. Wiley Periodicals, 2009, pp. 37–46.
Butin, Dan W. Service-Learning in Theory and Practice: The Future of Commu-
nity Engagement in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Haines, Simon. Projects for the EFL Classroom: Resource Material for Teachers.
Thomas Nelson, 1989.
6 Adrián Gras-Velázquez
Mikulec, Erin, and Paul Chamness Miller. “Using Project-Based Instruction to
Meet Foreign Language Standards.” The Clearing House: A Journal of Educa-
tional Strategies, Issues and Ideas, vol. 84, no. 3, 2011, pp. 81–86.
O’Meara, KerryAnn. “Motivation for Faculty Community Engagement: Learning
From Exemplars.” Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement,
vol. 12, no. 1, 2008, pp. 7–29.
Stoller, Fredricka L. “Establishing a Theoretical Foundation for Project-Based
Learning in Second and Foreign Language Contexts.” Project-Based Second
and Foreign Language Education: Past, Present, and Future, edited by Gulba-
har H. Beckett and Paul Chamness Miller. Information Age Publishing, 2006,
pp. 19–40.
Thuan, Pham Duc. “Project-Based Learning: From Theory to EFL Classroom
Practice.” Proceeding of the 6th International Open TESOL Conference 2018,
2018, pp. 327–339.
Part I
Theoretical Intersections
1 Diversity and Second Language
Acquisition in the University
Classroom
A Multilingual and Multicultural
Setting
María José Coperías-Aguilar

Block and Cameron’s statement at the beginning of the 21st century say-
ing that there was a “consensus that we are living in an increasingly glo-
balized world” (2) is even more real nowadays. Although the concept of
globalization has been approached from many different angles, Giddens’s
definition, “Increasing interdependence between individuals, nations and
regions. Does not just mean economic interdependence. Involves accel-
erated and universal communication, and concerns also political and
cultural dimensions” (xii), is comprehensive and tackles most issues con-
cerned with the notion of globalization. Nevertheless, it is a contentious
term, and even if for some people globalization would simply refer to
a reality in which people, capital, information, and goods move freely
across borders, many others are wary of its consequences (Bauman). Very
often, globalization is understood as implying the hegemony of the capi-
talist system and the domination of the wealthy countries and corpora-
tions over the poor ones and the consequent loss of their identity features
(Green et al. 10). Sometimes, though, the dominance of the powerful over
those with fewer means is seen as an opportunity for the resistance of
the latter and the homogenization process that globalization may entail
as an opportunity for hybridization rather than uniformity (Block and
Cameron 6, 3). Some of the factors that have allowed this phenomenon
to increase are more advanced communication and transport technolo-
gies, which, in turn, have increased people’s mobility, or hypermobility
(Pauwels 42), and a worldwide connected economic and trade system,
thus creating transnational communities.
These global networks are based on the ability to communicate among
their members, and, consequently, the development in competences in
more than one language as well as in the new literacies required by com-
munication technologies is absolutely necessary. Bordieu introduced the
notion of linguistic capital to refer to “the capacity to produce expres-
sions à propos, for a particular market” (18), connecting it with other
forms of capital, such as economic or cultural, and considered that differ-
ences in terms of accent, grammar, or vocabulary might indicate the social
10 María José Coperías-Aguilar
position and linguistic capital of the speakers. Nowadays, this linguistic
capital is related to the command of communication skills, oral and writ-
ten, used in different formats and platforms but also to the competence
in several languages (Cameron 72; Pauwels 53). Thus, language teaching
as a foreign or a second language,1 and more specifically the teaching of
English, has become a commodity. For some English-speaking countries,
like the United Kingdom (Gray “Tesol” 88), Ireland (Sudhershan and
Brauen 27), and Australia (Humphreys 94), international education has
turned into an important economic asset worth billions of dollars, and
higher education has become one of the most important export sectors
(Healey 334). Globalization is then changing, on one hand, the ways in
which languages are learnt and taught and, on the other, the organization
of institutions of higher education (Iglesias de Ussel et al. 14).

Linguistic Diversity, Linguistic Uniformity

Despite the globalizing phenomenon just mentioned, which is often con-
sidered to bring along a homogenizing effect, Blommaert contends that
“sociolinguistically, the world has not become a village” (1) – echoing
McLuhan’s global village – and proves this to be so by describing the
United States as a multi-accent society in reference not only to the
existing varieties of English within the country but also to the accents
provided by many other languages (49). As for the European Union,
it includes almost 30 countries, over 20 official languages, and around
60 regional languages, plus the languages brought by immigrant popula-
tions, which makes Europe a highly multilingual and multicultural area
(Tudor 21). Similar phenomena can be found in many other countries, as
portrayed by Clyne in reference to Australia (53), and across the world
(Cadman and Song 5). Other authors have focused, though, on the super-
diversity that can be found especially in cities as a result of the arrival
and settling down of immigrants from many different ethnolinguistic
backgrounds (Pauwels 43; Hewings and Sergeant 74). Regarding the
sociolinguistic circumstances of Europe, its institutions – the Council of
Europe, through its Language Policy Division, and the European Centre
for Modern Languages, among others – have fostered multilingualism
and multiculturalism by developing a wide range of activities and stud-
ies (Coperías-Aguilar “Dealing” 73; Coperías-Aguilar “ICC in the Con-
text” 244), and they have established as an inalienable aim the training of
teachers who can teach in more than one language (Kelly et al. ii). Despite
the efforts of the European Commission to promote language diversity in
language learning, Doiz and her associates (“Internationalisation” 347;
“Future Challenges” xvii) highlight the predominance of English as a
pan-European language of instruction. However, Alcón argues that if we
place English within a framework of hybridity, where it is a language of
 Diversity and Second Language Acquisition 11
communication and not of identification, English should not be under-
stood as a threat to multilingualism, but, on the contrary, it might provide
conditions for developing multilingual citizens (26–29).
Many other voices in different parts of the world have risen in defense
of multilingualism, as well as fostering the learning of several languages
and allowing our students to draw on their capacity to use them, and
against the idea of building linguistically and culturally monolithic soci-
eties (Shohamy 209; Doiz et al. “Internationalisation” 345; Wingate 435;
Spiteri 9). However, some of these same voices acknowledge the unavoid-
able prevalence of English in many contexts since, in a globalized world,
a shared linguistic code is necessary in order to get messages across to
others, and – as Cameron argues – globalization has given new legitimacy
to “the long-lived idea that linguistic diversity is a problem, while linguis-
tic uniformity is a desirable ideal” (67).
Even if languages such as French, Russian, and German have played
and still play an important role in international communication, and
other languages like Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic are gaining ground, it
is English that clearly dominates the international linguistic stage (Pau-
wels 45). There are several reasons for this pervasiveness of English: it
has been adopted as the means of communication by many transnational
corporations, and their staff – regardless of the place where they are
based – need communication skills in this language; there is an increas-
ing number of world organizations, be they official institutions or chari-
ties, that use English as their working language; and English has also
become the language of academia, especially regarding the dissemination
of knowledge either in conferences or publications, as well as in teach-
ing. Consequently, English has become a transnational language with
a majority of users for whom it is a second language, that is, a lingua
franca. Mauranen defines a lingua franca as “a contact language between
speakers or speaker groups when at least one of them uses it as a second
language” (8), and Baker emphasizes its intercultural nature and the dif-
ferent linguacultural backgrounds of the speakers (27). At the same time,
Wallace argues that this kind of English cannot be standard and will con-
tain regional variations (106), and Janssens and Steyaert prefer the term
multilingual franca, thus acknowledging the fact that each speaker will
bring his/her personal language experience to the linguistic exchange and
highlighting the multilingual context (629).
Nonetheless, the rise of English as a lingua franca has brought about
some criticism, and issues of linguistic imperialism have been emphasized
since the 1990s by several authors, who criticize the way in which English
is promoted and taught (Phillipson, Pennycook, Canagarajah Resisting;
Holborow The Politics and The Language; Holliday, Gray The Con-
struction). The manner in which Western, and more specifically Anglo,
communicative norms and scientific ways of knowing has been exported
12 María José Coperías-Aguilar
has also been questioned (Cameron 68; Cadman and Song 5), as well
as the superior status and prestige that English is granted in relation to
other languages (Shohamy 197). Another criticism is associated to the
idea that, although generally speaking language is not culturally neutral,
a particular language is not necessarily linked to a specific country or
culture (Coperías-Aguilar “Dealing” 72; Baker 29). In the case of English,
it is difficult to decide which would be the native variety that should be
taken as the model for the lingua franca, especially considering that for
the majority of its users, English is a second language (Walkinshaw et al.
6; Wallace 101). In relation to this, the powerful industry engaged in the
production of English textbooks for the international market has also
been questioned. These books are mostly produced in English-speaking
countries and, as Gray argues, “they are highly wrought cultural con-
structs and carriers of cultural messages” (“The Global Coursebook”
152), and despite the fact that in recent times guidelines have been issued
by publishing companies to their authors to comply with requirements of
inclusivity and appropriacy to make them suitable for the global market,
and most coursebooks try to deal with a greater variety of materials and
sources, ethnocentric values still persist. That is the reason why Corbett
contends that rather than producing textbooks for the international mar-
ket, teaching materials should be addressed to particular communities
and become more involved with country-specific publishing (212).

Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Higher Education

Institutions
As Healey argues, universities were born global and, as the term indi-
cates, with a universal disposition (334). In Middle-Age Europe, univer-
sities already attracted students and scholars from different parts of the
western, and sometimes also the eastern, world, and Latin was used as a
shared second language in order to promote scientific exchange. Although
not a new phenomenon, internationalization in higher education institu-
tions (HEIs) has acquired a new dimension in this century (Pérez Cañado
“Globalization” 397) and, if in the United States and Canada it has
become almost an institutional priority, in Europe, its multinational,
multicultural and multilingual reality has fostered several institutional
initiatives for internationalization (Green et al. 21–22).
Increasing numbers of students decide to engage in higher education in
a country other than their own; this may be encouraged by established
exchange programs, like the Erasmus/Socrates initiative in Europe, or by
the prospect of better social or economic opportunities. Drawing upon
an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
survey, Wingate reports that in 2014, around 1.3 million postgraduate
students studied outside their country, mostly in universities in English-
speaking countries (427). Perrin also reports that Anglophone countries
 Diversity and Second Language Acquisition 13
host more than 50% of those students who study abroad (154), proof
of which is the fact that, in the academic year 2014–2015, 58% of the
students enrolled in full-time postgraduate programs in the UK were
international ones or that, in the same year, this kind of student also
represented at least 25% of enrolments in Australia, making the United
States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada four of the top six
study destinations (Heugh et al. 260; Humphreys 94).
Instead of receiving students at home, what some of these Anglophone
countries have been doing is export their HEIs overseas, thus creating
what is known as Transnational Education (TNE) institutions. Drawing
upon a joint Council of Europe/UNESCO document, Healey defines TNE
as “all types of higher education programmes and educational services
(including distance-learning) in which learners are located in a country
different from the one where the awarding body is based” (335). Perrin
reports that in 2012, there were more than 220 international campuses
around the world established by the same four English-speaking coun-
tries just mentioned (154). The third way in which university students
can have access to internationalization is by studying either a graduate or
postgraduate degree in a foreign language, usually English, in their own
countries. English-medium instruction (EMI), that is, the use of English
as a lingua franca for content-learning and teaching among students and
teachers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, is a growing
phenomenon in higher education worldwide. In the last decade, there
has been an exponential growth in this field, and Walkinshaw and his
associates report that in 2016, there were some 8,000 courses taught in
English at universities in non-Anglophone countries around the world
(2). EMI programs, though, have drawn some criticism and, along with
the concerns about ethnocentrism and imperialism associated with the
expansion of the English language already mentioned, there is also anxi-
ety regarding some of the challenges involved in the implementation of
this way of teaching (Shohamy 208; Sudhershan and Bruen 40).
When we come to think of EMI programs, we usually imagine uni-
versities set in non-Anglophone countries offering courses or full degree
programs taught in English; however, an increasing participation of
immigrants and ethnolinguistic minorities can be observed in HEIs
established in English-speaking countries. If we take the US as an exam-
ple, around 20% of the population speaks English as a second or other
language (Russell 152), and although bilingualism – in the shape of
speaking English plus one’s own language – is encouraged for the inter-
national community, immigrants to the US are asked to give up their own
language and adhere to English-only monolingualism (García et al. 174,
178). García and her associates also argue that immigrant students in US
HEIs are often seen as strangers in academia and perceived as unquali-
fied, and they explain how these institutions take different positions on
bilingualism and multilingualism depending on who is speaking. So,
14 María José Coperías-Aguilar
whereas international students are welcomed and perceived as a finan-
cial asset, immigrant students are received with caution; whereas the
diverse linguistic background of international students is seen as natu-
ral, bilingualism in immigrant students is perceived as a challenge; and
whereas international students have full access to content classes, immi-
grant students are often excluded until they develop English proficiency
(192–193). In reference to Canada, Marshall also contends that the bilin-
gual and/or multilingual background of many students who belong to
what is often referred to as the 1.5 generation, that is, people living in two
worlds and somewhere between first- and second-generation immigrants,
is often seen as a deficit rather than a wealth, as a problem rather than
an asset (42–43, 47). Cultural clashes may also emerge with international
students, as pointed out by Cadman and Song in reference to Australia
and the Asianization that some of their HEIs are confronting because of
the arrival of thousands of students from different Asian countries (7).
According to several authors, the problem lies in the fact that, despite
the multilingual and multicultural setting of many of these HEIs, they
are monolingual at heart, and the Western style of education no lon-
ger reflects or meets the needs of the new students, and, consequently,
researchers and practitioners of education often find the situation chal-
lenging (Preece and Martin 3–4; Doiz et al. “Internationalisation” 346;
Cadman and Song 7; Marshall 42). And although universities welcome
cultural difference in general, linguistic diversity in students is often dealt
with as a deficit and a problem to be fixed (Preece et al. 288). Shohamy
shows a critical standpoint and understands that maybe some problem-
atic issues have been overlooked because of the, sometimes, too hasty
implementation of EMI programs. She first wonders how successful
achievement of academic content may be if students have a language
deficit in English and how successful the improvement of English lan-
guage is by studying it through content. Next, she poses the inequalities
regarding academic achievements that may emerge for some immigrant
and language-minority students when they have to study through what
can become their third language. Finally, she mistrusts the biases that
may result when using a monolingual type of assessment in contrast to
the multilingual class discourse (Shohamy 202–205).
The implementation of EMI programs also means a new approach to
the learning of English as a foreign or second language, since the main
purpose is to increase the exposure of students to the English language.
This switch to the use of EMI reflects a big shift in the approach to
language teaching (Shohamy 197). As posed by Walkinshaw and his
associates, this change means that English becomes a medium of instruc-
tion rather than an object of instruction (2). And this shift in focus from
teaching English as a foreign or second language to turning it into both
an academic discipline and the mode of delivery makes it necessary to
 Diversity and Second Language Acquisition 15
re-think the teaching of English as a foreign or second language (Perrin
153; Heugh et al. 260). This new scenario poses some new challenges too:
on one hand, that English language is no longer the possession of those
who were born to it and different varieties have to be considered and, on
the other, how to combine in the most appropriate way the learning of
the English language and the contents taught through this medium.

Second Language Acquisition and the Development

of Competences
As stated earlier, linguistic diversity is an extremely valuable asset for
Europe and the issue of languages has always been an important concern
for the Council of Europe, which – instead of promoting the use of a
lingua franca – opted for a model through which multilingualism and
multiculturalism are fostered (Coperías-Aguilar “ICC in the Context”
244). After years of joint work by several institutions, in 2001, the final
document known as the Common European Framework of Reference
for languages (CEFR) was published (Council of Europe). In a previous
working paper, Van Ek had argued that foreign language teaching should
not only be concerned with training in communication skills but should
also involve the personal and social development of the learner as an
individual (33). The CEFR, in fact, aimed at developing European citi-
zenship, promoting the learning of several languages as a powerful factor
of intellectual development and a tool to enable the acquisition of inde-
pendence and autonomy as learners, and encouraging open-mindedness.
Even if the CEFR was initially designed to be deployed in Europe, it has
now been adopted globally (Leung and Lewkowicz 62), and these aims
can be applied to language learning in many other parts of the world.
In Europe, the CEFR has been developed in parallel to the European
Higher Education Area (EHEA), an educational project aimed at making
Europe a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy that can
only become a reality if the different actors involved – students, teachers,
researchers, and institutions – are able to communicate with one another
in an effective way (Tudor 22). One of the principles underlying the
EHEA is engaging both students and teachers in preparing democratic
European citizens for the new century through the adoption of multi-
disciplinary approaches and the acquisition of the skills and attitudes
necessary for life in multicultural societies, as well as competences, such
as those of listening to, understanding, and interpreting other people’s
arguments. And this should be achieved through a learner-centered meth-
odology that trains students in critical thinking (Coperías-Aguilar “ICC
in the Context” 243–244; Kelly et al. 23).
Even if EHEA is concerned with Europe, the aims and principles just
mentioned have been or are being implemented by many other HEIs
16 María José Coperías-Aguilar
around the world since, as Jiménez Raya argues, many universities are
aware that employers are looking for workers “possessing the capacity to
think critically, analyze issues, solve problems, communicate effectively,
and take leadership” (120, see also Badger and White 9). In a compara-
tive analysis of foreign language teaching in higher education between the
United States and Europe, Pérez Cañado contends that, at present, lan-
guage studies must have a relevant role on the agendas of HEIs because, if
in the past language studies were reserved to specialists, now the acquisi-
tion of languages is fundamental for everyone (“Globalization” 394). She
also comments on the different circumstances that have fueled language
policies on both sides of the Atlantic (diversity, in the case of Europe, and
language deficits detected in the US after the events of 9/11) but also on
some similarities, among them, the development of competences in order
to engage people in lifelong learning (404).
With the arrival of communicative language teaching in the 1970s,
the prevalent linguistic competence – the ability to use the forms of a
language correctly – to be acquired when learning a second language
was superseded by communicative competence (CC), which took into
consideration not only linguistic competence but also discourse, socio-
linguistic, and strategic competences among others (Coperías-Aguilar
“ICC as a Tool” 88; Dooly 78–79). In the 1990s, Byram introduced
the concept of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), which
recognized the intercultural dimension when communicating in multi-
lingual and multicultural settings. Baker, though acknowledging how
useful it has been, especially in relation to education, criticizes ICC for
not considering the role of English as a global language of communica-
tion when used in settings other than Anglophone ones (32). In turn,
he presents two alternatives: Kramsch’s symbolic competence (“The
Symbolic Dimensions”) and Canagarajah’s performative competence
(Translingual Practice). Without rejecting either CC or ICC, symbolic
competence takes on a more critical view of culture and addresses
ideological, historic, and aesthetic aspects, as well as the complexity
yielding from numerous meanings and interpretations when intercul-
tural communication takes place. As for performative competence, it
emphasizes the processes of multilingual intercultural communication
and the role of communicative strategies. At a different level, an ad hoc
committee on foreign languages created within the Modern Language
Association in the United States and chaired by Mary Louise Pratt,
in a position paper on the transformation of college and university
foreign language departments in the country, recommended making
translingual and transcultural competence (TTC) the goal of language
learning. In the paper, the learning of a language in addition to English
is encouraged, and TTC is aimed at placing “value on the multilingual
ability to operate between languages,” (289) and the proposed route to
 Diversity and Second Language Acquisition 17
achieve this is an integrated curriculum in which language and content
go hand in hand.

Changing Models of Speaker and Teacher in Multilingual

and Multicultural Second Language Acquisition
As hinted at in previous sections, at present, the number of speakers of
English is made up of a minority of native speakers (NS) and a majority of
those who speak it as a second or foreign language in a myriad of complex
and diverse situations. And despite the fact that, for many, learning English
is no longer aimed at communicating with native people but rather with
other speakers who are learners of the language themselves, the idealized
model of the NS is still prevalent and a target. As several studies have
shown (Leung and Lewkowicz 63; Gray “TESOL” 94; Sifakis and Bayy-
urt 457), this model is supported by some of the best-selling textbooks
aimed at the international market, which – incidentally – are produced by
publishing companies based on either the United Kingdom or the United
States. Consequently, the sources of many of the authentic materials used
are predominantly from these countries or other countries that are mem-
bers of the Anglophone world; the topics selected are mostly of interest
for people in these nations; and accents are very often British – mainly RP
and modified RP – or standard American. The position of textbooks is
further reinforced by international examinations, teacher education cur-
ricula and policies for teaching English as a second language. Regarding
HEIs, the situation is not much different, and the NS is still taken as a
yardstick from the very beginning of the students’ education process if,
for instance, we take into consideration the language tests, which are
often an entry requirement (Smit 391). The English language used in aca-
demic exchanges is based on that of an NS, and students are required to
replicate it (Wingate 427); their linguistic academic competence is also
assessed against the model of the educated NS (Pratt et al. 289).
However, the dominance of the native English norms and of the eth-
nocentric values associated to them (Galloway 470) in the teaching of
English as a second language has been long criticized and called into
question (Ball and Lindsay 51). The idea that the language used by a
learner of English has to be as authentic as possible so as to represent the
reality of the NS was one of the tenets of the communicative approach
to foreign language teaching and learning, but taking this NS as a model
becomes an impossible target, and even if the learner should manage to
acquire this degree of perfection, it might not be the correct kind of com-
petence (Coperías-Aguilar “ICC as a Tool” 90). On one hand, this would
mean that learners somehow have to abandon their own language; on
the other, our knowledge of a language – including our native tongue –
is never complete, as there will always be some areas out of our reach
18 María José Coperías-Aguilar
(Coperías-Aguilar “ICC in the Context” 246). Also, as Corbett argues,
few native English speakers entirely conform to “standard English in
their output and how ironic it is that second language learners are often
required institutionally to conform to standards that are more rigorous
than those applied to native speakers” (39–40).
In 1993, Kramsch introduced the notion of the learner of a second
language as a mediator (Context and Culture 233–259), and a year later,
Byram and Zarate put forward the idea of the intercultural speaker (IS)
as someone who has the ability to manage communication and interac-
tion between people of different cultural identities and languages and is
able to handle different interpretations of reality (53). This IS will most
probably be less skilled than an NS regarding the mastery of the language
but has a privileged vantage position between the home and the target
culture, and in no case are the standards of achievement expected of the
foreign language learner lowered (Coperías-Aguilar “ICC in the Context”
250). In an attempt to respond to the current complexities of multicultur-
alism and hybridity, Guilherme took this idea further and developed the
notion of the critical IS (124–132). A couple of years later, Phipps and
Gonzalez went beyond the idea of the IS and introduced the concept of
being intercultural – with emphasis on being over knowledge – for which
a key tenet is that of languaging, that is, emphasis on real communication
and dialogue rather than on artificial language tasks, engaging with the
other, and reflecting critically (111).
More recently, Llurda has emphasized the distinction between learners
and users and established the aim of becoming successful users even if
we are incomplete learners of standard native English. In this case, multi-
lingualism is understood as an ordinary accompanying element, and the
knowledge of the language by a second language user and an NS will be
different but neither better nor worse (520). Then, language mixtures,
code-mixing, and translanguaging are considered as legitimate linguistic
possibilities to make effective communication possible, rather than being
constantly discouraged or even banned from the language classroom. In
light of this, code-switching can be seen as an expression of the bilingual
or multilingual competence of the speakers and not as a deficiency (Cogo
359), and translanguaging – which has been defined as “the adoption
of bilingual supportive scaffolding practices” (Doiz et al. “Future Chal-
lenges” 218) and focuses on the languaging process rather than the code
of the language – is even more readily accepted (Heugh et al. 264).
The figure of the second- or foreign-language teacher has also revolved
around an idealized NS (Llurda 523) who thus represented a prescriber
of linguistic rules, an ambassador of the cultural mores, or a custodian
of correct English, whatever correct might mean. Instead, the teacher of
a second language should become a mediator or a facilitator who has
to give priority not to the amount of knowledge to be acquired but to
the development of new attitudes, skills, and critical awareness in the
Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Into Mexico with
General Scott
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Into Mexico with General Scott

Author: Edwin L. Sabin

Illustrator: Charles H. Stephens

Release date: July 30, 2022 [eBook #68652]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: J. B. Lippincott Company,

1920

Credits: Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTO

MEXICO WITH GENERAL SCOTT ***
INTO MEXICO WITH
GENERAL SCOTT
 The American Trail Blazers
“THE STORY GRIPS AND THE HISTORY STICKS”

These books present in the form of vivid and fascinating fiction, the
early and adventurous phases of American history. Each volume
deals with the life and adventures of one of the great men who made
that history, or with some one great event in which, perhaps, several
heroic characters were involved. The stories, though based upon
accurate historical fact, are rich in color, full of dramatic action, and
appeal to the imagination of the red-blooded man or boy.
Each volume illustrated in color and black and white
12mo. Cloth.

LOST WITH LIEUTENANT PIKE

GENERAL CROOK AND THE FIGHTING APACHES
OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK
WITH CARSON AND FREMONT
DANIEL BOONE: BACKWOODSMAN
BUFFALO BILL AND THE OVERLAND TRAIL
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH
DAVID CROCKETT: SCOUT
ON THE PLAINS WITH CUSTER
GOLD SEEKERS OF ’49
WITH SAM HOUSTON IN TEXAS
“YOU YOUNG RASCAL! WHAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS RACKET?”
 INTO MEXICO WITH
GENERAL SCOTT
WHEN ATTACHED TO THE FOURTH UNITED STATES
INFANTRY, DIVISION OF MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM J.
WORTH, CORPS OF THE FAMOUS MAJOR-GENERAL
WINFIELD SCOTT, KNOWN AS OLD FUSS AND FEATHERS,
CAMPAIGN OF 1847, LAD JERRY CAMERON MARCHED AND
FOUGHT BESIDE SECOND LIEUTENANT U. S. GRANT ALL
THE WAY FROM VERA CRUZ TO THE CITY OF MEXICO,
WHERE SIX THOUSAND AMERICAN SOLDIERS PLANTED
THE STARS AND STRIPES IN THE MIDST OF ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND AMAZED PEOPLE

BY
EDWIN L. SABIN
AUTHOR Of “LOST WITH LIEUTENANT PIKE,” “OPENING THE
WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK,” “BUILDING THE
PACIFIC RAILWAY,” ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
CHARLES H. STEPHENS
PORTRAIT AND 2 MAPS
 PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
 FOREWORD
Although General Winfield Scott was nicknamed by the soldiers
“Old Fuss and Feathers,” they intended no disrespect. On the
contrary, they loved him, and asked only that he lead them. No
general ever lived who was more popular with the men in the ranks.
They had every kind of confidence in him; they knew that “Old Fuss
and Feathers” would look out for them like a father, and would take
them through.
His arrival, all in his showy uniform, upon his splendid horse, along
the lines, was the signal for cheers and for the bands to strike up
“Hail to the Chief.” At bloody Chapultepec the soldiers crowded
around him and even clasped his knees, so fond they were of him.
And when he addressed them, tears were in his eyes.
General Scott was close to six feet six inches in height, and
massively built. He was the tallest officer in the army. His left arm
was partially useless, by reason of two wounds received in the War
of 1812, but in full uniform he made a gallant sight indeed. He never
omitted any detail of the uniform, because he felt that the proper
uniform was required for discipline. He brooked no unnecessary
slouchiness among officers and men; he insisted upon regulations
and hard drilling, and the troops that he commanded were as fine an
army as ever followed the Flag.
While he was strict in discipline, he looked keenly also after the
comforts and privileges of his soldiers. He realized that unless the
soldier in the ranks is well cared for in garrison and camp he will not
do his best in the field, and that victories are won by the men who
are physically and mentally fit. He did not succeed in doing away
with the old practice of punishment by blows and by “bucking and
gagging,” but he tried; and toward the ill and the wounded he was all
tenderness.
 As a tactician he stands high. His mind worked with accuracy. He
drew up every movement for every column, after his engineers had
surveyed the field; then he depended upon his officers to follow out
the plans. His general orders for the battle of Cerro Gordo are cited
to-day as model orders. Each movement took place exactly as he
had instructed, and each movement brought the result that he had
expected; so that after the battle the orders stood as a complete
story of the fight.
His character was noble and generous. He had certain peculiar
ways—he spoke of himself as “Scott” and like Sam Houston he used
exalted language; he was proud and sensitive, but forgiving and
quick to praise. He prized his country above everything else, and
preferred peace, with honor, to war. Although he was a soldier, such
was his justice and firmness and good sense that he was frequently
sent by the Government to make peace without force of arms, along
the United States borders. He alone it was who several times
averted war with another nation.
General Scott should not be remembered mainly for his battles
won. He was the first man of prominence in his time to speak out
against drunkenness in the army and in civil life. He prepared the
first army regulations and the first infantry tactics. He was the first
great commander to enforce martial law in conquered territory, by
which the conquered people were protected from abuse. He
procured the passage of that bill, in 1838, which awarded to all
officers, except general officers like himself, an increase in rations
allowance for every five years of service. The money procured from
Mexico was employed by him in buying blankets and shoes for his
soldiers and in helping the discharged hospital patients; and
$118,000 was forwarded to Washington, to establish an Army
Asylum for disabled enlisted men. From this fund there resulted the
present system of Soldiers’ Homes.
The Mexican War itself was not a popular war, among Americans,
many of whom felt that it might have been avoided. Lives and money
were expended needlessly. Of course Mexico had been badgering
the United States; American citizens had been mistreated and could
obtain no justice. But the United States troops really invaded when
they crossed into southwestern Texas, for Mexico had her rights
there.
The war, though, brought glory to the American soldier. In the
beginning the standing army of the United States numbered only
about eight thousand officers and men, but it was so finely organized
and drilled that regiment for regiment it equalled any army in the
world. The militia of the States could not be depended upon to enter
a foreign country; they had to be called upon as volunteers. Mexico
was prepared with thirty thousand men under arms; her Regulars
were well trained, and her regular army was much larger than the
army of the United States.
When General Zachary Taylor, “Old Rough and Ready,” advanced
with his three thousand five hundred Regulars (almost half the
United States army) for the banks of the Rio Grande River, he
braved a Mexican army of eight thousand, better equipped than he
was, except in men.
A military maxim says that morale is worth three men. All through
the war it was skill and spirit and not numbers that counted; quality
proved greater than quantity. “Old Zach,” with seventeen hundred
Regulars, beat six thousand Mexican troops at Resaca de la Palma.
At Buena Vista his four thousand Volunteers and only four hundred
and fifty or five hundred Regulars repulsed twenty thousand of the
best troops of Mexico. General Scott reached the City of Mexico with
six thousand men who, fighting five battles in one day, had defeated
thirty thousand. Rarely has the American soldier, both Regular and
Volunteer, so shone as in that war with Mexico, when the enemy
outnumbered three and four to one, and chose his own positions.
The battles were fought with flint-lock muskets, loaded by means
of a paper cartridge, from which the powder and ball were poured
into the muzzle of the piece. The American dragoons were better
mounted than the Mexican lancers, and charged harder. The artillery
was the best to be had and was splendidly served on both sides, but
the American guns were the faster in action.
Thoroughly trained officers and men who had confidence in each
other and did not know when they were beaten, won the war. Many
of the most famous soldiers in American history had their try-out in
Mexico, where Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan were young
engineers, U. S. Grant was a second lieutenant, and Jefferson Davis
led the Mississippi Volunteers. The majority of the regular officers
were West Pointers. General Scott declared that but for the military
education afforded by the Academy the war probably would have
lasted four or five years, with more defeats than victories, at first.
Thus the Mexican War, like the recent World War, proved the value
of officers and men trained to the highest notch of efficiency.
In killed and wounded the war with Mexico cost the United States
forty-eight hundred men; but the deaths from disease were twelve
thousand, for the recruits and the Volunteers were not made to take
care of themselves. In addition, nearly ten thousand soldiers were
discharged on account of ruined health. All in all the cost of the war,
in citizens, footed twenty-five thousand. The expense in money was
about $130,000,000.
By the war the United States acquired practically all the country
west from northern Texas to the Pacific Ocean, which means
California, Utah, Nevada, the western half of Colorado and most of
New Mexico and Arizona. This, it must be said, was an amazing
result, for in the outset we had claimed only Texas, as far as the Rio
Grande River.
E. L. S.
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE

The War with Mexico 18

Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott 27
I. The Star-Spangled Banner 37
II. A Surprise for Vera Cruz 53
III. The Americans Gain a Recruit 61
IV. Jerry Makes a Tour 67
V. In the Naval Battery 84
VI. Second Lieutenant Grant 92
VII. Hurrah for the Red, White and
Blue! 110
VIII. Inspecting the Wild “Mohawks” 120
IX. The Heights of Cerro Gordo 130
X. Jerry Joins the Ranks 146
XI. In the Wake of the Fleeing Enemy 154
XII. An Interrupted Toilet 164
XIII. Getting Ready at Puebla 175
XIV. A Sight of the Goal at Last 188
XV. Outguessing General Santa Anna 194
XVI. Facing the Mexican Host 203
XVII. Clearing the Road to the Capital 218
XVIII. In the Charge at Churubusco 229
XIX. Before the Bristling City 240
XX. The Battle of the King’s Mill 250
XXI. Ready for Action Again 269
XXII. Storming Chapultepec 279
XXIII. Forcing the City Gates 291
XXIV. In the Halls of Montezuma 311
 ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

“You Young Rascal! What’s the Meaning of this Racket?”

Frontispiece
Winfield Scott—General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United
States at the Period of His Commanding in Mexico 27
“And All Your Army and Guns Can’t Keep Them Off” 46
“’Peared Like They Were Going to Ambush Me and Take this
Turkey” 125
Lieutenant Grant Used this as a Ladder 264

MAPS
The March to the City of Mexico, 279 Miles 18
The Campaign in the Valley of Mexico 194
 WORDS OF GENERAL SCOTT
His motto in life: “If idle, be not solitary; if solitary, be not idle.”
At Queenstown Heights, 1812: “Let us, then, die, arms in hand.
Our country demands the sacrifice. The example will not be lost. The
blood of the slain will make heroes of the living.”
At Chippewa, July 5, 1814: “Let us make a new anniversary for
ourselves.”
To the Eleventh Infantry at Chippewa: “The enemy say that
Americans are good at long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I
call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander.
Charge!”
From an inscription in a Peace Album, 1844: “If war be the natural
state of savage tribes, peace is the first want of every civilized
community.”
At Vera Cruz, March, 1847, when warned not to expose himself:
“Oh, generals, nowadays, can be made out of anybody; but men
cannot be had.”
At Chapultepec, 1847: “Fellow soldiers! You have this day been
baptized in blood and fire, and you have come out steel!”
To the Virginia commissioners, 1861: “I have served my country
under the flag of the Union for more than fifty years, and, so long as
God permits me to live, I will defend that flag with my sword, even if
my own native State assails it.”
 THE WAR WITH MEXICO (1846–1847)
The Causes
March 2, 1836, by people’s convention the Mexican province of
Texas declares its independence and its intention to become a
republic.
April 21, 1836, by the decisive battle of San Jacinto, Texas wins its
war for independence, in which it has been assisted by many
volunteers from the United States.
May 14, 1836, Santa Anna, the Mexican President and general
who had been captured after the battle, signs a treaty acknowledging
the Texas Republic, extending to the Rio Grande River.
September, 1836, in its first election Texas favors annexation to
the United States.
December, 1836, the Texas Congress declares that the
southwestern and western boundaries of the republic are the Rio
Grande River, from its mouth to its source.
The government of Mexico refuses to recognize the independence
of Texas, and claims that as a province its boundary extends only to
the Nueces River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, about 120
miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande.
This spring and summer petitions have been circulated through
the United States in favor of recognizing the Republic of Texas.
Congress has debated upon that and upon annexation. The South
especially desires the annexation, in order to add Texas to the
number of slave-holding States.
February, 1837, President Andrew Jackson, by message to
Congress, relates that Mexico has not observed a treaty of friendship
signed in 1831, and has committed many outrages upon the Flag
and the citizens of the United States; has refused to make payments
for damages and deserves “immediate war” but should be given
another chance.
March, 1837, the United States recognizes the independence of
the Texas Republic.
Mexico has resented the support granted to Texas by the United
States and by American citizens; she insists that Texas is still a part
of her territory; and from this time onward there is constant friction
between her on the one side and Texas and the United States on the
other.
In August, 1837, the Texas minister at Washington presents a
proposition from the new republic for annexation to the United
States. This being declined by President Martin Van Buren in order
to avoid war with Mexico, Texas decides to wait.
Mexico continues to evade treaties by which she should pay
claims against her by the United States for damages. In December,
1842, President John Tyler informs Congress that the rightful claims
of United States citizens have been summed at $2,026,079, with
many not yet included.
Several Southern States consider resolutions favoring the
annexation of Texas. The sympathies of both North and South are
with Texas against Mexico.
In August, and again in November, 1843, Mexico notifies the
United States that the annexation of Texas, which is still looked upon
as only a rebellious province, will be regarded as an act of war.
October, 1843, the United States Secretary of State invites Texas
to present proposals for annexation.
In December, 1843, President Tyler recommends to Congress that
the United States should assist Texas by force of arms.
April 12, 1844, John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of State, concludes
a treaty with Texas, providing for annexation. There is fear that Great
Britain is about to gain control of Texas by arbitrating between it and
Mexico. The treaty is voted down by the Senate on the ground that it
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