Education Commons^™

Language, Cultural Knowledge, And Privileged Practices: A Case Study Of Understandings That Shape Family Engagement For Parents Of Spanish-English Emergent Bilinguals, Alissa Blair

Journal of English Learner Education

This research examines the ways in which parents of Spanish-English emergent bilinguals perceive and navigate the implicit and explicit expectations for family engagement through analysis of contrasting case studies of focal students from two 4^th grade classrooms, one characterized by English-medium instruction and the other by a developmental bilingual program. One case sheds light on the language barriers that hampered parents’ participation in their children’s education at school, while the other case highlights discrepancies in the understandings of parental and teacher roles and expectations. Findings demonstrate that parents’ capacity to meet school-based expectations was constrained by assumptions about their …

Emergent Bilinguals’ Participation In Multilingual Engineering Learning Ecologies, Alberto Esquinca, Maria Teresa De La Piedra, Lidia Herrera-Rocha

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Students classified as English language learners (ELLs), many of whom are also Hispanic/Latine´/x, are at times excluded from opportunities to engage in engineering design experiences due to the emphasis on learning English. In dual language bilingual education, however, language policies that allow for the use and development of more than one language afford opportunities for ELLs that are not available in monolingual environments. We draw on a multilingual learning ecology theoretical framework to analyze data gathered from a two-year ethnographic study. During approximately 200 hours of field work, we gathered multiple forms of data through ethnographic methods, to include field …

Rooted In Strength: Grounded In Research Communities And Building On Pedagogical Leadership, Lorraine T. Falchi

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article is a review of the book Rooted in Strength: Using Translanguaging to Grow Mult5ilingtual Readers and Writers by Cecilia Espinosa and Laura Ascenzi-Moreno.

Imagining Multimodal And Translanguaging Possibilities For Authentic Cultural Writing Experiences, Lucía Cárdenas Curiel, Christina M. Ponzio

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article proposes ways to authentically amplify writer’s workshop for emergent bilinguals. Through the study of one bilingual teacher’s mediation in teaching, we examined the affordances that translanguaging and transmodal practices have for emergent bilingual students’ writing processes. In this case study, we focused on a writing sequence associated with the well-known Latin American holiday of the Day of the Dead, in which 3rd grade emergent bilinguals wrote “calaveras,” or literary poems, as part of an interdisciplinary language arts and social studies lesson. Our work is framed by sociocultural theories of mediation, literacy, and language. Under a multiliteracies pedagogy, we …

My Journey As An Emergent Bilingual, Cynthia Villarreal Cantu

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography was conducted at an elementary school not far from the South Texas border. I documented how my journey as a kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade student has impacted me to become a better educator. Through this qualitative study, I planned to determine if my childhood experiences as an emergent bilingual learner have made an impact in my teaching and the connections I have formed with my students. I analyzed observations of my current teaching practices and my elementary report cards and test scores. After observing my students’ interactions among their peers and my reaction towards their conversations, I found …

Improvisational Teaching For Emergent Bilinguals, Denchai Prabjandee

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

The present collaborative ethnographic case study was design to explore teaching practices for English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States, hereafter called "emergent bilinguals" (García, 2009). Through the theoretical lens of ethnographic vulnerability (Behar, 1996), I conducted 40-hour observations, four interviews, and artifact collections. By using an impressionist tale writing style throughout this article (Maanen, 2011), this paper presents the journey of an elementary school teacher who tries to employ classroom practices, teaching strategies, and assessments to educate emergent bilinguals. Drawing on ethnographic data, I propose an effective teaching approach called improvisational teaching. This teaching approach may be beneficial …

Proceedings: Multilingual Learners In Upk: Defining Focus And Direction, Zoila Morell

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Proceedings of the Roundtable: Teaching Emergent Bilingual Learners with Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors in Preschool held June 5, 2015 at Fordham University.

Introduction To Roundtable Proceedings: Emergent Bilinguals In New York’S Upk, Zoila Morell

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article introduces the proceedings to the Roundtable on Emergent Bilinguals in New York's UPK published in the next article in this volume of JMER.

Talking About Language In Pre-School: The Use Of Video-Stimulated Recall With Emergent Bilingual Children, P. Zitlali Morales, Joseph C. Rumenapp

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

After first discussing the ideologies (standard and monolingual) implicit in language education in the United States, we argue for a necessary ideological shift in the way multiple languages and other forms of semiotic communication are understood, used, and supported in preschool for emergent bilinguals. We present examples from a preschool study in Illinois where emergent bilingual children in two classrooms used video-stimulated accounts to make sense of their actions. Students used multiple semiotic resources – including English, Spanish, and embodiment – to collaborate with others and represent their ideas. Our findings include evidence of language awareness and awareness of audience …

Drama In Dialogic Read Alouds: Promoting Access And Opportunity For Emergent Bilinguals, James V. Hoffman, Doris Villarreal, Sam Dejulio, Laura Taylor, Jaran Shin

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

In this report, we explore the potential for drama pedagogy in the classroom to support the engagement and growth of emergent bilingual students in language and literacy. We are focused on the use of drama to promote dialogic interactions during teacher read alouds. This study was conducted as a collaborative, action research investigation involving classroom teachers and university-based researchers. Our goals focused on three areas. First, we were interested in the impact of the drama intervention on comprehension. Second, we were interested in the responses of students to drama in read alouds with attention to differences in responses related to …

Supporting Teachers In Arts Integration Strategies To Foster Foundational Literacy Skills Of Emergent Bilinguals, Christa Mulker Greenfader, Shelly Vanamburg, Liane Brouillette

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

Oral language skills are essential to the future literacy of students in kindergarten and first grade, especially emergent bilinguals (EBs). Yet, U.S. teachers receive few professional development opportunities that prepare them to use effective strategies for promoting oral language development. Since teacher education is compartmentalized into curricular silos, methods for literacy instruction are taught in one course, methods for arts instruction in another, and so on. This article argues that well-designed arts integration can meet a key need of young, linguistically diverse students by providing opportunities for oral language practice across content areas. Experimental evidence that arts-based instruction benefits the …

Diverse Experiences And Complex Identities: A Resource Archive Of Artists’ And Educators’ Works, Vivian Maria Poey, Berta Rosa Berriz, Amanda Claudia Wager

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This concluding article builds on the ideas developed throughout this special issue by providing a wide range of resources to enrich arts-based work within the field of literacy development with families and communities of emergent bilinguals. We include a bank of resources that may serve as the beginning of an archive. Coming from three different fields, with varying professional experiences, the sources we find helpful intersect and diverge. To honor this range of possibilities, we have taken an expansive approach that includes poets, visual and performing artists, arts and cultural organizations, literary associations, language learning standards and anti-bias and critical …

Reach For The Stars: Restructuring Schooling For Emergent Bilinguals With A Whole-Child, Arts-Infused Curricular Approach, Amy Gooden

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This qualitative case study describes a two-year, multi-pronged university-urban school district partnership in Massachusetts sponsored by former Governor Deval Patrick’s Gateways Cities agenda to support an innovative middle school summer enrichment academy for emergent bilingual (EB) learners. The partnership between Boston University and Malden Public Schools aimed at improving EB student success through a whole-child, inclusive, community-arts- infused, content-based curriculum with field trips, guest speakers, conversation classes with bilingual university graduate students, and performing arts, fitness and wellness workshops; a comprehensive teacher training/coaching model; and parent education and community engagement experiences. This chapter examines the impact of the whole-child, community-arts- …

Ready For La Escuela: School Readiness And The Languages Of Instruction In Kindergarten, Zoila Tazi Phd

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

School readiness has captured our attention. Across the country, policymakers, politicians, advocates, educators, and community members are forging alliances to increase children’s access to the kinds of early childhood experiences that will best prepare them for success in school. At the same time, census figures indicate that the child population in the United States is changing and young Latinos account for most of that change (O’Hare, 2011).

As a population, Latinos experience greater rates of poverty and other risk factors that adversely affect school readiness (Ackerman & Tazi, 2015). In addition, many Latino children enter kindergarten speaking little or no …

Integrating Content And Academic Language Using Balanced Literacy Structures: A Framework For Instruction Of Emergent Bilinguals, Patricia Velasco

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Teachers working with emergent bilinguals1 face difficult dilemmas. Students who do not receive rigorous content instruction fail to acquire academic language. However, if students do not understand the content or cannot participate in content lessons, they cannot be expected to learn the academic information and the language associated with it. Confronting this challenge requires a sound knowledge of the multiple factors that play a role in developing academic language and its dependency on content area texts. Most importantly, this understanding has to be accompanied by instructional strategies that allow students to gain steady control over academic discourse. In this article, …

Notes On Contributors To This Issue

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Gaining Appreciation And Understanding For Writing In English In A Bilingual Class, Nadia Mykysey

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

While participating in the Bilingual Teacher Research Forum (a teacher inquiry group), I decided to do research in my classroom to investigate the ways in which emergent bilinguals (EBs) expanded their appreciation and understanding of writing in English as a second language. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe first-grade EBs’ development of writing. A variety of assessment tools were used to document students writing growth over time. All the children made progress both in their spelling and in their writing of stories. Engaging in teacher-based research became a professional development tool to document and reflect on …

Developing Academic Language And Content For Emergent Bilinguals Through A Science Inquiry Unit, Sandra Mercuri, Ann E. Ebe

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

There is growing evidence that schools are not meeting the needs of emergent bilinguals who are falling behind in both academic language development and content knowledge learning. In response to this concern, this article proposes five research-based guidelines for promoting effective instruction for emergent bilinguals. In order to connect theory to practice, implementation of these guidelines is explored through a descriptive study, within a qualitative paradigm, involving Jessica, a Spanish/English bilingual third-grade teacher. Through a description of her science inquiry unit on water, the authors outline how Jessica’s instruction reflected the five guidelines. The analysis of her instruction revealed that …

U. S. Mainland-Born And Non-Mainland-Born Children Referred For Special Education, Miriam Eisenstein Ebworth, Jay Gottlieb, Barbara Gottlieb, Marjorie Goldstein, Justin B. Bennett

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

In this study, we compared the referrals for special education evaluation of U.S. mainland-born children with those of mostly Latino non-mainland-born children in two school systems in the Northeastern United States. The investigation focused on whether there was a significant difference between referrals for special education from each group, based on either language or behavior. According to the literature, nonnatives are both overrepresented and underrepresented in special education, with reasons for referral including problematic use of language and inappropriate behavior. The researchers found that referrals for behavior in our sample were more frequent among natives compared with nonnatives, while referral …

Unpacking Writing And Channeling Change, Aida A. Nevárez-La Torre

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Native And Emergent Bilingual University-Level English Speakers Reading Online: The Influence Of Hypertext On Comprehension, Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth, Tommy Mcdonell

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Our study contributes to our understanding of Internet reading by Emergent Bilinguals (EB) and Native English speakers (NS) by investigating their recall of two Internet reading passages containing additional information available through either hypertext links or footnotes. Participants included 25 EB and 25 NS college students. Answers to cued recall questions were scored on the basis of the number of correctly recalled propositions (Kintsch, 1998). Additional interpretive data came from semi-structured interviews with four NS and four EB participants. Quantitative results showed that both groups of students recalled significantly more propositions with linear text than with hypertext. However, although descriptive …