Exploring a Dual Language Preschool Teacher’s Scaffolding Practices During Spanish and English Read-Alouds

• In Event: Dual Language Instruction Research and Perspective

Abstract

The study investigates one dual language preschool teacher’s scaffolding practices in the context of Spanish and English read aloud activities. Findings revealed the teacher’s flexible orchestration and incorporation of a variety of instructional and communicative strategies to draw on and extend children’s developing bilingual competencies. To scaffold children’s meaning-construction during shared book experiences in English and Spanish, for example, the teacher highlighted connections between children’s experiences and story elements and emphasized new vocabulary. Some of the teacher’s practices, however, appeared to be unique to specific language contexts (e.g., modeling the utility of bilingualism as a communicative and academic resource through codeswitching). Findings have important implications for the design of professional development efforts that target ways to optimize emergent bilinguals’ development.

Authors

• Mileidis Gort, The Ohio State University

• Ryan W. Pontier, University of Miami

• Alain Bengochea, University of Miami