Ethnography and Language in the Study of Emergent Biliteracy in an “English Only” Context

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Ethnography and Language in Educational Settings: (Re)Envisioning and Reformulating Language Use in Educational Settings

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives. The main goal of this paper is to share, from an ethnography and language perspective, how teachers’ practices support emergent bilingualism and biliteracy in day-to-day activities in the preschool and kindergarten classroom. This paper draws on findings from various research studies focusing on the language and literacy of young, Spanish speaking Mexican children (Author 4, 2008; 2013). The study first describes the different literacy events in which children participate in the classroom and the use of language and function during these events. I then share teachers’ beliefs and ideologies about teaching and learning with these young emergent bilingual children in their L1 and L2. Finally, I share lessons learned from this language and ethnography (Green and Wallat, 1981) perspective to highlight the significance and contributions of research in this area to make visible children’s bilingualism despite the official English only state law (Combs, 2005).

Methods and Findings. The population in this study includes first and second generation Mexican children whose first language (L1) is Spanish and second language is English (L2). These children become bilingual in English at an early age when they begin attending a local preschool. These children continue to develop proficiency in their two languages through interactions in kindergarten and at home with peers and adults.  In addition, two teachers, one from preschool and one from kindergarten, participated in this project and shared about their language use in the classroom to support children’s bilingualism. The teachers are bilinguals in English and Spanish, but their use of the native language varies as a result of the “English Only” state law.
     Children's conversations were audio and video-taped during different preschool activities (e.g., circle time, drama play, other activity centers) and analyzed using the TRANSANA software.  The data from the analysis focuses on peer interaction (e.g., talk and play among peers), and reading time and circle time with the teacher and students (each recording lasted about 30 minutes on average). The teachers and children were told that the researchers were interested in children’s and teachers’ activities during classroom interaction.
     Findings highlight the impact of the English-only law on opportunities (or lack of) provided to emergent bilinguals to develop their bilingualism and biliteracy through public schooling in the state of Arizona. Within the selected preschool and kindergarten contexts, I describe how the specific methodological ethnographic tools document students’ development of native language literacy through opportunities that appeared to be incidental. Findings also highlight ways in which participating teachers struggled to promote biliteracy for their students. However, they also attempted to integrate language, reading, writing, and content learning in different classroom contexts and used the native language as a resource at varying degrees and levels of effectiveness. We hope this research invites scholars and practitioners to recognize the different language resources that children bring into the classroom and to integrate them as part of their classroom practices.

Author

• Iliana Reyes, The University of Arizona