Collaborative Dialogue in a Two-Way Spanish/English Immersion Classroom

• In Event: Understanding and Extending the Advantages of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

Abstract

This interpretive case study contributes to the field of language education by attending to bilingual language learners’ unique interactional patterns in relation to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development. Using a sociocultural theoretical framework, student interactions in a fifth grade two-way immersion classroom were analyzed during heterogeneous and homogeneous small group work (as determined by language proficiency). A qualitative analysis of the interactions of six focal students found that students positioned themselves as experts or novices, and through their acceptance or resistance to this positioning co-constructed groups that were a combination of degrees of equality and mutuality. Preliminary findings suggest that collaborative dialogue was more prevalent with increased positioning of equality.

Author

• Amy Isabel Young, University of Minnesota