Popularity in a Newcomer School: Peer Network Centrality and Academic English Language Acquisition

• In Event: 46.085 - Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 46.085-14 - Peer Networks, Out-of-School Literacies, and Translanguaging Practices of Linguistically Diverse Adolescents

Abstract

ELL student programming is often criticized for limiting contact with native-speaking peers. The purpose of this study was to understand how non-native speaking peers may support the academic language acquisition of ELL students within high school ESL classrooms, through information flow related to language acquisition. Drawing on social network analysis and theory, and sociocultural learning theory, network data were collected and analyzed based on communication frequency and information flow. Grades and test scores were correlated with network data findings. The network analysis findings reveal that a student’s position within the network may influence access to information related to learning English, providing an advantage if the student has a central position in the network.

Author

• Holly J. Darling, Claremont Graduate University