Engagement and Disciplinary Learning From and With Text for Reclassified as Fluent English Proficient Adolescents

• In Event: Influence of Texts and Contexts on English Language Learners and Struggling Readers

Abstract

This paper examines the aspects of the learning context that influence the opportunities for engagement and disciplinary learning from and with text for Reclassified as Fluent English Proficient (R-FEP) adolescents in general education classrooms. Analysis of teacher instructional practices and teacher-student interactions in three social studies middle school classrooms revealed complex tensions with text difficulty, literacy strategies and supports, and the salience of language and cultural ethnic identity, which affected how and the degree to which R-FEP students could deepen their content and disciplinary understandings in history and civics. The findings provided qualitative support that R-FEP adolescents are still affected by issues of language and literacy years after exit from ELL support services.

Author

• Susanna C Eng, George Mason University