Supporting Emergent Bilinguals and Their Teachers: A Case of Effective School-Wide Practices

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Reading the Word and the World: Research on Literacy, Context, and Identity

Abstract

This ethnographic research examines the language and literacy engagement of six Spanish-English emergent bilinguals in Grade 4 at a linguistically and culturally diverse elementary school in a Midwestern city. By observing students from two classes, one bilingual and one English-medium, it was possible to capture organizational aspects of school that shape practice within and across classrooms. Unique decisions about staffing and sharing students helped integrate emergent bilinguals into the school community while supporting their language development. Analysis of this “model case” offers insights that are worthy of consideration in larger discussions about effective and responsive education for emergent bilinguals.

Author

• Alissa Anne Blair, University of Wisconsin - Madison