Children's Literature as Mirrors and Windows: Primary Teachers and Emergent Bilinguals

• In Event: Dynamic Bilingual Literacy Instruction as Social Justice Practice: Educational Equity for Emergent Bilinguals

Abstract

We need readers who can “think creatively, critically, collaboratively, and compassionately,” write educators Beers and Probst (2017, p. 22). They challenge us to consider the question: how do we prepare readers for our democratic needs? These readers need to learn to respond to texts in intellectual, multimodal and emotional ways. They question the text, are open to changing their opinions, their ideas about others, the world and the self (Beers and Probst, 2017).

Literature, argue Peterson and Eeds (2007), “is the exploration and illumination of life” (p. 2). Literature reaches the heart, the head, and has the potential to teach us what it means to be an ethical person in our world (Bishop, 2009). Yet, the professional literature on the importance of offering children access to literature that mirrors their diverse lived experiences offers a dismal landscape about the lack of access bilingual children currently experience. Gangi (2008) argues that, “lack of equity in representation places an unbearable burden on children of color” (p. 34). To respond to this inequity, we expanded our college library’s collection of bilingual and culturally relevant materials which serves as a resource to the school’s community. In our research, using this collection, we asked, what happens when we engage young bilingual children in “grand conversations” (Peterson and Eds, 2007) about culturally and linguistically relevant children’s literature? We argue that these practices offer spaces for the whole child to more fully participate in these potentially transformative dialogues (García, Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017; Souto Manning, 2009).

Our research took place in public schools in a large urban city in the Northwest (USA). We engaged emergent bilingual primary children in read alouds, multimodal experiences, as well as “grand conversations” about bilingual children’s books that served as mirrors and windows to their lived experiences. We met three consecutive times with four small groups of five children during their literacy-class time. Each session lasted 45 minutes. Most of their families come from Mexico and Central America. We interviewed participants to gain more insights into their experiences with culturally and linguistically relevant literature. We interviewed the classroom teachers in between the research sessions and the children after the research sessions had concluded.

Data sources included observational notes, digital recordings and field notes of each meeting session, student work, and interviews with the children and teachers. Data was analyzed through multiple re-readings, in which the data was coded axially. Themes were generated through these codes and lead to findings. Results indicate that these opportunities to listen to a read aloud, and to discuss and respond to the text in multimodal ways opened spaces for the children to capitalize on their home language and to make connections to their lives. In addition, as the children connected to texts, they considered how they want to be in society. We advocate offering children literature that invites them to examine their worlds, while they connect to their heart and mind from a culturally and linguistically relevant perspective.

Authors

• Cecilia M. Espinosa, Lehman College/CUNY

• Alison Lehner-Quam, Lehman College