Translanguaging in the Service of Co-Constructing Explanations: Elementary-Aged Emerging Bilingual Students Problematizing Electrical Phenomena

• In Event: 31.031 - Multimodal STEM Learning With Emerging Bilingual Students

Abstract

Objectives. Research in science education suggests learning is more effective when students engage in epistemic practices (Manz, 2015). In order to foster culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2014) and transcend restrictive language policies (Valenzuela, 1999), emerging bilingual students (EBS) must have opportunities to leverage their conceptual, communicative, and cultural resources when investigating the natural world through epistemic practices (Rosebery, Ogonowski, DiSchino, & Warren, 2010). This study investigates the translanguaging practices of elementary-aged EBS in an out-of-school science program when co-constructing models. It addresses the questions: (1) what are the semiotic resources EBS leveraged when problematizing electrical phenomena?; (2) how did the instructor’s pedagogical moves open or close opportunities for translanguaging?

Theoretical Framing. Translanguaging offers a theoretical and pedagogical lens for creating equitable science learning environments for EBS. Translanguaging is “the process by which bilingual students and teachers engage in complex discursive practices in order to ‘make sense’ of, and communicate in, multilingual classrooms” (García & Sylvan, 2011, p. 389). Translanguaging proposes that bi-/multilingual students develop and leverage one semiotic repertoire that comprises one or more linguistic systems (e.g., Spanish, English) and non-linguistic resources (e.g., gestures) (Blackledge & Creese, 2017).

Methods/Data. This study occurred in an out-of-school-time science program for elementary-aged EBS. Students investigated electrical phenomena, and small-groups to experiment with circuits and propose-evaluate-refine explanatory models. Participants represented multiple home languages; I, the instructor, am Spanish-English bilingual.
I collected data from two streams: video recordings, and student-produced artifacts. The former yielded detailed information on students’ translanguaging practices (e.g., speech, gestures), the latter elucidated translanguaging practices across modalities.
Using qualitative methods, I identified moments when students engaged in co-constructing models. Additionally, I identified moments when students or the instructor used multiple languages and gestures (McNeill, 1992); transitions between English and Spanish indexed translanguaging. To understand the role my translanguaging played, I mapped how students’ and my translanguaging co-occurred throughout the program.

Results and Scholarly Significance. Some students transitioned fluidly between languages when co-constructing explanatory models. For example, Yesenia leveraged English and Spanish when explaining how a conductor’s width affected electric flow: it determined how much space the electricity had to move through (“está muy chiquito [it’s too small]”), and its speed (“[electricity] could go faster”). Additionally, preliminary coding suggests students gestured when describing their observations and explanatory models throughout the program (Figure 1). Finally, analyzing the instructor’s translanguaging suggests: (i) the instructor and some students used Spanish and English throughout the session; (ii) when the instructor transitioned between languages, so did the students; (iii) students only transitioned between languages when the instructor did.
These preliminary findings suggest that students adeptly leveraged a host of semiotic resources when engaging investigating electrical phenomena, like co-constructing explanatory models. Additionally, the instructor’s translanguaging practices determined the environment’s linguistic expectations: gesturing was a meaningful communicative resource; if he moved between Spanish and English, students were more likely to use those languages. This work highlights why it is important to intentionally create opportunities for elementary-aged EBS to engage in the practices of science through translanguaging.

Author

• Enrique (Henry) Suarez, University of Washington - Seattle