Analytical Tools to Design Inclusive Contexts: Conversations in Clinical Experiences About Compensating and Removing Barriers

• In Event: 47.051 - Sociocultural Traditions to Study Teaching and Teacher Education for the Inclusive Classroom

Abstract

Objective. With an increased emphasis on developing strong mentorship for clinical experiences involving pre-and-in-service teachers, and personnel from universities this study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to explore how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is discursively negotiated in collective post-lesson discussions in inclusive bilingual special education classrooms (BiSPED).

Frameworks. The study employs UDL and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).

UDL aims for accessible design for instruction to take place from the beginning, rather than differentiating already-developed instructional artifacts (Burgstahler, 2012; National Center on Universal Design for Learning, 2017). Following UDL, “[s]tudents should struggle productively with construct-relevant ideas and activities while barriers to learning are systematically removed” (Hall, Meyer, & Rose, 2012). This idea is well-illustrated in CHAT by Vygotsky’s (1993) compensation as a mediator of inclusive contexts.

Using compensation, Vygotsky (1993) theorized that the so-called “dis/abilities”, which take shape as specific difficulties/struggles in classrooms, could mediate learning—as children could transform difficulties into “a source of strength” and learning (p. 56). However, compensating involves “a concerted volitional effort that is socially reinforced” (Smagorinsky, 2012, p. 12). Designing inclusive contexts involves multiple activity systems, or “systems of collaborative human practice” (Engeström, 1988, p. 30), whose participants engage in transformative action.

The balance between affording opportunities for compensation within “desirable difficulty”, while removing barriers is complex but fundamental (Rappolt-Schlichtmann, Daley, & Rose, 2012, p. 37). However, little has been done to explore how pre-service teachers learn to achieve this balance in collective discursively-negotiated authentic contexts. We investigate: What kinds of volitional actions take place in post-lesson collective discussions? And, how do participants discursively negotiate inclusive contexts?

Methods. Data was collected as part of the evaluation of a new teacher preparation program for inclusive BiSPED classrooms, centered on strengthening school-university partnerships. Fifteen participants were included: Six teacher candidates (TCs) from cohort three of the program (academic year 2017-2018), six mentor teachers, and three university supervisors.

Video/audio data from 18 collective discussions around lessons in inclusive BiSPED contexts taught in Chinese, French, or Spanish were collected. TCs were interviewed three times during the program. TCs, mentor teachers and university supervisors, but also 26 children, participated in the post-lesson conversations.

Data were transcribed and analyzed using CDA to understand volitional actions driving decision-making around compensating and removing barriers for learning. Aligned with Fairclough’s (1989, 1995) proposed CDA approach, we considered the discourse data as socially and historically controlled texts.
Findings. Participants took numerous volitional actions during the discussions as they tried to resolve surfacing tensions about children’s accessibility to learning spaces. While children took volitional actions to make the learning barriers they experienced during lessons manifest, TCs often attempted to stay within paradigms of compensation. Collective negotiation allowed TCs to transition onto a more balanced approach of negotiating compensation while recognizing the need of removing barriers for learning.

Significance. Utilizing CHAT and UDL paradigms, this study offers new collective ways to elucidate how learning to design inclusive contexts following a balanced approach between compensation and removing learning barriers can be fostered in clinical experiences.

Authors

• Patricia Martínez-Álvarez, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Minhye Son, California State University - Dominguez Hills

• Belinda Arana, Teachers College, Columbia University