An Examination of Teacher Pedagogical Language Knowledge Through Figured Worlds

• In Event: Teaching at the Crossroads of Language and Content: New Insights on Pedagogical Language Knowledge

Abstract

Background and Significance:
Teacher PLK is examined through a comparative case study of four elementary teachers whose language ideologies and beliefs about EBs are considered alongside their instructional practices in the content area. The study deploys a novel discourse analytic method to trace teacher dispositions about language and language learners through analysis of Big-D Discourses (Gee, 2014) to locate a teacher’s Figured World (Holland et al., 1998). Analysis of teacher’s realms of interpretation offer an emic method to document a teacher’s decision-making practices during disciplinary literacy tasks. This paper advances our understanding of the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice by centering the analysis on dispositions as an influential resource in pedagogical decision-making.

Methods:
Two bilingual-certified and two mainstream teachers who work in linguistically diverse schools in a northeastern city were the participants. Two data collection phases followed: one lasted the fall semester followed by a member-check period at the end of the year. 13 observations of their social studies lessons were conducted alongside post-observation interviews that examined their decision-making around language pedagogy. One interview asked teachers to describe their backgrounds with language and their history working with EBs; the other asked teachers to review and comment on a state policy document that lists best practices. A stimulated response interview (Gass & Mackey, 2000) around observed Language Related Episodes (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) prompted teachers to listen to a recorded metalinguistic interaction to describe their instructional decision-making protocols. The confluence of elicitation and observational techniques produced a rich data set of stated beliefs, observed practices, and “typical stories” (Gee, 2014; p. 57) about language learning and the learners themselves.
Data analysis proceeded iteratively (Corbin & Strauss, 2014). All classroom observations were documented into field notes and interviews were transcribed and coded for initial themes. Discourse analysis of transcripts for teacher dispositions proceeded, while episodes that reflected teacher PLK were flagged. Then, the analyst identified Discourses (e.g.: master narratives, typical stories) that signaled heuristic ways of thinking about language and about EBs. Using a Figured Worlds framework, the analyst coded for what “typical” actors, events, artifacts and valued outcomes were used to describe topics related to PLK. Analytical memoing provided the discursive space to consider each teacher’s realms of interpretation alongside field notes data.

Findings:
Among the teachers, PLK manifested primarily as word-level understandings, with a disproportionate focus on vocabulary instruction. Moreover, teachers seemed to possess a binary understanding of a student’s language proficiency. Most teachers revealed that ideas about language pedagogy, rooted in their early experiences with language-learning, remained a powerful force for instructional decision-making (Borg, 2003). In their Figured Worlds teachers voiced Discourses of Remediation, Inclusivity, Metacognition and Sociocultural beliefs when reflecting on and describing their work with EBs.

Significance:
Although both pre- and in-service teacher education continues to address the needs of EBs, a teacher’s dispositions about language and language learners remain powerful mediating variables that are difficult to overcome. Careful consideration of the role of ongoing reflection as a means to examine language ideologies throughout a teacher’s career is strongly encouraged.

Author

• Lillian Stevens, New York University