Strengthening Preschool Dual-Language Instruction Through Learning Stories and Long-Term Inquiry

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: The Power of Language: Communication, Identity, and Student Choice

Abstract

In this roundtable presentation, three early childhood educators/teacher inquirers report on the value of integrating learning stories within a long-term inquiry group at a public preschool in San Francisco, California. California public preschool educators must produce evidence of children’s learning to meet local and state-mandated assessment requirements. This study examined how narratives in the form of teachers’ learning stories document important aspects of young children’s dual language learning. The findings reveal that narratives written in children’s home languages serve as an innovative approach to foster children’s multilingual identities, and that the structure of a long-term inquiry group provides a professional forum founded upon collaboration, trust, and critical feedback regarding next steps for the learning story process and dual language teaching.

Authors

• Daniel Meier, San Francisco State University

• Isauro M. Escamilla Calan, San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco State University

• Lauren Boyles, San Francisco Unified School District