Content Teaching for Multilingual Students: A Complex Assemblage of Interconnected Elements

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Scaffolding Learning Among Linguistically Diverse Students

Abstract

This multiple case study utilized qualitative and postqualitative methodologies to explore the teaching and learning assemblages occurring across five content classrooms with multilingual learners in three schools and two states. We found that the curricular, disciplinary, organizational, and accountability structures of schooling undergirded the activity in the classroom. Relatedly, teachers and students performed “scripts” and “counterscripts” that demonstrated enduring expectations for what it means to teach and to learn (Gutiérrez, Rymes, & Larson, 1995). The curricular and relational possibilities were influenced by available resources and the performances expectations around doing school. This research illustrates the importance of attending to teachers and students as multiplicities in terms of what teaching and learning might look like in content classrooms for multilingual students.

Authors

• Kara Mitchell Viesca, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Kathryn J. Strom, California State University - East Bay

• Lauren Gatti, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Tricia Gray, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Jessica Masterson, Washington State University - Vancouver

• Brandon Heinz, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Cindy Hammer Linzell, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Cara Morgenson, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Yassine Rfissa, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Svenja Hammer, Leuphana Universitat Luneburg

• Kate Damgaard, Lincoln Public Schools District