Building Bridges Across Linguistic and Cultural Differences: Exploring Mainstream Teachers' Relationships With Emergent Bilingual Students

• In Event: Toward a Complex Understanding: Disrupting Essentialization in Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

This presentation reports on a qualitative study that investigated how mainstream teachers constructed their relationships with Emergent bilinguals (EBs) across cultural and linguistic differences. Participants were two suburban kindergarten teachers with EBs in their classrooms. Observations of classroom teaching and participant interviews afforded insight of how participants understood themselves as teachers of linguistically diverse children. Findings suggest relationships with EBs were constructed as distinct from relationships with mainstream students, using EBs’ first language was a means of connecting with EBs, and overcoming linguistic or cultural differences was a principle orientation participants assumed in relation to EBs. This study suggests teacher educators should support teacher learning opportunities/experiences to facilitate teachers’ awareness of how they engage with EBs both instructionally and socio-emotionally.

Author

• Adrian D. Martin, New Jersey City University