Supporting Dual Language Learners in Inclusive Classrooms Through the Social Organization of Learning

• In Event: Early Education of Bilingual Children: At the Intersection of Language, Learning, and Disability

Abstract

In this paper, we synthesize the research on teaching and learning for dual language learners with disabilities (DLLsWD) in pre-Kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. DLLsWD are a growing subgroup, widely heterogeneous. Yet, their educational needs are often overlooked or misunderstood. Given these persistent issues, we recognize our responsibility and take action to improve educational opportunities and outcomes of these young learners.

We begin by recognizing common misconceptions about the learning needs and strengths of DLLsWD. Next, we identify significant caveats of this literature, a) the dearth of research on the topic; b) how scholarship on students with learning disabilities (LD) and dual language learners (DLLs) traditionally take different views in their central instructional approaches, historically focused on isolated perspectives: behavioral/cognitive or sociocultural/linguistics dimensions; and c) the possibility of combining multiple dimensions, simultaneously, to address students’ sociocultural and academic learning needs. This approach recognizes the situated nature of learning, both a cognitive and social process (Cole, 1996; Greeno & Engeström, 2014).

We present DLLsWD literature by recognizing a core principle of teaching learning and literacy models which builds on students’ strengths, fosters first (L1) and second (L2) language development, and acknowledges and leverages the strengths students bring to the classrooms through collaborative arrangements in learning activities and with families. For instance, whether or not bilingual education is possible, school personnel can still collaborate with families to foster language development, such as through meaningful and culturally responsive individualized education plans (IEP).

Subsequently, we synthesize the research based on comprehensive instructional approaches DLLsWD, which include culturally responsive learning. In this way, learning is not limited to cognitive dimensions, in isolation; instead, it recognizes the social-and-cultural dimensions of learning environments. This view of learning builds on strategies used in general education, with a sociocultural understanding. Culturally and linguistically responsive interventions are meaningful, multi-faceted, reaching across multiple literacies, and include explicit instruction. Comprehensive approaches include scaffolding, pre-teaching of and multiple exposures to new vocabulary, sheltered content instruction, cooperative learning, benefits, and precautions of strategy instruction, and peer-assisted learning and flexible grouping. Throughout, we draw on research documenting how practitioners can achieve these goals when planning collaborative and coordinated instruction across departments, alongside collaborative, respectful partnerships with students’ families and staff to ensure DLLsWD receive simultaneous language and academic supports. We also discuss how educators can use appropriate formative and summative assessments while also providing frequent opportunities to engage in learning with students without disabilities and non-DLL learners. Lastly, we discuss contemporary models to support students’ learning needs, such as multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), which establish timely interventions and close monitoring of student progress to address students’ behavioral and learning needs. To conclude, we reflect on the work and responsibility in designing learning for DLLsWD, through critical, situated reflection and action given the specific politics of literacy constructed in schools and technical aspects in teaching required to organize meaningful learning opportunities for DLLsWD (Gonzalez et al., 2015).

Authors

• Sarah Lopez Alvarado, Arizona State University

• Sarah Salinas, Arizona State University

• Alfredo J. Artiles, Stanford University