Syncretic Literacy Among Mutlilingual Learners in a Math I Classroom

• In Event: How In-Service Teachers Improve Their Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms

Abstract

This study focuses on four secondary mathematics teachers and an administrator in a California school district and the development of syncretic literacy practices in their Math I classrooms. Syncretic literacy approaches engage multilingual learners in collaborative learning experiences. With this approach, multilingual learners have agency to explore content and draw on their previous lived experiences and knowledge to make meaningful connections to new content. We examine the actions teachers took to foster syncretic literacy among multilingual learners in mathematics classrooms through examinations of classroom observations of multilingual learners and interviews with focal teachers. We found that when teachers presented students with syncretic literacy opportunities to engage with mathematical content, multilingual learners used the agency provided to make meaning for themselves.

Authors

• Cameron Dexter Torti, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Sarah Ann Roberts, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Julie Bianchini, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Rue Mansour, University of California - Santa Barbara