Refining Bilingual Reading Pedagogies and Paradigms Through Literacy Engagements With Diverse Books in a Professional Dyad

• In Event: Changing Paradigms and Practices in Teacher Preparation in Support of Emergent Bilinguals

Abstract

Purpose

This proposal shares the results of a collaborative study between a university-based bilingual teacher educator and dual-language bilingual second grade teacher who investigated the role of culturally-sustaining texts and students’ engagement with these. We outline the pedagogical shifts that one teacher made when she engaged bilingual students in critical readings and engagements with these texts in person and virtually. The following research question guided our study: How do emergent bilinguals’ responses to engagement with diverse, multilingual texts refine bilingual educators’ understanding of how teacher paradigms and ideologies translate into literacy practices?

Theoretical Framework

In this study we focus on the successes and challenges of engaging emergent bilinguals in conversations about multilingual and diverse books. We took up this work not only to understand how students experienced the texts, but also with an inward focus to inquire about how our pedagogical vision, which is rooted in translanguaging theory and pedagogy, directs the literacy experiences we fashion and, in turn, help us to reconfigure and refine what it means to be biliteracy teachers to emergent bilinguals.

Translanguaging theory centers emergent bilinguals’ entire pool of resources as pivotal in their reading experiences (García, 2020). The motivation for this study also stems from a pedagogical vision, rooted in racial literacies, that advocates that literacy identities must be an essential component of literacy education. Departing from Muhammed & Mosley’s (2021) definition of identity “as anything that defines or represents us or others” and that is flexible (p. 190). These concepts are important because a focus on students’ dynamic identities is a critical feature of expansive views of biliteracy in bilingual classrooms and can be a catalyst for changing teacher’s thinking and practice about biliteracy instruction, paving the way for more equitable forms of literacy instruction within the field of bilingual education.

Methods & Data Sources

This paper draws on data collected from a case study in a second-grade dual-language bilingual classroom over two academic years (2019-20 and 2020-2021). Data sources include observations, collection of student work, interviews with students, and research memos.The context for this case study is an urban dual-language, bilingual second classroom with Latinx, African-American, and white students. Both researchers are Latinx women.

Results & Significance

Analysis suggests that the act of engaging emergent bilinguals in discussions about bilingual identity positions students as agents and shapes educators’ understanding of how diverse texts can support their literacy development. We argue that when teachers share these types of texts with emergent bilingual students of color, the complexity of their responses helps educators grapple with questions about how the reading process not only supports the acquisition of skills, but also the development of students’ reading identities rooted in the intersection of language, race, and class. This paper is significant to this year’s call as it is rooted to a reframing of literacy pedagogies by directly connecting to students’ resources and strengths through a critical teacher stance. We offer implications for policy and practice for educators who work in K-6 language arts settings.

Authors

• Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Rebecca Quinones