Disciplinary Practices With Multilingual Learners in the Content Areas: Investigating Grasp of Practice in Fifth-Grade Science

• In Event: Language, Literacy, and Disciplinary Practices

Abstract

The latest K-12 standards that emphasize disciplinary practices (e.g., argumentation) offer opportunities to recognize multilingual learners’ (MLs’) participation in content classrooms in new ways. However, research in language education has focused primarily on disciplinary practices considered language-intensive. As this research expands to disciplinary practices less familiar to language educators, it may benefit from cross-fertilization with constructs from content area education (e.g., science education) for characterizing effective participation in disciplinary practices. This study used the construct of grasp of practice (Ford & Forman, 2006) to investigate fifth-grade MLs’ participation in the science practice of modeling. By capturing a broader spectrum of what is valued in content learning, research in language education can refute deficit views of MLs in the content areas.

Authors

• Scott Grapin, University of Miami

• Lorena Llosa, New York University

• Okhee Lee, New York University