Leveraging Family Childcare Providers' Linguistic Strengths: A Teacher-Researcher Collaboration

• In Event: Relationship-Based Instruction for Children

Abstract

This study explores the collaborative process that two Korean-English and one Spanish-English bilingual Early Head Start family childcare educators, two instructional coaches, and the author engaged in as they co-created intentional bilingual approaches to supporting young emergent bilinguals. A thematic analysis of the design-based approach of teachers’ experience and expertise, the author’s observations and modeling, and regular honest feedback and conversations supported our collective work towards cultivating and sustaining spaces that reflected the linguistic realities of everyone present. This ongoing work showed that no single Head Start language approach was appropriate for all three teachers to draw on their entire linguistic repertoire while also providing rich and authentic multilingual learning experiences. This study problematizes the strict nature of monoglossic policymaking.

Author

• Ryan W. Pontier, Florida International University
  Presenting Author