Cultivating Cultural Competence Through a Critical Consciousness Framework for Coaching Teachers of Emergent Bilingual Students (Poster 6)

• In Event: Advancing Raciolinguistic Equity for Emergent Bilinguals While Cultivating Grassroots Knowledge and Expertise

Abstract

Historically, longitudinal studies have established the important role of high-quality language input support the linguistic skills of young monolingual English children (Bermuda Child Care study and the Harvard Home-School study). Recent studies have found these evidence-based language practices are not highly implemented by early childhood teachers, even bilingual teachers. Given the important role of oral language skills (such as vocabulary and listening comprehension) in later reading achievement it is essential that teachers have the instructional skills to support the English language acquisition of their emergent bilinguals. In this collective case study, four teachers participated in one-on-one instructional coaching over a period of 16 weeks. The focus of the coaching was to support teacher use of evidence-based practices for oral language development during shared reading lessons. This study took place in English-immersion classrooms composed of at least 60% native Spanish-speakers with English language proficiency in the emerging to beginning levels. Classroom observations were coded using the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) followed by a critical analysis of teacher language use during shared reading lessons. Findings indicate that one-on-one coaching conversations facilitated the increase in teacher-student interaction during shared reading lessons. However, SIOP did not adequately capture teachers’ incorporation of students’ sociolinguistic/cultural backgrounds during shared reading lessons. We discuss a critical consciousness framework for coaching general education teachers to address the cultural as well as linguistic needs of emergent bilingual students.

Author

• Alta Joy Broughton, Saint Mary's College of California
  Presenting Author