Teachers Positioning Multilingual Students in the Driver's Seat While Collaborating With Parents

• In Event: Dual and Multi-Languages: How Teachers, Parents and Communities Can Build Bridges

Abstract

This study works to disrupt the educational inequality that multilingual learners (MLLs) may face, which includes positioning multilingual learners, and their families, as problems in their classrooms or uninvited guests in mainstream U.S. classrooms. This study partners with MLLs, their parents, and their teachers in a collaborative study group integrating lesson study with positioning theory. During the year-long study group, we observed the participating teachers’ classrooms to understand how the teachers enacted and identified instructional moves that promoted students' agentive positions in mathematics classrooms. We found that they implemented instructional moves that provided opportunities for students to take on agentive roles in their learning and be framed as intellectual resources in their classroom learning community.

Authors

• Tarik Buli, University of Maryland

• Beatriz E. Quintos, University of Maryland

• Daniela Steflitsch, University of Klagenfurt