Centering Emergent Bilingual Learners' Cultures and Languages Throughout Social Studies Inquiry (Poster 2)

• In Event: Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Social Studies: Research and Practice With and for Multilingual Youth

Abstract

Purpose:
Our paper reports on how two Arabic-speaking middle school teachers adopted culturally and linguistically-sustaining stances as they engaged their Arabic-speaking emergent bilingual learners (EBLs) in social studies inquiry.

Theoretical Perspective:
More empirical research on teachers’ experiences with emergent bilingual learners (EBLs) in social studies classrooms is needed (Salinas, Rodríguez, & Blevins, 2017). EBLs bring important linguistic and cultural knowledge to social and civic studies (Hernandez Garcia & Schleppegrell, 2021; Jaffee 2016, 2022). Teachers who view these resources as assets are more likely to attend to students’ academic needs (Ramirez & Jaffee, 2016, 2021); their thinking offers insight into classroom contexts where EBLs’ linguistic/cultural resources are nourished (Sembiante & Tian, 2021).
Our study is informed by García, Johnson, and Seltzer’s (2017) concept of a translanguaging pedagogical approach that draws on EBLs’ language resources and cultural backgrounds to think, make meaning, and learn. We also draw on the framework of culturally sustaining systemic functional linguistics (Harman & Burke, 2020; Sembiante & Tian, 2021) as critical for supporting students’ disciplinary literacy development, guiding educators to center students’ language resources and cultural backgrounds (Alim & Paris, 2017) while countering the hegemonic monolingual-based model of U.S. education.

Methods and Data:
The study is situated within a design-based research project (Brown, 1992) to develop curriculum and professional development (PD) to support social studies inquiry (Jennings et al., 2022). We ask: How do teachers of EBLs in an Arabic-speaking community talk about the community cultures and languages of their students? and How do they draw on students’ community cultures and languages to support their participation in social studies inquiry? We report on insights shared by two teachers, Arabic-speaking members of the local community, who taught classes that included newcomers. They help us understand how asset-based orientations to students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge support EBLs’ engagement in inquiry-based learning. All students in both classrooms spoke Arabic; they varied in English proficiency.
We report on what teachers shared during eight PD sessions as they worked with colleagues to discuss investigations they were planning to teach and to debrief after teaching. We analyzed video records from these sessions using a qualitative coding scheme based on key ideas from research.

Results and Significance:
Three themes emerged: (1) Teachers made connections between the inquiry topics and their students’ experiences as an entry point for engaging them in inquiry. They used their community knowledge to recognize students’ diverse perspectives and make each inquiry topic more meaningful. (2) Teachers valued students’ Arabic language and emergent bilingualism and supported them through translanguaging, positioning Arabic as an important resource for learning. (3) Teachers believed that translanguaging enabled all students to participate and share their perspectives as teachers engaged students in collaborative work that supported their development of social studies understanding and inquiry practices.
We suggest how teachers who do not share students’ cultures and languages can support them in culturally sustaining ways through translanguaging, contributing to our understanding of how all teachers can engage in practices that are supportive of students’ futures as bilingual citizens.

Authors

• Mary J. Schleppegrell, University of Michigan

• Rebecca D’Angelo, University of Michigan

• Mina Hernandez Garcia, University of Michigan

• Chauncey Monte-Sano, University of Michigan