“How Nice It Is to Get to Know That of Others”: The Development of Sociocultural Competence Does Not Happen in a Vacuum

• In Event: Promoting and Assessing Sociocultural Competence in Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs

Abstract

Objectives
This paper examines response contributions and artifacts from seven 6-8th grade dual language bilingual education (DLBE) teachers and two DLBE coaches participating in a year-long professional learning community (PLC) focused on sociocultural competence (SCC). The objective of the paper is to explore participating teachers' understanding of SCC, its development, and its role in their classrooms.

Conceptual Framework
This study builds on the work of Hammerness et al. (2005) and combines their Framework for Teacher Learning: Learning to Teach in Community with the intercultural competence Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) (Council of Europe, 2018), together with key tenets of professional learning communities (PLCs) (Lomos et al., 2011; Martin et al., 2020; Stoll et al., 2006; Voelkel & Chrispeels, 2017). Combining and adapting these frameworks allowed secondary DLBE teachers to develop their ideas and understandings of SCC through professional learning and discussions.

Methods
Together with research team members, I conducted this qualitative case study with collaborative tenets at an urban 6-8th grade middle school with a high population of Latino-identifying students. Participants were identified using convenience sampling (Miles et al., 2020). All DLBE teachers were required to participate in the PLC meetings due to district commitments; their participation in the research, however, was voluntary.
The data comprised six data sources collected throughout the year: 1) anonymous, open-ended pre-surveys; 2) reflective journals written by teachers, coaches, and the researchers; 3) PLC observation fieldnotes; 4) PLC artifacts; 5) teacher interviews; and 6) anonymous, open-ended post-survey. The six varying data points were analyzed using Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña’s (2020) coding guidance.

Findings
Emergent findings include: 1) DLBE classrooms need to make space for the many linguistic identities of students without creating a linguistic hierarchy or focusing solely on the program’s target languages ; 2) educational spaces need to support all aspects of students’ identities including race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation; 3) classroom environments designed as safe spaces allow students to feel comfortable taking risks by asking questions and sharing perspectives, while encouraging them to learn about their peers’ identities and explore parts of their developing identities that may not be fully encouraged by the rest of society; and 4) to help develop SCC, teachers need to be willing to model, teach and engage in difficult conversations with students about race, socioeconomic status, systemic inequities, and power dynamics that may cause moments of discomfort in their safe classroom environments.

Scholarly Significance
At a time in our nation where many students and families hear negative rhetoric about their identities, (American Civil Liberties Union, 2023; Pendharkar, 2022), DLBE programs must be a space of equity where we support students’ holistic identities through a focus on SCC. This paper elucidates how through supporting SCC development across all DLBE programmatic goals and creating safe spaces where students feel comfortable taking risks in grappling with different parts of their and their peers’ identities, DLBE educators feel they can promote and develop SCC.

Author

• Sandra S. Silva-Enos, Providence College