Mira, M’ijo/a: Creating a Translanguaging Space in a Middle-School Science Classroom

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 2:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Transforming Bi-/Multilingual Instruction in Mathematics, Science, and History Education (Table 3)

Abstract

Translanguaging, as a theory of bilingualism and a pedagogical approach, has been gaining momentum over the years. In this case study, our interdisciplinary team of researchers from bilingual and science education work with a Spanish-English-speaking bilingual teacher to explore how her translanguaging moves transform students’ science learning. Retrospective and critical multimodal analysis was utilized to analyze and interpret data from teacher lesson plans, classroom observation, debriefing, and interview meetings. While the data analysis is still ongoing, preliminary findings from observation data indicate that the teacher actively invited translanguaging in classroom talk and encouraged presentational talk in translanguaging. By doing so, she challenged the monoglossic norms in science classes, where science discourse is typically expected to be in English only.

Authors

• Zhenjie Hou, University of Houston

• Jie Zhang, University of Houston

• Sissy S. Wong, University of Houston

• Elisa M. Holcomb, University of Houston

• Hien Thi Tran, University of Houston