Science Teachers’ Language Ideologies in Learning About Translanguaging

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 3:35 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Equitable Science and STEM Education (Table 2)

Abstract

This study used instrumental case study methodology (Stake, 1995) to investigate four elementary science teachers’ language ideologies and how they were influenced by the introduction of translanguaging theory and pedagogy through eight sessions of a collaborative design PD (Vogt et al., 2015). Data consisted of surveys, interviews, and debriefings. A three-dimensional data analysis approach consisting of internal (psychological), external (policy), and practical (practice) dimensions was used. The analysis exposed the ideological tension teachers experienced while negotiating the PD pluralist ideas, which clashed with their linguistic identities, district policies, and the contradictory perspective of their school’s English-only context. The findings indicate that the PD influenced some teachers’ language ideologies, while external factors (school’s context and policies) mediated their understanding of translanguaging.

Authors

• Araceli Enriquez-Andrade, University of Houston

• May Jadallah, Illinois State University

• Jie Zhang, University of Houston