Academic and Ecological Congruence within Dual Language Bilingual Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study of DLBE Teachers

• In Event: Negotiating Identity and Pedagogy: Exploring Language Teachers’ Roles and Experiences Across Multilingual Education Contexts

Abstract

Instructional research on teaching emergent bilinguals (EBs) often occurs outside of Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) contexts and analyzes academic constructs in isolation (e.g. vocabulary-only) and in English-only. DLBE’s goals include bilingualism, academic achievement, and sociocultural competence, so we examine the academic constructs of oral-language, vocabulary, small group instruction and classroom-ecology. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined the impact of an 18-month DLBE-graduate coursework and instructional-coaching on 18 elementary teachers' academic instruction and classroom-ecology under treatment and comparison conditions. DLBE-treatment teachers’ instruction in the three academic constructs improved with increased classroom respect with medium-of-instruction Spanish-teachers showing the highest effect. Older DLBE-teachers with less experience demonstrated high levels of transformation. Our study contributes to needed instructional and ecological congruence within DLBE.

Authors

• Trish Morita-Mullaney, Purdue University

• Yangyang Zhu, Purdue University

• Priya M Dabak, Purdue University

• Erica Sponberg, WIDA

• Lucia Urena-Rodriguez, Purdue University