Creating a Multilingual English Language Arts Classroom: Exploring Practical Approaches for PreK-12

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Language Pedagogies Across the Content Areas

Abstract

A three-year multiple case study explores how five English language arts (ELA) teachers who did not speak all their students’ languages created multilingual ELA classrooms that supported literacy development in all students' languages. Drawing from both language and literacy theories that privilege meaning-making across modes of communication, the researcher and teachers worked collaboratively to explore practical strategies teachers can use in the ELA PreK through high school. Using a cross-case analysis, the researcher organized data into domains of literacy: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and creating. Then, the data are organized into low- to high-stakes strategies for a multilingual ELA classroom. This research illustrates practical ways to apply theory to practice in order to effect change in schools for multilingual students.

Author

• Mandy Stewart, Texas Woman's University