The Underground Railroad Doesn't Run Underground: Tackling Metaphors in the Social Studies Classroom

• In Event: Teachers' Knowledge of the Role of Language in Content Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper examines one fifth grade teacher’s Pedagogical Language Knowledge (PLK: Bunch, 2013; Galguera, 2011) whilst presenting two figurative language terms within the context of a Social Studies lesson. We refer to this instructional moment as a Missed Linguistic Opportunity (MLO): an instance where a teacher of ELs missed an opportunity to engage learners in a metalinguistic discussion that bridges concepts about language with disciplinary understandings. A form-function analysis of each term foregrounds the important role of metaphor as a salient feature of social studies register (Schall-Leckrone, 2017). This paper advances our understanding of how a PLK-noticing apparatus can bolster teacher knowledge about language and the associated instructional moves to facilitate student engagement with abstract disciplinary concepts.

The data come from a larger comparative teacher case study on upper-elementary teacher PLK in the social studies classroom (Stevens, 2020). Mr. Stanley works in a linguistically diverse school in New York City. The first author observed his social studies instruction over two data collection phases: one lasted the fall semester followed by a member-check period at the end of the year. 13 observations of his social studies lessons were conducted alongside post-observation interviews that examined teacher decision-making around language pedagogy. During two of these observations, the first author observed Mr. Stanley attempting to describe abstract concepts as encoded in terms (plate tectonics, underground railroad) to a group of ELs, whilst the students themselves grappled with each term’s understandings.

Data analysis proceeded iteratively (Corbin & Strauss, 2014). Review of field notes revealed MLOs around moments where historical terms are expressed as figurative representations of their meaning. Next, a description of the instructional moment was provided, highlighting the teacher’s engagement with the focal terms and how the ELs responded to the instruction. Last, our analysis adopts a functional language perspective (Schleppegrell, 2004) to unpack the form and function relationships in historical register. A functional grammar lens provides a framework to unpack how language forms construe meanings within a discipline, arming analysts and teacher educators alike with the conceptual understandings to explicate the MLO as well as help teachers arrive at alternative instructional approaches in a post-observation setting.

The form-function analysis of each MLO revealed that Mr. Stanley neglected to describe the metaphorical construal of each term as a fact of historical register and the particular ways each term construes meaning. To demonstrate how we might work with Mr. Stanley in a post-observational setting to address such matters, we provide charts and teacher prompts elicit noticings of each MLO so teacher awareness of how metalinguistic conversations can address form-function relationships is addressed.

Findings contribute to practical ways in which teacher educators may enlist a PLK-noticing apparatus as a tool for scaffolding and building the PLK of content teachers. We recommend that social studies teachers identify figurative language, explore form-function meanings in the curriculum, and then summarize that analysis in student-friendly language. Such efforts can initiate collaboration with TESOL colleagues (Dove & Honigsfeld, 2017) with the goal of expanding teacher PLK of historical register.

Authors

• Lillian Ardell, Language Matters LLC

• Paul J. Yoder, Eastern Mennonite University