Engaging With Text: Agency and Identity in Peer Discussions Among Latina/o Elementary Students

• In Event: 58.034 - Putting Policy Into Perspective: Exposing Racializing Discourses Through Explorations of Minoritized Students' Perceptions and Practices

Abstract

The widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has led to a growing concern among education scholars and practitioners about how the new standards will impact the educational trajectories of students from minoritized linguistic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds (Bunch, Walqui, & Pearson, 2014; Hakuta, Santos, & Fang, 2013; Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, 2013). In the area of English Language Arts (ELA), the CCSS foreground a number of analytical skills, such as interpreting multiple levels of meaning in complex texts, and effectively communicating claims and findings supported by evidence from different sources. The close reading of texts, particularly informational texts, is identified as one of the primary reading skills students are expected to acquire, and is presented as central to students’ academic success in school and beyond. The CCSS narrowly define close reading as the practice of extracting knowledge and evidence from texts, paying limited attention to students’ broader learning contexts and existing funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992). Research further suggests that members of marginalized groups, such as Latina/os and emergent bilinguals (García, 2009), often have limited exposure to the kinds of language and ideas found in complex texts and are at a disadvantage when it comes to mastering the skills mandated by the standards (Fillmore & Fillmore, 2012; Kibler, Walqui, & Bunch, 2015).

The CCSS’s conceptualization of close reading contrasts with a sociocultural orientation to literacy (Castanheira et al., 2001; Hull & Moje, 2012) in which students’ language and literacy practices are viewed as socially situated and constructed. Drawing on the latter perspective, as well on Vygotskian sociocultural theory (Rogoff, 1990), the present study examines student interactions within and across instructional activities designed to support the acquisition of literacy skills required for close reading and analysis of complex texts. This paper presents a discourse analysis of classroom interaction in a 6th grade public school classroom in Southern California that was documented over the course of five months using video and audio recordings, participant observation, field notes, and samples of students’ work. The observations and analysis focus on peer discussions during English Language Arts and Academic Language Development activities involving students from Latina/o immigrant backgrounds, several of whom had been recently transitioned out of English learner (EL) status.

Findings suggest that students employ a wide range of linguistic resources, such as the use of different registers and styles, to make meaning and co-construct their understanding of texts with others. Further, students’ identities and experiences outside the classroom function as powerful tools in mediating their interpretations of texts, as well as their levels of engagement in different literacy tasks. These finding have implications for how teaching practices associated with close reading can be designed to leverage students’ knowledge and interests and expand learning opportunities for linguistically and racially minoritized students.

Author

• Maria Jose Aragon, University of California - Santa Barbara