Developing Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Historical Thinking Skills to Support English Language Learners' Civic Learning and Action

• In Event: Preparing Social Studies Preservice Teachers to Teach English Language Learners: Pedagogy Promoting the Civic Purpose of Social Studies

Abstract

Objectives: Teaching historical content that is relevant, engaging, and accessible for English Language Learners (ELLs) is something that social studies scholars have been investigating for over a decade (Almarza, 2001; Cho & Reich, 2008; Cruz & Thornton, 2009; Franquiz & Salinas, 2011; Short; 2002). More recently, scholars have argued the need for additional research on teaching social studies with particular attention to culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy for ELLs to support their civic learning and action (e.g., author). The need for reseach on teaching social studies for ELLs will help scholars, teachers, and teacher educators gain more information on how best to teach this incredibly diverse population of students in U.S. public schools.

Theoretical framework: The goal of this paper is to provide three examples of high school U.S. History teachers who are working to develop historical thinking skills to support civic learning and action for ELLs. Using a theoretical framework of culturally and linguistically relevant historical thinking (CLRHT), I blend notions of culturally and linguistically relevant teaching (author; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Lucas & Villegas, 2010) with elements of historical thinking (Barton & Levstik, 2008; Martin, 2011; Wineburg, 2001; Yeager & Wilson, 1997) to understand how three teachers engaged with ELLs cultural, linguistic, civic, and historical knowledge and skills while teaching U.S. History.

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources: The three examples included in this paper provide case studies of varying contexts, perspectives, and strategies for approaching the teaching of U.S. History for ELLs. Offering three ways of approaching U.S. History content offers pre-service and in-service teachers multiple examples and contexts, whereby they might find relevant and/or useful examples for their particular classrooms. The questions asked in this paper include: How do social studies teachers develop and implement culturally and linguistically relevant historical thinking skills to support ELLs civic learning and action? How can pre-service, in-service, and/or teacher educators use examples presented in each case study to support ELLs civic learning and action?

Results: Due to space limitations, I will provide a brief example of emerging pedagogical themes from one case study (Mr. Green) presented in the paper. The pedagogical themes that emerged from Mr. Green’s social studies pedagogy included: developing an active and educated citizenry, the impact of politics on history, storying history, and contextualizing historical content with vocabulary instruction. Mr. Green felt that it was critically important to situate his U.S. History class for ELLs with the goal of making the content and skills learned relevant and important for students to take back to their communities, families, and friends. This goal supported his understanding of developing an active and engaged citizenry for ELLs.

Scholarly Significance of the Study: There are a number of implications from the case studies for social studies and TESOL teacher education, particularly related to considering/implementing the CLRHT framework, drawing on pedagogical themes in coursework and workshops, and impacting overall curriculum development. Furthermore, the paper discusses how to apply the case studies described in teacher education courses and professional development experiences for pre-service and in-service teachers.

Author

• Ashley Taylor Jaffee, James Madison University