Preservice Teachers’ Shifting Orientations to Language and Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners During Collaborative Video Analysis

• In Event: Preparing Equity-Minded Teachers for Multilingual Learners: Practices Across Contexts

Abstract

Formalist orientations to language have dominated instruction for students classified as English learners (EL-classified) in the US, focusing on acquiring decontextualized linguistic forms often as a prerequisite to disciplinary learning (Valdés et al., 2014). This study examines the potential of Collaborative Video Analysis (CVA) to shift Pre-Service Teachers’ (PSTs) orientations to language and scaffolding towards sociocultural, action-based perspectives that prioritize participation in collaborative disciplinary instruction. Applying cross-event discourse analysis (Wortham & Reyes, 2015), we analyze five PSTs’ participation in collaborative analyses of videos of their classroom teaching. Findings suggest that the CVA sessions contributed to shifting PSTs’ orientations toward action-based visions of language and scaffolding for EL-classified learners, although participants expressed continued challenges in taking up these new orientations.

Authors

• Benjamin M. James, University of Delaware

• George C. Bunch, University of California - Santa Cruz