Join the Discussion: The Construction of Literacy Learning during Read-Alouds in the Bilingual Classroom

TLDR: For instance, Maloch as mentioned in this paper investigated how a second-grade teacher created context and continuity to develop educated discourse in a bilingual classroom, and the results showed that the teacher used various contextual resources, provided explicit strategies, and initiated multiple opportunities for discussion to build a shared context.

Abstract: The number of students coming from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds has increased enormously in the United States. The schools, as institutions for reproducing mainstream interests and ideologies, have enlarged the gap between the home and school cultures of minority students. Mexican American students are one of the largest minority groups in the public educational system; however, they have the highest dropout rate (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1996). Researchers have suggested that bilingual education helps minority students develop academically and maintain their heritage languages and cultures (Crawford, 1995; Wong Fillmore, 1991). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK This study is framed by the theories of Vygotsky (1978) and Mercer (1995). Drawing on sociocultural theory, these scholars view learning as not merely information transmission but also as guided participation in cultural activities. Vygotsky argues that children learn through personal experience and reflection and through social environment and interaction. In a personal sense, individuals use their existing knowledge to construct meanings about new information. Meanwhile, knowledge is socially constructed through cultural experiences and interactions with others in a particular context. According to Vygotsky, learning is an adapted, reconstructed, and transformed process relying on learners' active participation. Ohta and Nakaone (2000) suggest that English language learners demonstrate more interests in expressing their perspectives and solving problems in English in peer-led rather than in teacher-led discussion. That is, students are speakers and hearers involved in developmental processes and interactions. Language is a tool for transforming experience into cultural knowledge and understanding (Vygotsky, 1978). At present, considerable linguistic distance exists between teachers and students in most schools, especially when they do not share similar literacy practices and discourse patterns (Gibbon, 2003). According to Mercer (1995), classroom discourse encompasses both context and continuity theories and further influences the construction of knowledge. "Context" is not simply an environment existing around speech, but as people talk and respond, they create the context. "Continuity" is the process of creating knowledge in which themes must be elicited, explanations must be offered, and understanding must be consolidated. Mercer also argues that teachers usually implement a conventional pattern of teacher initiation, student response, and teacher evaluation (IRE), which can be called educational discourse. However, the goal of education is to scaffold students' knowledge to develop new ways of using language and to enable them to become active members in educated discourse. In her qualitative study, Maloch (2005) investigated how a second-grade teacher created context and continuity to develop educated discourse. The results showed that the teacher used various contextual resources, provided explicit strategies, and initiated multiple opportunities for discussion to build a shared context and continuity across classroom discussions. Effective read-alouds encourage students to ask questions and make predictions actively rather than listen passively (Dickinson, 2001). Dickinson and Smith (1994) further argue that inviting students to talk during read-alouds is not enough; teachers have to prompt students to develop analytic talk in investigating characters' motivation and connecting events from different parts of the story. To facilitate learning in bilingual classrooms, teachers act as experts to guide students and direct their learning (Takahashi-Breines, 2002). In addition, a teacher's tone of voice, gesture, stance, and way of responding to students influence their language learning (Pantelo, 2007). Neugebauer and Currie-Rubin (2009) suggest that the use of background knowledge in a discussion-based format can be a meaningful way for bilingual students to learn vocabulary. …