‘Somos bilingües’: translanguaging socialization of DLBE teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the disruption of in-person schooling has significantly affected many students including emergent bilingual students. Designed as an ethnographic study, this research study examines two Spanish-English dual language bilingual education teachers’ implementation of translanguaging pedagogies and language socialization during the pandemic through the following research questions: (1) What adjustments did the teachers make to their teaching and curriculum to support the students as they navigated the pandemic times? (2) How did the teachers and students use languages in their interaction in blended learning environments? Findings from the 2^nd grade Spanish Language Arts and 4^th grade Social Studies classes demonstrate that both teachers reported an increased awareness of the importance to integrate translanguaging pedagogies and reflected a translanguaging stance. They also intentionally integrated translanguaging strategies into their teaching through translanguaging design. The 2^nd grade teacher invited the students to draw upon their full linguistic repertoires for Spanish literacy development, whereas the 4^th grade teacher adopted translanguaging design to make content materials more accessible. Through translanguaging socialization, both teachers socialized the students into and through flexible language use and created a learning environment where students’ linguistic repertoires were valued as a resource for learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Translanguaging
• language socialization
• dual language bilingual education
• COVID-19 pandemic
• classroom research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Homeroom teachers at Westside took attendance and provided various support including communication with the students’ family members.

2 For participant recruitment, potential teacher participants received informed consent individually via an IRB-approved online electronic-signature platform to sign electronically. In case of the potential student participants, a student assent in English and Spanish was provided, along with a parental permission form in English and Spanish, via an IRB-approved online electronic-signature platform.

3 10 h and 15 min were in 2nd grade, and 22 h and 11 min were in 4th grade.

4 One semi-structured interview of 43 min was conducted with Sra. Rivera, and two semi-structured interviews (13, 26 min) were with Sr. Martín. With the students, each semi-structured interview was about five minutes.

5 The researcher was not part of this professional development and did not attend it.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grace Jue Yeon Kim

Grace Jue Yeon Kim is an Assistant Professor of Education at Bucknell University, specializing in language, literacy, and culture in multilingual settings. Her research examines language socialization and biliteracy development of emergent bilingual learners, translanguaging pedagogies, dual language program curriculum design and teacher education, and language teacher agency.