‘Let's think about it together:’ how teachers differentiate discourse to mediate collaboration among linguistically diverse students

ABSTRACT

As linguistic diversity is increasing in schools worldwide, research is needed to examine how to modify teaching and learning contexts in response to emerging multilingual students’ different needs. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study examined how teachers used discourse differently to respond to diverse students’ needs as they participated in a language programme that brought together multicompetent language users, Spanish-expert students learning English, and English-expert students learning Spanish in secondary school. Analysing transcripts of student and teacher interactions, we identified discursive patterns that teachers used to mediate multilingual language-learning opportunities, to raise language awareness, and to cultivate a collective zone of proximal development in a linguistically diverse context. Findings shed light on the ways that teachers use languaging and translanguaging as mediational tools to gauge and respond to students’ needs, while drawing upon students’ funds of knowledge to deepen multilingual and multidirectional language-learning opportunities. Our findings have implications for how educators can differentiate their discourse/instruction to support students’ multilingualism and ultimately increase language-learning opportunities among linguistically diverse students.

KEYWORDS:

• Emergent bilinguals
• multilingualism
• languaging
• zone of proximal development
• translanguaging
• sociocultural discourse analysis
• English language learners
• world languages

Acknowledgments

We wish to extend our deep appreciation to the students and teachers who brought life to the Language Ambassadors. We also acknowledge our colleague, Kayra Alvarado Merrills, an incredible teacher, leader, and research assistant who sustained the Language Ambassadors. Thanks to Sabrina Frank, Alexandra Ralph, and Ilana Waldman for research assistance. This research was funded through the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In the US context, minority-language students are defined as those who speak a language other than English at home and majority-language students are defined as those who speak English as their predominant language at home. We use these terms here to make explicit the privileged position of societal language, yet we recognise the diversity within the groups in terms of language proficiency, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Rather than rely on labels, we view language status as dynamic, shaped by students’ experiences and local context.

2. The student population at the school was 36% Latino/a, 33% African-American, 24% White, 6% Asian, 1% ‘other’ race/ethnicities, and 61% of students received free or reduced-price meals. Twenty per cent of the students reported speaking a language other than English at home and of these, 70% used Spanish at home. Ten per cent of students were classified as English language learners.

3. We prefer the term ‘expert’ instead of ‘dominant’ to denote students’ language background or home language because we acknowledge that, within a framework that view bilingualism as dynamic (García, 2009), our students’ linguistic repertoire were complex, fluid, and encompassing several social contexts (García & Wei, 2014). Students who were called Spanish experts in the LA programme were labelled ‘English language learners’ in school and usually had strong speaking and writing skills in Spanish. English experts were generally born in the USA and had attended school in English. Upon further data analysis, we adopted the term ‘multicompetent language user’ to capture the wide range of language abilities among students who were continuously developing more than one language (see Martin-Beltran, 2013).

4. Echoing De Angelis (2007), we prefer the term additional language instead of other alternatives because it avoids referring to order of acquisition as in the case of second language (De Angelis, 2007, p. 10). The term additional language also avoids classifying a language as simply ‘foreign’ or ‘second’ in educational contexts where a language has a status of a foreign language but it is in contact with bilingual communities. Finally, we believe that additional language is a term that is compatible with the concept of multicompetence, which refers to ‘the knowledge of more than one language in the same mind or the same community’ (Cook, 2012, p. 3768).

5. Following our transcript conventions, we use italics to denote the use of Spanish in our participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melinda Martin-Beltrán

Melinda Martin-Beltrán is an associate professor of language, literacy and social inquiry in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland. Her research seeks to understand and transform educational contexts and practices that can foster multilingualism and lead to greater educational equity for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dr Martin-Beltrán's research focuses on classroom discourse and peer interactions as potential contexts for learning among students and among teachers. Her recent publications have appeared in the International Educational Research Journal, International Multilingual Research Journal, The Modern Language Journal, Linguistics and Education, Language, Culture and Curriculum, TESOL Journal, and Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice.

Natalia L. Guzman

Natalia L. Guzman is a doctoral candidate in second language education and culture in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. She completed a bachelor's degree at the University of Buenos Aires. In addition, she holds a master's degree in hispanic linguistics as well as in teaching English as a second language from the Pennsylvania State University. Her academic interests include foreign and second language education, classroom-based research, and language assessment. She is also interested in classroom discourse and peer interactions with a focus on heritage language learners. Natalia has taught Spanish for several years in Argentina and the US.

Pei-Jie Jenny Chen

Pei-Jie Jenny Chen is a Chinese language and culture instructor in the Yorktown Systems Group, Inc. She holds PhD in second language education and culture from the University of Maryland. Her research interests include writing feedback, peer interaction, and foreign language teaching using sociocultural perspectives. She has published in Academic Exchange Quarterly and language learning international conferences.