Coordinated Translanguaging Pedagogy as Distributed Cognition: A Case Study of Two Dual Language Bilingual Education Preschool Coteachers’ Languaging Practices During Shared Book Readings

ABSTRACT

This study examined how a pair of Spanish/English dual language bilingual education (DLBE) preschool teachers enacted their bilingualism while working cohesively and simultaneously toward common instructional goals. We drew on classroom video data, field notes, and other relevant artifacts collected weekly during shared readings of English- and Spanish-language storybooks over the course of one academic year to document coteachers’ book-based interactions with each other and their students. Guided by translanguaging (O. García, 2009a, 2009b; O. García & Wei, 2014) and distributive cognition (Brown & Campione, 1996; Hutchins, 1995) frameworks, findings elucidate how teachers drew on their own and each other’s dynamic bilingualism through both monolingual and bilingual performances, supporting the coordination of instructional targets (e.g., vocabulary, narrative genre) and instructional practices (e.g., translation, explanation). Findings have implications for DLBE program language policy and practice as they highlight the utility of a bilingual pedagogy.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual
• coordinated practice
• coteaching
• dual language
• early childhood
• translanguaging

Notes

¹ Shared book readings (also known as read-alouds) represent an interactive instructional activity that involves a teacher reading a book out loud to a group of students and often engaging them in questions, sharing related experiences, and making connections to material previously learned. An expanded definition is provided in the Method section.

² Although natives of Curaçao typically identify as Dutch, this family identified as Latino.

³ In the featured transcripts, SpM refers to the Spanish model, EngM to the English model, and Stu to students. Researcher notes are presented in [brackets]; English translations of Spanish speech are (italicized within parentheses); <overlapping speech is noted by chevrons>.

⁴ While there is mention of a bear throughout the story, the bear is never depicted in the illustrations.