Journal article
Choosing and Using Interactional Scaffolds: How Teachers' Moment-to-Moment Supports Can Generate and Sustain Emergent Bilinguals' Engagement with Challenging English Texts
Research in the teaching of English, Vol.53(3), pp.245-269
02/01/2019
Abstract
Gibbons (2009) argues that emergent bilinguals should experience "high challenge/high support" instruction, which requires teachers to balance rigorous curriculum and materials with appropriate instructional scaffolds. Yet, studies suggest that well-intentioned teachers of emergent bilinguals may overscaffold tasks and texts, which can diminish the rigor of instruction (Athanases & de Oliveira, 2014). Current research explains little about what high challenge/high support teaching looks like and how students respond. In this comparative case study of two exemplary teachers' English reading instruction of middle school emergent bilinguals, I consider whether and how their interactional scaffolds (in-the-moment supports for language and content) meet Gibbons's standards for high challenge and support. Data include transcripts of 16 video-recorded English reading lessons and 6 interviews with the teachers, conducted over one school year. In these lessons, students read and discussed challenging English texts. I analyzed transcripts for evidence of challenge (complex texts, rigorous tasks, higher-order questions) and examined interactional scaffolds for their broader means (van de Pol, Volman, & Beishuizen, 2010; e.g., modeling) and specific discourse moves (e.g., modeling academic language). Although both teachers introduced high challenge, one's use of "generative" scaffolds sustained that challenge and promoted discussion, while the other's use of "directive" scaffolds seemed to reduce both challenge and interaction. Their divergent approaches appeared to contribute to differences in student talk, reasoning, and inquiry. The findings have both theoretical implications for conceptualizing "high" support for challenging instruction and practical implications for helping teachers become skillful providers of effective scaffolds for their students.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Choosing and Using Interactional Scaffolds: How Teachers' Moment-to-Moment Supports Can Generate and Sustain Emergent Bilinguals' Engagement with Challenging English Texts
- Creators
- Erika Moore Johnson - Stanford University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Research in the teaching of English, Vol.53(3), pp.245-269
- Publisher
- Natl Council Teachers English
- ISSN
- 0034-527X
- eISSN
- 1943-2348
- Number of pages
- 25
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/01/2019
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning
- Record Identifier
- 9984371093202771
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