Codeswitching techniques: evidence-based instructional practices for the ASL/English bilingual classroom

The authors present a perspective on emerging bilingual deaf students who are exposed to, learning, and developing two languages--American Sign Language (ASL) and English (spoken English, manually coded English, and English reading and writing). The authors suggest that though deaf children may lack proficiency or fluency in either language during early language-learning development, they still engage in codeswitching activities, in which they go back and forth between signing and English to communicate. The authors then provide a second meaning of codeswitching--as a purpose-driven instructional technique in which the teacher strategically changes from ASL to English print for purposes of vocabulary and reading comprehension. The results of four studies are examined that suggest that certain codeswitching strategies support English vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. These instructional strategies are couched in a five-pronged approach to furthering the development of bilingual education for deaf students.     

The culture of the classroom: Socialization in an urban bilingual classroom

This article reports on an ethnographic study of a fourth-grade bilingual classroom. The focus of the article is on the culture that is created in this classroom and how children are socialized to it. Three themes are explored: socialization around being engaged learners, socialization to participate in a community of learners, and socialization to be second-language learners. I argue that the culture of the classroom for students who typically do poorly in school and who have negative experiences in school, such as the poor, urban Latino students in this study, must be one that has different roles, values, beliefs, and expectations than what exists in the cultures outside the classroom. In this way, the children experience school in positive ways which can lead to school success.     

Ethnography of the bilingual classroom

According to statistics of 1975, more than 25 million inhabitants of the United States speak a language other than English when at home. Spanish heads the list with 8.2 million Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans etc. Spanish-speaking regions are not restricted to Florida or the South-West. In Wisconsin, at Milwaukee, where this comparative study on bilingual education was carried out, the town had in 1969 more than 22.000 Spanish-speaking inhabitants, for which reason arose the official decision to start a bilingual and bicultural program in certain pilot schools directed towards pupils already capable of reading and writing in their mother tongue (English or Spanish) and who had acquired an adequate oral competence in L2.The comparative study was based on three bilingual classes and one monolingual class as control. The pupils, who were aged 6 to 9, were beginning reading in L2. In these four classes the proportion of Spanish-speaking pupils varied between 35% and 55%. Race, age, and sex of teachers and of teachers' aides differed. Great freedom was permitted as regards teaching methods and techniques.Final observations showed that the language climate of the class as also the extent to which the two languages developed were influenced chiefly by the teaching style used. Influence was also exerted by the ethnic composition of the neighbourhood and finally by the proportions of the two language groups in the class.

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Zusammenfassung Nach den Statistiken von 1975 sprechen mehr als 25 Millionen Einwohner der Vereinigten Staaten daheim eine andere Sprache als englisch. An der Spitze der Liste steht spanisch mit 8,2 Millionen Mexikanern, Puertoricanern, Kubanern usw. Die spanisch-sprachigen Bereiche beschränken sich nicht auf Florida oder den Südwesten. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee, wo diese vergleichende Untersuchung zweisprachiger Erziehung durchgeführt wurde, besass die Stadt 1969 über 22.000 spanisch-sprachige Einwohner; dies führte zu dem amtlichen Beschluss, in bestimmten Pionierschulen ein zweisprachiges und auf zwei Kulturen bezogenes Programm durchzuführen, für Schüler bestimmt, die schon in der Lage waren, in ihrer Muttersprache (englisch oder spanisch) zu lesen und zu schreiben und die eine angemessene mündliche Beherrschung der Zweitsprache erworben hatten.Grundlage für die vergleichende Untersuchung waren drei zweisprachige Klassen und eine einsprachige Klasse zur Kontrolle. Die Schüler, im Alter von 6 bis 9 Jahren, fingen gerade an, in der Zweitsprache zu lesen. In diesen vier Klassen lag der Prozentsatz spanisch-sprachiger Schüler zwischen 35 und 55%. Unterschiedlich waren Rasse, Alter und Geschlecht der Lehrer und Hilfslehrer. Hinsichtlich Lehrmethoden und -techniken wurde viel Freiheit gewährt.Die abschliessenden Beobachtungen zeigten, dass das sprachliche Klima der Klasse wie auch die erreichte Entwicklungsstufe in beiden Sprachen hauptsächlich vom angewandten Unterrichtsstil beeinflusst werden. Auch die ethnische Zusammensetzung der Umwelt und endlich die Proportionen der beiden Sprachgruppen innerhalb der Klasse spielen eine Rolle.

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Résumé Selon une statistique de 1975, plus de 25 millions d'habitants des USA parlent, chez eux, une langue autre que l'anglais. L'espagnol vient en tête (8,2 millions de Mexicains, Portoricains, Cubains, etc.). Les régions d'expression espagnole ne sont pas limitées à la Floride ou au Sud-Ouest. Dans le Wisconsin, à Milwaukee, où cette étude comparative sur l'éducation bilingue a été réalisée, la ville comptait en 1969 plus de 22.000 habitants d'expression espagnole, d'où la décision officielle d'appliquer dans des écoles-pilotes un programme bilingue et biculturel s'adressant aux élèves déjà capables de lire et écrire dans leur langue maternelle (anglais ou espagnol) et ayant acquis une connaissance orale suffisante de L2.L'étude comparative a porté sur 3 classes bilingues et 1 classe monolingue servant de point de référence. Les élèves, âgés de 6 à 9 ans, abordaient la lecture de L2. Dans ces 4 classes la proportion des élèves d'expression espagnole variait entre 35% et 55%. L'ethnie, l'âge, le sexe des professeurs et des auxiliaires d'enseignement étaient différents. Une entière latitude était accordée quant aux méthodes et techniques d'enseignement.Les observations finales ont montré que le climat linguistique de la classe ainsi que le degré de développement des deux langues étaient principalement influencés par le style d'enseignement du professeur. Ensuite jouait l'influence de l'ethnie du voisinage et enfin la proportion des deux groupes linguistiques dans la classe.

     

Pupils,Resistance and Gender Codes: a study of classroom encounters

This paper uses classroom observation in two rural comprehensive schools to examine the issue of why girls appear to contribute to their limited life chances by opting into feminine areas of the curriculum. It is argued that both teachers’ coping strategies and pupils’ opposition to education contribute to the reinforcement of traditional gender codes by drawing on exaggerated notions of masculinity and femininity. The concept of resistance is examined and it is argued that pupils’ manipulation of traditional gender codes to contest teacher authority does not constitute any challenge to the reproduction of existing class/gender relations, but rather reinforces the status quo.     

Science notebooks as interactional spaces in a multilingual classroom: Not just ideas on paper

Past studies have explored the role of student science notebooks in supporting students' developing science understandings. Yet scant research has investigated science notebook use with students who are learning science in a language they are working to master. To explore how student science notebook use is co-constructed in interaction among students and teachers, this study examined plurilingual students' interactions with open-ended science notebooks during an inquiry science unit on condensation and evaporation. Grounded in theoretical views of the notebook as a semiotic social space, multimodal interaction analysis facilitated examination of the ways students drew upon the space afforded by the notebook as they constructed explanations of their understandings. Cross-group comparison of three focal groups led to multiple assertions regarding the use of science notebooks with plurilingual students. First, the notebook supported student-determined paths of resemiotization as students employed multiple communicative resources to express science understandings. Second, notebooks provided spaces for students to draw upon diverse language resources and as a bridge in time across multiple inquiry sessions. Third, representations in notebooks were leveraged by both students and teachers to access and deepen conceptual conversations. Lastly, students' interactions over time revealed multiple epistemological orientations in students' use of the notebook space. These findings point to the benefits of open-ended science notebooks use with plurilingual students, and a consideration of the ways they are used in interaction in science instruction.     

Sustainable changes in teacher practices: a longitudinal analysis of the classroom practices of high school mathematics teachers

This study examines the effects of professional development on various aspects of teachers’ mathematics instruction. Using data collected between 2005 and 2009, we examined the extent to which the instructional practices of 49 US high school teachers who participated in content-based, sustained professional development changed over time. We found that changes in several aspects of their instructional practices followed somewhat different patterns. Teachers made statistically significant and steady changes in mathematical discourse, instructional clarity, and the development of students’ mathematical habit of mind, but not in student interactions or in the use of multiple representations.     

Teachers' behaviour and practices in the classroom

The theory behind this study yielded the predictions that successful teacher–pupil interaction in the classroom is essential to the educational and social development of pupils and that teachers' understanding of their own behaviour is therefore of paramount importance. The study examined the behaviour and practices of 20 teachers, 10 in small schools and 10 in large schools. The teachers were grouped into three categories: empathetic teachers, non-empathetic teachers and uncommitted teachers. This study contributes several significant findings to the literature on teacher–pupil interaction in the classroom, most importantly that personal characteristics appear to be a good predictor of teacher competence and that there appear to be relationships between particular personal characteristics on the one hand and teachers' classroom practices on the other. These results seemed to be unrelated to class size and schools type.     

Active classroom participation in a Group Scribbles primary science classroom

A key stimulus of learning efficacy for students in the classroom is active participation and engagement in the learning process. This study examines the nature of teacher–student and student–student discourse when leveraged by an interactive technology—Group Scribbles (GS) in a Primary 5 Science classroom in Singapore which supports rapid collaborative knowledge building (RCKB). We envisaged nine design principles for RCKB in the design of lessons and postulated a logic model that links and explains the effects of our design principles to the ultimate goal of learning efficacy. We presented a case study of a GS lesson which shows that GS affordances leveraged by good lesson and activity design could enable the students to have more epistemic agency. Students had opportunities to participate spontaneously in class discussions by fully expressing their ideas without inhibition. The technology effect is used to support instant formative feedback and interactions among students effectively.     

Reading comprehension instruction in Irish primary classrooms: key insights into teachers' perspectives on classroom practices

Despite a wealth of international research indicating the importance but also the dearth of explicit reading comprehension instruction in classrooms, current classroom reading pedagogy does not appear to have acknowledged and addressed this shortcoming to any significant degree. This is cause for some considerable concern, as today's students require effective, metacognitive reading comprehension strategies in order to succeed in a vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. This paper will discuss a recent study, involving a survey (n=278) and interviews (n=12), which examined current beliefs and understandings regarding reading, as well as reading pedagogy and practice among teachers at primary level in Ireland. The findings revealed that current reading pedagogy, as indicated by the surveyed teachers, relies heavily on decoding instruction and an affective approach to reading while explicit comprehension instruction practice remains secondary and more the exception rather than the rule. The paper will attempt to examine possible reasons as to why current reading pedagogy remains ‘un-balanced’ in this manner while also exploring possible avenues for improvement.     

构建阅读场 促进常态读

为了培养学生良好的阅读习惯,积极践行“阅读常态化”的理念,我校以心理学家勒温的场动力学理论为依托,充分发挥团体动力的作用,创设浓郁的阅读“场”环境,通过思想引领、环境营造、活动促进,星级评价构建师生常态阅读氛围。     

Ethics in classroom assessment practices: Issues and attitudes

Student evaluations should “be ethical, fair, useful, feasible, and accurate” [JCSEE (2003). The student evaluation standards. Arlen Gullickson, Chair. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin]. This study focuses on defining ethical behavior and examining educators’ ethical judgments in relation to assessment. It describes the results from a web-based survey of educators in which they read a brief scenario and indicated whether the student evaluation practice in the depiction was ethical or unethical. Results showed strong agreement among the educators on fewer than half of the scenarios presented in this study. These findings suggest that assessment is currently an educational realm without professional consensus.     

Antisocial classroom communication: Instructor influence and interactional justice as predictors of student aggression

The present study investigated potentially destructive instructor and student communication. In particular, it examined the relationships between instructor use of antisocial behavior alteration techniques (BATs), student perceptions of instructor interactional justice, and students' likelihood of indirectly aggressing against their instructors. Results indicate that student perceptions of instructors' use of antisocial BATs and instructor interactional injustice predicted increased student indirect aggression. In addition, student perceptions of instructor antisocial BAT use and interactional justice were negatively correlated and interactional justice was a stronger predictor of student indirect aggression than was instructor antisocial BAT use.     

递进式双语教学模式在双语小学中的应用调查

受到关键期假说的影响,我国众多教育工作者将递进式双语教学模式应用到了小学阶段中。本研究通过对实施该模式多年的郑州市某双语小学的实际调查,研究该模式对学生的影响,分析其对小学双语教学的有益启示,以期对小学双语教学有所帮助。     

Learning to lose in the mathematics classroom: a critique of traditional schooling practices in the UK

“Back‐to‐basics” policies fit easily within many mathematics classrooms. Features such as order, control, rule following, uniformity, and conformity are relatively commonplace and are now more generally in demand with the current political backlash against progressive forms of schooling. This paper examines some of the influences of these traditional features of classrooms through a case study of one mathematics department in the United Kingdom. Interviews with students, lesson observations, results of questionnaires, and other case study data are analysed to show the ways in which traditional forms of learning can inhibit understanding, reify the divide between school and the “real world,” and suppress the transfer of knowledge. The findings suggest that two key elements of British Conservative education policy the commitment to traditional forms of schooling and the drive to produce school leavers capable of adapting to the demands of the 21st century — are fundamentally in conflict.     

Teaching manuals and the blackboard: accessing historical classroom practices

The blackboard, a useful teaching tool in nineteenth-century England, was transformed into a teaching necessity in the decades follwing 1870, when the Education Acts made school free and mandatory for all children. The resulting huge population of schoolchildren inspired the development of teaching techniques appropriate for large-group learning. Many of these techniques relied on the blackboard as a reusable demonstration space visible to the entire class at once, unlike a book or slate. To share these new practices among teachers, particularly the novice teachers recruited to serve the increased school population, dozens of teaching manuals were published around the turn of the twentieth century. These manuals’ instructions for how to teach reading, writing, arithmetic and nature study to elementary school students offer historians a rare glimpse into teachers’ and students’ school experiences by suggesting how the blackboard shaped classroom practices in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century England.     

Teacher self-assessment of evidence-based classroom practices: preliminary findings across primary,intermediate and secondary level teachers

The limited implementation of evidence-based classroom practices and ways to provide effective professional development to address this challenge remain enduring concerns in education. Despite these concerns, there exists a well-established research literature on evidence-based practices for effective classroom management and instructional practices. One identified area of need is research investigating the extent that different classroom practices are more or less important across school and grade levels. The current study examined results from 612 general education teachers across school levels (323 primary, 208 intermediate, 81 secondary) who completed an on-line self-assessment of their use of evidence-based classroom practices. Statistical analysis found significant differences in teachers’ self-reported use of several evidence-based classroom practices across school levels (primary, intermediate, secondary). Implications are presented for using teacher self-assessment to inform professional development in schools.