Exploring a second language student's literacy learning opportunities: A collaborative case study analysis
Author(s):
Brock, Cynthia H.
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : Michigan State University, 1997.
Pages:
277
Language:
English
Abstract:
The population of second language learners served by U.S. schools is steadily and rapidly lncreaslng while the number of qualified bilingual teachers is on the decline. As a result, regular education teachers must strive to meet effectively the educational needs of this rapidly growing segment of our school population. Moreover, many scholars have argued that diverse children in all facets of our U.S. school systems have been and remain underserved. To that end, this investigation is a case study of the literacy learning opportunities of a fifth-grade Hmong child who came to the U.S. from Thailand in 1993. Deng was one of 25 students in a mainstream urban classroom in the midwest during the 1994-95 academic year. Because Deng had only been in the U.S. for a short period of time and English was a new language for him, I was concerned about his opportunities for literacy learning in a classroom where English was the medium of instruction. Drawing on the work of several current scholars, I argue that students' learning opportunities relate to the nature and quality of their intsractions with others in specific classroom contexts. Moreover, the quality of those interactions plays a crucial role in determining whether or not children have access to the discursive practices in their classroom communities. I examined Deng's literacy learning opportunities in the context of a tradebook unit pertaining to the text Maniac Magee asking the following questions: (1) What was available for students to learn? (2) How do/would I know what students were learning? and (3) When did Deng appear to have opportunities to learn literacy?