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Browsing by Author "Carey, Leah"

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    Emergent Multilinguals and Making Inferences in Elementary Guided Reading Groups
    (2017-07) Carey, Leah
    This study explores the topic of inference making with young emergent multilinguals. Literature demonstrates that inference making is essential for reading comprehension (Oakhill & Cain, 2007) and that the skill of inference develops before learning how to read. Inference skills may transfer as a child learns how to read (Kendeou, Bohn-Gettler, White & van den Brock, 2008). However, there are very few studies regarding inference skill with young emergent multilinguals, that specifically account for the factors of multilingualism and from descriptive and qualitative approaches. This action-research study in a second-grade classroom with English learners focused on the following research questions: 1. How can I scaffold instruction to support inference-making during guided reading in my classroom? And, 2. What student actions and dialogues take place when my students attempt to make inferences from text and images? After thematic coding and analysis of transcriptions, journals and artifacts, findings showed that differences in prior knowledge, using visuals and explicit questioning were important considerations for supporting the learners. Learners also demonstrated a variety of modes and strategies (i.e. peer interaction, facial expressions, gestures, pointing) to explain their thinking and occasionally demonstrated their developing metacognition. The transcripts and field notes also demonstrated inconsistencies in students’ abilities to infer within texts, implying the contextual basis of making inferences and individual differences in interactions with texts (e.g., dispositions, experiences, skills). Other implications of this study include using pictures to practice comprehension skills, as the study demonstrated more discussion and ease with regards to making inferences, as decoding text was not an element of that activity. Results of this study point to the need for further study on reading comprehension with multilinguals, specifically from a framework that takes into account the experiences, culture and background of students. Additionally, a focus on the process of inference through classroom-based research, could lead to findings more relevant for practitioners and that support student learning. Further research could benefit from utilizing sociocultural and discourse frameworks to inquire about multilinguals’ multitude of developing skills and abilities.
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    Sustaining Multilingualism and Sensemaking: A Collaborative Exploration of Translanguaging Reading Pedagogies for Emergent Bilinguals
    (2021-07) Carey, Leah
    This three-part dissertation explores the complexity of collaboratively designing and implementing translanguaging reading pedagogies for students classified as English learners in a second-grade English-medium classroom. With the increasing linguistic heterogeneity in the United States, public schools have a pressing need to develop culturally and linguistically relevant reading pedagogies. Thus, this means that teachers and researchers cannot study and pedagogically engage multilinguals’ reading processes without recognizing social aspects such as the inequitable schooling conditions they often experience, the cultural backgrounds they share with their peers and families, and/or their multilingual practices inside and outside of school. To this end, teachers must provide generative literacy learning opportunities that honor students’ diverse sensemaking processes (Aukerman, 2013; Garc a & Kleifgen, 2020; Street, 1993; Shepard-Carey, 2020).Translanguaging pedagogies are one avenue for exploring this issue, which can be defined as intentional strategies for “building on bilingual students’ language practices flexibly in order to develop new understandings and new language practices, including those deemed ‘academic standard’” (Garc a & Li, 2014, p. 92). Effective translanguaging pedagogies require educators to take up three interwoven components: ideologies that view multilingualism as an asset and an integral part of students’ identities, intentional design of lessons and assessments, and flexibility to meet learners’ linguistic needs moment-to-moment (Garc a et al., 2017). Few studies have explored the practical implementation of these pedagogies with English learners in early grades, particularly with learners from less common language (such as Somali) and refugee backgrounds. Drawing on translanguaging pedagogies research (e.g., Garc a et al., 2017) and sociocultural, critical, and multilingual approaches to literacy instruction (e.g., Aukerman, 2013; Garc a & Kleifgen, 2020; Hornberger, 2003; Street, 1993), this longitudinal participatory design research study (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016; PDR) addresses this gap in research by examining the collaborative (teacher-researcher) development and implementation of translanguaging pedagogies during reading instruction in a linguistically diverse second-grade classroom. This dissertation is structured into three studies that highlight the multifaceted nature of co-designing and implementing translanguaging reading pedagogies, and further describes processes of collaboration with my research partner, the classroom teacher, Ms. Hassan. PDR is a hybrid design research methodology that asserts the power of relationship building and community partnerships in research to create more sustainable and meaningful change for the populations the research intends to impact (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016; Guti rrez & Jurow, 2016). To carry out translanguaging reading pedagogies, Ms. Hassan and I engaged in iterative cycles of planning-implementing-reflecting on lessons over the course of two school years (2018-2020). With three complementary studies and analyses, this dissertation specifically explores (a) tensions and opportunities in Ms. Hassan’s and my ideologies, pedagogical designs, and linguistic practices during our first year of collaboration (qualitative case study), (b) Ms. Hassan’s and my translanguaging and how it impacted the translingual sensemaking opportunities for students (critical discourse analysis), and (c) aspects of Ms. Hassan’s and my collaboration and the pedagogical benefits of our work together (qualitative thematic analysis). Across the studies, findings broadly pointed to a need for more materials and pedagogical guidance for students from less common language backgrounds (Allard et al.,2019), closer attention to teacher translanguaging and students’ agency to use their linguistic resources, and long-term and engaged collaboration for necessary change in translanguaging pedagogies research. One practice-based goal of this project is to develop and disseminate guidance and materials related to implementing multilingual literacy pedagogies in English-medium elementary classrooms that serve English learners from various language backgrounds. Yet, while this study addresses a local need, the long-term, collaborative, and iterative approach to designing and implementing pedagogies in this context generates theory that can transfer and resonate with other linguistically diverse elementary classrooms and teacher-researcher partnerships (Gutierrez & Jurow, 2016).