Alberto Esquinca

Meaning Making and Translanguaging in a Two-Way Dual-Language Program on the U.S.-Mexico Border.

The article analyzes meaning-making practices in a two-way dual-language (TWDL) program on the U.S.-Mexico border among transfronterizo and Mexican-origin youth. In the article, we show that emergent bilingual learners and their teacher participate in activities that mediate understanding of science content knowledge. We show how the teacher of a fourth-grade TWDL classroom creates a borderland space in which the full repertoire of students’ languages, including translanguaging, is recognized and validated. We illustrate how the teacher, Ms. O, guides students to use strategies and meaning-making tools in both languages to construct meanings of the science content. We also demonstrate how she scaffolds students’ language development, develops students’ higher-order thinking, and involves all students in constructing understanding. We end with a discussion and suggestions for dual-language teaching.

Tranfronterizos' socialization into mathematical discourse: capitalizing on language and cultural resources or caught between conflicting ideologies?

Abstract Studies of transfronterizos have highlighted the potential ways in which these students might draw on their linguistic, cultural, or knowledge capital on both sides of the border. However, because transfronterizos may cross borders to participate in institutional contexts, such as schooling, they can find themselves in the interstices of conflicting values and practices in institutions. For instance, discourse practices and ideologies might differ across institutional, national, or discourse borders. In this article, I situate the process of becoming socialized into a disciplinary discourse in the sociopolitical of the US–Mexico context to show how one student resists mathematical discourse and simultaneously constructs an identity in regard to this discourse. Through the case of Betty, a pre-service teacher, I show how contrasting ways of doing mathematics impact her socialization into mathematical discourse. I draw on Border Theory to demonstrate how Betty constructs an identity in the face of conflicting ideologies. Finally, I portray the ways in which she constructs an identity to position herself in regard to the discourse as knowledgeable while simultaneously resisting this discourse. Her agency is apparent in her use of mathematical discourse to mediate the construction of her identity.

Bilingualism as a Resource in Learning Engineering on the U.S.–Mexico Border

In this study, the authors examine the language practices of first- and second-year college students as they build disciplinary literacies within a cocurricular engineering leadership program. Conducted by two teacher educators and literacy/biliteracy researchers situated in the highly diverse U.S.-Mexico borderlands, the study examines the role of disciplinary language and literacy development among 12 transfronterizo (border-crossing) engineering students who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on a regular basis, with a particular focus on the experience of two students. Drawing on systemic functional linguistics as well as sociocultural theories of literacy/biliteracy, the authors illustrate the ways in which these students moved fluidly between Spanish and English, as well as multiple registers and modalities, to make sense of engineering concepts. Findings build on recent studies of transfronterizo literacies and shed light on pedagogical practices that encourage students’ use of their full linguistic repertoires in order to develop disciplinary literacy practices in engineering.

Building a Pathway to Engineering: The Influence of Family and Teachers Among Mexican-Origin Undergraduate Engineering Students

This study draws on sociocultural perspectives of identity to understand the ways in which Mexican-origin undergraduate students are recruited into the “figured world” of engineering. The analysis of in-depth, ethnographically situated interviews with 14 participants revealed three sets of recurrent discourses in students’ accounts of their pathways to engineering: discourses about the family and the “choice” to study engineering, discourses about childhood activities tied to engineering aspirations, and discourses about teacher support to become an engineer.

Transfronteriza pre-service teachers managing, resisting, and coping with the demands of mathematical discourse

This article reports on a case study of a college class for pre-service teachers on the US–Mexico border in which students participated in in-depth discussion around mathematical problems every day. This pedagogical approach promotes the socialization of students into and through the specialized discourse of mathematics. The focus of this paper is on the experience of transfronterizo students in that course. Transfronterizos are Mexican residents who periodically cross the border to attend school. For these students, whose educational background in Mexico allowed them to develop proficiency in elementary mathematical discourse in Spanish, their socialization experience includes ways in which they draw on language, and other social and learning experiences in Mexico. The focus of this paper is an assignment called Thinking Logs, a genre that required the use of mathematical discourse for teaching. Drawing on data gathered from participant observation of the course, interviews, analysis of study session discourse, and genre analysis, I highlight agentive ways that each participant used in their own socialization process. I show how participants improvised writing of models, asked for clarification in the first language, and even resisted the discourse. Students who resisted the demands might incur negative effects. Furthermore, I argue that the role of the guidance from an expert (such as a professor) is imperative in a socialization process, and I offer implications for ways that teachers can guide second language writers to develop mathematics discourse.

Work in progress: Supporting Latino and English Language Learners' written communication skills: A research-based pedagogical intervention

This paper reports preliminary findings from a qualitative study of a research-based pedagogical intervention in a freshman-level course for engineering majors. In this intervention, engineering instructors collaborated with an applied linguist in education to design activities to improve writing skills, an important professional skill in engineering. Development of effective writing skills is challenging for students, and particularly for Latinos and English Language Learners (ELLs). This challenge can be effectively addressed with meaningful writing tasks and appropriate pedagogy. Preliminary findings show improved communication and interpersonal skills among students.

The Role of Bilingualism in Shaping Engineering Literacies and Identities.

In this article, we demonstrate ways in which teachers, working within the context of rapidly changing demographics in our country, can create inclusive classroom environments that promote the development of engineering literacies and identities, particularly among bilingual students. We draw on our experience working with two projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) at a large public university on the U.S.-Mexico border to show how educators can create educational spaces that encourage bilingual students to use their full communicative repertoires in developing engineering discourses and identities. In so doing, we highlight the relationship between bilingualism and disciplinary literacy development; describe how hybrid language practices such as translanguaging can contribute to engineering learning; and highlight the role of identities in disciplinary discourses. The practices illustrated in this article have implications not only for college instructors, but also for teachers at the secondary level.