Natalia Palacios

“Yo te estoy ayudando; estoy aprendiendo también/I am helping you; I am learning too:” A bilingual family’s community of practice during home literacy events

This case study examines one Honduran immigrant family’s community of practice during home literacy events. Data include field notes and audio and video recordings from six weeks of in-home observations. Coding and discourse analysis are used to analyse talk-in-interaction in order to understand how the family engages in literacy events. Family discourse reveals patterns of speech according to the language of narrative texts, shared strategy use between mother and child, and the influence of an older sibling. Through the exploration of these patterns, this study documents the multidirectional influence of one family’s community of practice where family members are able to leverage their linguistic and/or literate strengths to construct meaning mutually during literacy events. This study provides evidence for the benefits of encouraging bilingual families to include various family members in literacy events as well as to interact with texts in all of the languages spoken in the home. Further implications for practice and avenues for future research are discussed.

Teaching practices in Grade 5 mathematics classrooms with high-achieving English learner students

ABSTRACT Teachers need more clarity about effective teaching practices as they strive to help their low-achieving students understand mathematics. Our study describes the instructional practices used by two teachers who, by value-added metrics, would be considered “highly effective teachers” in classrooms with a majority of students who were English learners. We used quantitative data to select two fifth-grade classrooms where students, on average, made large gains on a mathematics achievement test, and then examined teaching practices and contextual factors present in each classroom. Participants included two teachers from a mid-Atlantic district and their students who were 67% English learners and 68% economically disadvantaged. We found that the use of multiple representations of mathematics concepts, attention to vocabulary building, individual and group checks for understanding and error analysis were prevalent practices in both high gains classrooms. Also, class sizes ranged from 12–19 students. Discussion focuses on whether observed practices are aligned with recommended teaching practices for English learner students.

Older Sibling Support of Younger Siblings’ Socio-Emotional Development A Multiple-Case Study of Second-Generation Mexican and Honduran Children’s Initiative and Co-Construction

Siblings play a critical role in the socialization experiences of their younger siblings. Societal values, standards, and customs are transmitted and created through the process of modeling and the construction of shared meaning. It follows, therefore, that the process of socialization may be culturally dependent. Using multiple case studies of five sibling dyads, we aim to examine the process of initiation and co-construction of second-generation Spanish-speaking children while engaged in free play activities. Examination of fieldnotes, videotapes, and transcriptions suggests that younger siblings initiated more interactions than their older siblings. However, older sibling initiations were more likely to lead to co-construction. Moreover, when younger sibling initiations were successful, this process of co-construction appears to be contingent on the support provided by their more skilled older siblings. We suggest that by serving as models, older siblings are fulfilling their familial responsibility and preparing their younger siblings for school-based social interactions.

An Examination of Language Practices During Mother-Child Play Activities Among Mexican Immigrant Families

We examined the language practices of five mother-child dyads during a structured play activity, particularly in relation to maternal question use. The study includes second-generation, 4-year-old children of Mexican immigrants who demonstrate either high vocabulary levels in English and Spanish or low levels of vocabulary in both languages. Examination of field notes, videotapes, and transcriptions yielded differences in maternal use of perceptual and conceptual questions between children with high and low vocabulary. Children with higher English/Spanish vocabulary profiles experience greater variety in the form of perceptual questions that produce abstract child responses, are more likely to experience clarification or explanation questions, and have greater opportunity to lead during extended exchanges.

Why All Teachers Matter: The Relationship between Long-Term Teacher and Classroom Quality and Children's Reading Achievement.

ABSTRACT This study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort to examine the influence that teachers and classrooms have on children’s short- and long-term reading achievement trajectories throughout the elementary school years. The analytic sample in the 1st grade is 16,604 children nested within 5,029 teachers, the 3rd-grade sample includes 14,281 children nested within 6,023 teachers, and the 5th-grade sample includes 11,233 children nested within 4,734 teachers. Children’s previous teacher and classroom experiences are associated with a small but long-term influence on children’s reading achievement, explaining 5% to 10% of variability in student achievement at later time points. In contrast, the measures of concurrent teacher characteristics and qualifications, as well as concurrent instructional practices, used in this study were inconsistently associated with reading achievement in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades.

Childcare, language-use, and vocabulary of second-generation Latino immigrant children growing up in a new immigrant enclave in the United States

ABSTRACT We utilize a within-group framework to understand the association between childcare type and the language-use and vocabulary of second-generation Latino immigrant children. The sample was drawn from a study of a suburban/rural immigrant community to study the role of home experiences on the early language and literacy of young Latino preschoolers (N = 77). We found that Latino families were more likely to use parental care (67%) than other types of childcare. We also found that children in parental care are more likely to spoken to in English by household member, and children in parental care had lower English and Spanish vocabulary scores on average than children attending other types of childcare setting. We highlight factors that situate the results within the experiences that families face as they navigate an early education context with limited community and institutional supports for children’s Spanish language development within formal and informal care settings.

Oral English language proficiency and reading mastery: The role of home language and school supports

ABSTRACT The analysis of 21,409 participants of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten cohort focused on home and school factors sought to understand the level of reading mastery that children experienced throughout elementary school and Grade 8 by relating home language use, timing of oral English language proficiency, and the provision of school-based English language learner services to reading mastery. Results confirm that non-English language use at home is associated with a decreased reading mastery at higher levels of proficiency in Grades 1 and 3, and is reduced to nonsignificance in Grades 5 and 8 with the inclusion of teacher and school factors. Also, the negative association between timing of oral English language proficiency and reading mastery is partially explained by teacher and school factors, particularly childrens receipt of English language learner services. The findings provide support for policies that provide language services for language minority children and families during the transition to school and through the elementary school years.