Opportunities for academic language and literacy development for emergent bilingual students during group work

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present paper argues for a shift in teacher knowledge and beliefs about the role of group work in the teaching and learning of emergent bilingual students. Using case study data from an eighth grade classroom, the authors analyze the role of collaboration in the interaction with grade-level text of emergent bilingual students. The analysis demonstrates that the quality of collaboration mediates in significant ways the opportunities available to emergent bilinguals for both content and language learning. The authors suggest that expanding students’ repertoires of practice to include collaborative learning should be a worthwhile instructional goal in mainstream classrooms. The analysis problematizes the currently dominant view of group work as an instructional strategy, and supports the positioning of collaboration as a key disciplinary practice in the new college and career readiness standards. The article offers a conceptual framework for contrasting different types of collaboration that is based on Engeström's (1993. “Developmental Studies on Work as a Testbench of Activity Theory.” In Understanding Practice: Perspectives on Activity and Context, edited by S. Chaiklin and J. Lave, 64–103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) activity theory.