Expanding participation: supporting newcomer students’ language development through disciplinary practices

Supporting Emergent Bilinguals' Reading in the Content Areas

“…Teachers must intentionally create literacy and language development opportunities in all of the content areas and push against the pull toward remedial approaches to reading for EBs. In our research of the implementation of the units, we found that our focal students did expand their participation in scientific sense making (Alvarez et al, 2022). You cannot separate learning to read from language development and, in fact, need to address both at the same time.…”

“…Central to the curriculum was the Project's approach to supporting EBs in reading nonfiction text through a reading protocol that invites EBs to read and use science texts to build on and further develop their science understanding. Through the Project's research, we have shown how EBs, who might not have previously had the opportunity to read grade-level nonfiction text, can experience success with appropriate support and scaffolds and expand their participation in scientific sense making (Alvarez et al, 2022).…”

Beyond sentence frames: Scaffolding emergent multilingual students' participation in science discourse

“…In science, such practices include asking questions and defining problems, developing and using models, constructing explanations, arguing from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Science practices offer opportunities for students to interact, use language, and expand their linguistic repertoires as they collaboratively investigate and make meaning of phenomena (Alvarez et al, 2022a; Bunch & Martin, 2020; Lee et al, 2013; Valdés et al, 2014; Grapin et al, 2023). As they participate in these practices, students leverage oral and written language in interacting ways—for example, reading and talking through procedures as they engage in an investigation or drawing on evidence from texts as they develop an argument, model, or explanation about a given topic.…”

“…Existing research points to several instructional practices beyond sentence stems and frames that teachers can use to scaffold emergent multilingual students' participation in content‐area discussions: Creating contexts that invite and leverage students' full linguistic repertoires (Bang et al, 2017; Grapin et al, 2023; Lee et al, 2013); engaging students in inquiry that builds on their experiences (Grapin et al, 2023; Haneda & Wells, 2008, 2010; Segal et al, 2017); crafting open‐ended prompts and designing tasks that require students to grapple collaboratively (Alvarez et al, 2021; Lotan, 2008; Park et al, 2021; Segal et al, 2017); designing multimodal experiences that enable students to make sense of concepts through hands‐on investigation, talk, video, images, reading, and writing (Alvarez et al, 2021; Grapin et al, 2023; Haneda & Wells, 2008, 2010); intentionally sequencing learning tasks over time (Walqui, 2006; Walqui & Bunch, 2019); and establishing inclusive learning environments with relational trust, safety, and clear norms, in which emergent multilingual students are positioned as valued contributors to the community's intellectual work and students feel safe offering emergent ideas and taking risks with language (Alvarez et al, 2021, 2022a, 2022b; Ardasheva et al, 2016; Haneda & Wells, 2008; Lee et al, 2021; Mercer & Dawes, 2008; Park et al, 2021). …”

“…The discipline of science provides rich opportunities for language and literacy development as students work collaboratively to investigate and make sense of compelling phenomena (Alvarez et al, 2022a, 2022b; Cervetti, 2021; Haneda & Wells, 2008, 2010; Lee et al, 2013; Wright & Gotwals, 2017). Oral language is a critical component of literacy development, as well as science learning (Evagorou & Osborne, 2013; Gibbons, 2015; Worth et al, 2009), but when the focus is on the use of pre‐scripted forms rather than meaning making, emergent multilingual students can miss the valuable opportunities that inquiry‐based science can offer for both science learning and language development.…”