Exploring bilingual pedagogies in dual language preschool classrooms

Gort, Mileidis; Pontier, Ryan W.

doi:10.1080/09500782.2012.697468

Cited by 116 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Tomi, the bilingual Russian-Finnish teacher, reported the use of similar types of scaffolding techniques to those used by the teachers in the study by Gort and Pontier (2013). One of Tomi's ways of introducing Finnish as L2 to Russian-speaking children was to gradually increase the linguistic complexity of his utterances.…”

Section: Contextual and Linguistic Supportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scaffolding includes diverse mediation strategies such as the use of body language, contextualization, the verbalization of actions, and the repetition of words and routines, and it was used by the teachers in our study 'to offer meaningful instructional support ' (Van der Walt, Mabule, and De Beer 2001, 299). By way of example, Johanna's speech was very deliberate, and certain key words were phonologically stressed, resembling what is sometimes referred to as 'motherese' (Snow 1972) or 'sheltered instruction' (e.g., Gort and Pontier 2013). The Russian language teacher, Lena, explained that she used non-verbal means and verbalizing actions in order to involve the L2-children in activities.…”

Section: Contextual and Linguistic Supportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hitherto, few studies have focused directly on examining teachers' attitudes to a policy of strict language separation, and how teachers negotiate between two languages in the classroom and apply diverse flexible bilingual practices (see however Conteh 2007;Gort and Pontier 2013;Hickey, Jewish, and Baker 2014;Swain and Lapkin 2013). Lemberger (1997), in a comprehensive study of bilingual teachers' reflections on their experience in the US, concluded that 'literature written for teachers tells them what they should do without asking them about their own experiences. '…”

Section: Negotiation Processes In Bilingual Classroomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike the teachers in Hickey, Jewish, and Baker (2014), the teachers in this study did not comment on whether or not their practice was appropriate in an immersion context. Gort and Pontier (2013) also focused on how teachers used different negotiating processes to reconcile the tension arising from implementing the official policy of language separation while at the same time addressing children's needs. Their analysis of Spanish/English preschool teachers' language practices provided insights into such flexible language practices as code-switching, tandem talk (i.e., a pair of teachers coordinates the use of two languages to maintain the use of monolingual speech in a bilingual conversation) and scaffolding techniques (e.g., use of gestures, and visual reinforcement of concepts), which were explicitly used to support children's engagement and facilitate children's comprehension.…”

Section: Negotiation Processes In Bilingual Classroomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two languages in the air: a cross-cultural comparison of preschool teachers’ reflections on their flexible bilingual practices

Palviainen

Protassova

Mård-Miettinen

et al. 2016

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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Bilingual preschool education is under researched compared with bilingual school education. There is also a lack of research on bilingual preschool teachers' agency and how they negotiate between two languages in the classroom. We examined the language practices of five bilingual preschool teachers working within three different socio-linguistic settings, in Finland (Finnish-Swedish and Russian-Finnish contexts), and Israel (an Arabic-Hebrew context) and interviewed the teachers about their use of languages in the classroom. We found that in each context the teachers reported modifications to an initial bilingual education model over time: from a strict separation of languages, to flexible bilingual practices. A thematic analysis of the contents of the teacher reflections as they emerged through interviews revealed five shared categories:(a) the flexible use of two languages; (b) responsible code-switching; (c) contextual and linguistic supports; (d) adjustments for individual children; and (e) role-modelling.Despite the different settings and sociolinguistic conditions, the similarities in teachers' practices and the rationale they gave for applying flexible bilingual practices were significant. The shared practices across contexts may have important implications for bilingual education.Keywords: bilingual preschool education; flexible bilingual practices; teacher agency; early childhood bilingualism; language attitudes; code-switching IntroductionThe aim of this study was to compare five teachers' reflections on their own language practices and the challenges they faced in implementing bilingual language education within three contexts of preschool education in Finland (Finnish-Swedish and RussianFinnish contexts), and Israel (an Arabic-Hebrew context). Ricento and Hornberger (1996) as well as Menken and García (2010) place teachers at the very heart of language policy-making. However, little research attention has been paid to providing bilingual teachers with any deeper understanding of their own agency and their critical role in negotiating, constructing and reconstructing classroom language practices. This is especially true for the context of preschool education and young children's essential developmental and social needs.As Heller (2007) has pointed out, language practices are inseparable from beliefs about languages and attitudes towards them in the surrounding society. For this reason we also considered it important to examine how the teachers' reflections were embedded in the specific educational and socio-political context in which they expressed them, and which possibly had an impact on their language practices. The comparative contexts chosen for this study, Finland and Israel, are both bilingual countries, where Finnish and Swedish, and Hebrew and Arabic, respectively, are official languages. However, for socio-political and historical reasons, the minority languages Swedish and Arabic are differently presented in the linguistic landscape of these countries and also differ considerably in terms ...

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Section: Contextual and Linguistic Supportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contextual and Linguistic Supportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Negotiation Processes In Bilingual Classroomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Negotiation Processes In Bilingual Classroomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Two languages in the air: a cross-cultural comparison of preschool teachers’ reflections on their flexible bilingual practices

Palviainen

Protassova

Mård-Miettinen

et al. 2016

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Given the needs of standards-based instruction (Troyan, 2012), CBI , immersion education and CLIL (e.g., Gort, 2006Gort, , 2012Gort & Pontier, 2012), which has investigated the code switching that occurs in bilingual classrooms, for guidance in responding to this question. Certainly, a growing number of researchers in foreign language education have underscored that an awareness of the functions of language among language teachers is critical in enabling what Cammarata and Tedick (2012) refer to as a linguistic «awakening» (p. 260-261) as they become more aware of the demands of balancing content and language.…”

Section: Discussion 28mentioning

confidence: 99%