This case study reports on a collaborative action research project developed by an elementary school teacher librarian and a university researcher. It focuses on the initiatives taken by teacher librarian Padma Sastri to use students' home languages as a resource for increasing their engagement with literacy and their overall literacy development.
This study takes place in the Greater Toronto Area where half the population has been born outside of Canada making it the city with the second highest number of foreign-born residents in the world (2005, Canadian Heritage). The teacher involved in this study has made this cultural and linguistic diversity a central focus of her teaching.
The purpose of the research was to observe the dual language literacy strategies that the teacher was implementing in her library curriculum and to examine both the pedagogical objectives underlying this orientation and the responses of students and parents to them. The specific research questions asked were:
Padma, the teacher in this study has found ways to enable students to use their first language skills as a resource and further develop them. She has also enabled parents to become partners in the development of students' school literacy through dual language practices. She has done so by
(a) creating a dual language book collection in the library that fosters home literacy,
(b) implementing dual language "flip book" authoring by students that often includes parental support, and
(c) creating a forum for multilingual oral literacy events in her library curriculum.
Evidence from this case study suggests that parental participation in school literacy is increased when teachers make students' linguistic background part of the curriculum. In addition, students appear to develop a heightened awareness and acceptance of linguistic diversity as part of school life when a multilingual focus underlies literacy teaching. The potential for increasing student and parent investment in school literacy by creating a school environment in which students' linguistic and cultural background is valued as part of the curriculum is supported by the data collected. The case study elaborates on this claim and provides evidence that students' engagement with school literacy is strengthened when their linguistic differences are perceived as strengths and utilized to scaffold new learning rather than being looked at as deficits in need of remediation.
Padma's teaching context is similar to that of many educators in Canada, the U.S. and parts of Europe, in that most of the students are first or second-generation immigrants and speak at least one other language in addition to English. Schools with large immigrant and/or ESL student populations are at much greater risk for failing to meet provincial or state academic standards. Within this context of an increasingly multicultural and multilingual student population, many educators and policy makers struggle to find successful ways to integrate these students within existing school systems. In Ontario, English as a Second Language Programs have been cut by 15% since 1997/98 while there has been a simultaneous increase by 13.5 % in the number of immigrants to urban Ontario (Urban Report, 2005). Although support has increased during the past year, these circumstances create a situation in which mainstream classroom teachers are expected to support ESL students even though the vast majority of teacher candidates do not receive ESL training (ibid). This situation highlights the relevance of research that explores alternative ways of conceiving literacy learning in schools with multilingual student populations.
The area of literacy in particular has had significant stress placed on it as a gatekeeper for educational attainment across North America both as the primary tool used for students to gain access to academic vocabulary (Corson, 1997; Cummins, 2001) and as a means of determining student achievement. In a number of contexts, a high failure rate has been documented for many of these first and second-generation immigrant students in achieving success with school literacy (references). Although language and culture are widely acknowledged as being an integral part of one's identity, it is not typical for the cultural and linguistic diversity of the students to be integrated into the curriculum Corson (2001). This study questions the notion that "literacy" should refer only to English literacy and it highlights the importance of rethinking how we teach literacy to linguistically and culturally diverse students. Cummins (2001) describes the importance of teachers drawing connections between students' lived experiences and the curriculum,
"...students' cognitive engagement must be maximized if they are to progress academically. Similarly, teacher-student interactions must affirm students' cultural, linguistic and personal identities in order to create classroom conditions for maximum identity investment in the learning process." (p. 126)
In this case study of teacher librarian Padma Sastri's practice, we examine the extent to which the incorporation of students' home languages into the curriculum creates classroom conditions for identity investment and literacy engagement.
When Padma talks about her students and their parents she illustrates the positive image of her students' and their parents' bilingualism that underlies her teaching:
I see [dual language literacy] as a resource and an enrichment strategy but it goes beyond that. I'd like to emphasize again and again and again that relying on students' multilingualism is not a drawback. It's a huge treasure we're sitting on top of--like a mountain of the most expensive thing you can ever find in the world. All our parents come with that background too and they're willing to share.
This project explores how this image of her students is reflected in the dual language strategies for teaching literacy that she has developed in order to integrate students' diverse linguistic resources into her lessons.
Floradale Elementary School is situated in the Peel District School Board about 20 kilometers from downtown Toronto. The school is surrounded by high-rise apartment buildings that serve as affordable housing for newly arrived immigrants or those without established family networks in their new city. Peel Region has documented a staggering rate of growth as a result of immigration. With the immigrant population at 43% of the 100,000 residents in the area, the social services of the region have been stretched beyond capacity (Globe and Mail, 2005).
Floradale has a student population of over 700 students from Junior Kindergarten (age 4) through Sixth Grade. Eighty-eight different countries are represented and 44 different languages are spoken. The location of the school and the fact that the school is largely comprised of recent immigrants to Canada results in a highly transient student body. To illustrate, one teacher remarked that last year in his classroom, only five of the original students from the beginning of the school year remained at the end of the year.
The principal of the school, Lynda Sutherland, has established a school community that is characterized by a focus on the diversity of its' student body and that places a high value on welcoming parents into the life of the school. She has created a climate that stresses collaborative teaching and has supported the dual language initiatives of Padma in her role as teacher librarian. These photos show the display on the bulletin board in the office that she has created and maintains updated throughout the school year to reflect the changes in student population. They illustrate the leadership role that the principal has taken in highlighting in a positive way the multilingual and multicultural diversity of the school. (Insert photos)
Padma has been the school librarian at Floradale for seven years. Prior to coming to Floradale she taught for five years in other elementary schools also as teacher librarian. Before immigrating to Canada from India 20 years ago, she taught for three years there in junior and secondary schools. She herself is multilingual, speaking Tamil and Hindi as well as English. Padma credits her cultural background for her inclination to implement a dual language focus in her literacy teaching. She says:
This dual language book thing was my 'Ah hah' because I had come from that background. In India the babble of voices is a very common thing, so I thought, how do you reach across to these parents who are waiting outside and not coming into the building and use their strengths? They already have their literacy but this environment was not facilitating or inviting them to share that strength and view it as literacy.
The research study utilized a collaborative teacher research model in developing the case (Bullough & Gitlin, 2001; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993). This model emphasizes the teacher as the expert and strives to create an integrated plan for research that draws on the local knowledge of the teacher while also bringing current academic research to bear on the development of the study. In this case the university researcher worked closely with the teacher researcher to develop a plan for carrying out the research and the university researcher followed the lead of the teacher researcher in integrating her observations in the school with the work of other teachers, and with the engagement of students and parents. Research methods included taking field notes, audio and video recording of classes and semi-structured interviews with the teacher researcher, the administrator, other teachers, students and parents. The study took place during a six-month period in which the school researcher and the university researcher were in close contact and the university researcher made weekly or bi-weekly visits to the school.
The three core elements of Padma's teaching that this study focused on are
(a) her creation of a (commercial) dual language book collection in the library,
(b) student made dual language "flip books" (see gallery area) that often require parental collaboration in writing the first language sections, and
(c) multilingual dramatic readings of stories.
Padma explains her rationale for developing these practices in the following quote:
I want to build a climate that will help [children] contribute their strengths right away and have fewer negative experiences. I think children need it if they are going to be global citizens. I see the children as future community builders and we need to invest in them. It's these initiatives: learning the languages, bringing the stories, bringing the values, and their beliefs in a common, shared area [that will help bring this about.]
Another element of Padma's teaching that is evident in all of these practices is the inclusion of parents. Every time I observed in the library there were always between 2 and 5 parents providing support in a variety of ways. Padma has skillfully trained parents to assist with the routines of students checking out and returning library books, acting as bilingual reading coaches with younger or newly arrived students, and providing assistance in learning the flip book format. Padma has explained that in addition to welcoming the help of parents working with students she has other motives in asking parents to volunteer in the library. She cites their need to learn about school literacy expectations and in order to further this learning and provide an important resource for parents she has enlisted parents to help her translate board literacy documents into the languages spoken in the school so that parents can access them more easily.
Padma has had the support of the school's principal Lynda Sutherland to use school or district funds allocated for books to purchase dual language literature. In explaining the need for developing this book collection, Padma has stressed the importance of providing quality literature in students' home languages insisting that students need to be exposed to: "different text forms whether it be features of print, narrative writing, persuasive writing or a grade level non-fiction book." In addition, she cites the resource that these books provide to students and their families on a number of levels. Many parents enjoy the chance to learn English as they read the text to their children in their home language. They also give students with first language literacy the opportunity to practice this while they learn English. Furthermore, students who have oral literacy in their first language are enabled to gain literacy skills in it
This facet of the library curriculum has also become an important resource for classroom teachers. Dual language books are particularly useful when students have recently arrived from another country and they and /or their parents have little English literacy to draw on. A Grade 1 teacher described the impact of dual language books in Albanian when she received a new student from Albania whose mother didn't read or speak English. Using these books the child and his mother were able to share in the home-school literacy partnership that is common in many elementary schools. However if only books in English are available to be sent home, many parents would be denied the opportunity to support text based literacy for their children at home. In addition to providing a means for supporting students in their acquisition of English literacy, the dual language books also serve to create a shared engagement with school literacy. This point was highlighted by a Grade 5 teacher in describing a Palestinian parent who was enthusiastic about the opportunity to read dual language books at home not only to support her son's biliteracy development in Arabic and English but also to further her own acquisition of English literacy.
Teachers in the school describe how students are often overheard comparing the language of their books and telling their teacher with excitement: "I have Brown Bear, Brown Bear in Urdu and Henry has it in Chinese, and Mohammed has it in Arabic!" Padma has maintained count of the number of books being checked out by students and has seen the number of dual language books being circulated grow in the last couple of years. Another outcome that I observed was the heightened linguistic awareness of the students. On several occasions during visits I noticed students talking about the dual language nature of the book Padma was reading aloud to them. For example, while conducting a pre-reading activity about the counting book she was sharing with a Kindergarten class, Padma asked students to name what they saw two of on the pages of the book, Handas Hens. After several students offered responses ranging from two eyes, two hens, two eggs, two girls, one student yelled out: "two languages".
Padma introduced the dual language flipbooks as a way to incorporate reading comprehension strategies into a manageable format for students. The book itself follows a template that has different components for different grades but there are always three sections. Padma explains that this pattern assists the students to remember the sections just as in a story there is always a beginning, middle and an end. In the primary grades students use the template of retell, reflect and relate, however for the junior grade students she asks them to include three items in each section for example, under reflect, they should include I learned, I wonder, I thought and in the section relate students should make statements that include book to book, book to self or book to world (events) connections. Graphic organizers are a central component of the books, especially in the junior grades that Padma has utilized as a way to facilitate bridging comprehension and higher-level skills. Typically, the graphic organizer will be a Venn diagram or a t-chart that the student uses to draw connections between the book read and other texts or to their own life.
Padma added the dual language component to the flipbook activity as a way to involve parents in school literacy practices and also as a way to encourage students to utilize their first language literacy skills or develop them if they already had oral language skills in their first language. The flipbooks quickly caught on and gained additional currency among students as a result of recognition given for this work at the school assemblies that are held each Friday. Padma frequently enlists parent volunteers to assist younger or newly arrived students to read a book in their first language and to learn the format of the flipbooks.
Padma has stored the hundreds of flipbooks that students have written in large three ring binders in the library. In discussions with students about their writing of the flipbooks, several of them mentioned that they very much like the opportunity to write in their first language, This aspect of the books is given special recognition at the Friday assemblies thus helping to elevate the multilingual skills of the students to a higher status within the school community. When asked how they felt about doing this dual language writing activity students responded with enthusiasm. Dival in Grade Four said, "It's good because you can remember your language." Jenny in Grade Five said she was glad for the opportunity to work with her father to learn the Vietnamese necessary to complete her flip books in both Vietnamese and English. On the front cover of her book, the label "Done With Dad" is prominently displayed. Jenny's dual language flip-book
Padma regularly organized dramatic reading with students visiting the library in class groups. On these occasions, she wove a variety of literacy skills through her lesson including listening, retelling, comprehension, and a discussion of different genres of literacy. This in itself was impressive as I saw her lead the students through reading with expression and using gesture to convey the actions of the story. However, she went beyond just dramatic reading by incorporating the students' own multilingual skills into the experience. Students were invited to retell the story in their first language after hearing it read aloud in English by other members of the class. Many students volunteered and I observed this repeated on several occasions with different classes and grade levels from? through 6.
One lesson I observed is described below.
Padma assembles her sari around her as she sits in her chair at the front of the rug in the library. Roughly twenty-seven fourth grade students assemble cross-legged in front of her as she launches into the day's lesson.
"Now I need eight people to help with reading the story. Loud and clear" Padma emphasizes as she calls two children to sit next to her. Each of them chooses somebody else and so on until there are four on either side of her.
"And who would like to tell the story in their language after we've heard it read?" Several students raise their hands.
"Now today's story is about a trickster. Do you know who is a trickster? Can you give me an example of a trickster and what they do?" she asks
"You people are learning about folktales, fairy tales, legends, myths. Who can you think of that is a trickster?"
A couple of students offer up ideas until someone says Anansi. Padma says, "Yes, now you call it American but he's really Jamaican. You know the spider who was in Africa, not just West Africa, all over Africa, when he was living in the jungles and they gave him all kinds of scientific names long, long, long ago and there were many stories being told in Africa. They didn't have printing they didn't have paper it wasn't invented then but people were doing something then, there were no books in fact. What is that tradition called? We're talking about South Asian tradition or Asian tradition or when we say Black History month we also mention this type of story. What kind of tradition did they have? This is a very important thing to know. You know people are trying to go back and find the stories from back then because these are important stories to know--what is this tradition called when things are said and not written down?"
One student calls out "spoken"
Padma says, "That's close but it starts with "o"
Another student raises his hand: "oral"
"That's right", says Padma "it's an oral tradition but it's not just in Africa they had an oral tradition, they had it all across Asia. They had it_____? She asks as she constructs her own oral tradition in the Floradale school library.
"All across Asia" repeat the children in chorus.
Padma continues with the lesson,?"Let's go onto the story. In this story there is another trickster, Anansi is a trickster and he started in Africa but you know what the spider did? The spiders wanted to be educated; they didn't want to just stay in the jungles when modern technology came especially airplanes and boats, they jumped on the boats and the ships and the airplanes and they came away to other countries like Jamaica and America and you know what they didn't want to keep their names. They didn't want to keep their____?"
"Names" chorus the children.
Padma continues, "their original African name was something else but when they came to Jamaica they called themselves Anansi. What did they call themselves?
"Anansi"
"And of course the same spider got on the ship and came to Canada and guess what he called himself?"
"What?" the children ask.
"The eensy weensy spider." Padma replies.
"So he's got all kinds of names but you know what there was a trickster already in Canada. The native people had him. Who can tell us?" No one answers.
"Raven was the First Nation's people's trickster before they had written stories." Padma explains.
"Now there's one more trickster in this story. I need people to tell the story and I need people to say it in another language. Those of you who have another language and want to tell us the story in your language can take a chair and sit at the other side of the rug."
About 12 students bring chairs to sit on the opposite side of the rug from Padma and the six readers.
"Seenah, I'm going to give you the invitation again, would you like to say it in your language? You want to try? Yes? It's always good to try; I like that attitude. As long as you say ?Yes I'll try' it's worth it."
The students arrange themselves on the chairs and Padma distributes sheets with the story script to the children sitting next to her. She assigns roles and instructs them to read the script over in their mind to make sure there are no hard words. Next she instructs those few students left on the rug in front of her on their role as chorus.
"If you go ?Ooooh' then we know you can't hear but if you say ?Ah haah' then you know they are saying it well."
To the readers she says, "Don't say the things in the brackets but do the actions. Do the ______?"
"Actions" repeat the children.
"Are we ready?" She asks, "Do we all have our listening ears? Do we have our translating tongues? Let's go. Big voices."
The story telling begins?.Padma leads the chorus in their calls of "Oooh" when the voices go too low to be heard and "Ah haah" when the voices are strong and loud. I feel as though I am in a theatre.
When the story finishes Padma jumps in "Great job. Now, who's going to tell the story from beginning to end in English?" One of the students sitting on the rug volunteers and proceeds to lead us through the story in English.
"Now", says Padma as she gestures toward the row of students seated in the chairs opposite her, "These people are going to tell us the story in another language."
I listen amazed as one by one I hear and see the story repeated first in Urdu, then Turkish, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, Gujerati, Tamil, Korean once each and Arabic three times. The other students in the class appear to be equally as entranced as I am, though neither I nor they understand all of the languages being used. It is captivating to see the same story repeated with new or sometimes the same gestures while the words to express the action change. When the last in this sequence of performances has come to a close Padma directs the students to check out the library books they will take home and invites the next class that has just arrived to replace this one on the rug.
As part of the research project several students were videotaped participating in this multilingual dramatic reading. In this video clip we see two Grade 2 students, Rida and Vidal reading the story in English. Then, in an on-the-spot translation, Rida retells the story in her native Urdu.
The students were interviewed to gain their perspectives on this activity. Rida said:
I like it because I get to know what other kids speak and some words they speak it in because we might know some of the words from them. So I think it's pretty fun--you get to know other people, you get to know what languages they speak in and just get to more about their languages.
In the above quote Rida expresses the pleasure she derives from being exposed to other peoples' linguistic knowledge and that she sees this as a way to learn more about her classmates.In the following quote she describes how participating in multilingual retellings of stories furthers her knowledge of her first language,
"When I come across some words I don't know I add in the English word but when I get home I ask my parents what the word is in Urdu so then they tell me and I get to know my language better."
Rida's comment speaks to the interest she has in increasing her knowledge of her language and suggests the value that students see in being able to develop and maintain their first language. It also points to the link that is promoted between school and home by participating in dual language storytelling.
The claims made in this case study center on the premise that incorporating students' prioringuistic knowledge as a central feature of their school literacy curriculum increases opportunities for engagement with literacy. By engagement we refer to both cognitive and affective features of developing a relationship with texts. The literacy practices described above that Padma has orchestrated in her teaching acknowledge the linguistic talents that students bring to the classroom and the funds of knowledge that exist in students' homes and communities. The literacy practices also include a range of genres of literacy that draw on both dual language published materials and texts that students themselves create.
The literacy practices that have been the focus of this case study include: The creation and dissemination of a published dual language book collection within the school library, students retelling of stories in their own languages nd, student-created dual language flip books. In addition, graphic organizers developed by students were incorporated into these books as a tool for developing awareness of language structure and content organization
The first and the last practices are also notable for the ways in which they provide a means for students and parents to work together in creating or reading a written work.Tese examples demonstrate some of the ways that teachrs can incorporate students' first language skills into normal classroom practice. These strategies offer parents and students more opportunities to access the range of genres and texts that are characteristic of school literacy practices. It is also clear that the students in this school context are able to maintain a positive attitude toward their L1, something that is not common in many contexts for minority language speakers. Manaan, in grade six at the time of this study, discusses how he feels when he is telling a story in his first language, Hindi "It feels great, I feel perfect, I feel like I'm back in India."
He also reflects the power that teachers have to influence students' feelings toward their language when he says: "When I say a story in Hindi my teacher says, 'You were very good and your pace was good.' That makes me feel good." Manaan goes on to describe the cognitive advantage these dual language activities can offer when he explains:
I think it's helping my brain grow because first I'm hearing it in English when Mrs. Sastri is reading the story and I divide my brain in two parts: this part is English and when she is reading my memory's going in here, going toward there, and coming in Hindi so I feel like my brain is growing at the same time.
Clearly, literacy teaching practices that address the whole child, including his/her prior knowledge that is encoded in L1, are innovative. Unfortunately, typical literacy instruction still either ignores or actively discourages L1 literate expression. The conditions within which this type of inspired innovation can emerge owe a considerable amount to the leadership within particular school contexts.
In her role as principal, Lynda Sutherland has promoted and normalized a multilingual and multicultural focus within the school curriculum. The leadership structure within the school has supported the use of school funds to purchase dual language books for the school library; student-made dual language flipbooks have been regularly recognized and celebrated at weekly school assemblies that parents are welcomed to attend; and teachers have been encouraged to become involved in university-school partnerships that aim to foster strong connections between home and school and promote innovation in exploring connections between technology and literacy .
This case study has described how one teacher has integrated a dual language focus into her literacy teaching and the opportunities this focus has created for cross-language transfer, deeper student engagement with literacy, and increased parental involvement in school literacy. In addition, the case study highlights the crucial role that school leaders play in creating the conditions that encourage initiatives such as those described here. Without this leadership, the initiatives of any teacher or group of teachers are unlikely to exert school-wide impact and be taken up by the rest of the school.
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