Maya Amelia McLaughlin
2024
Dirección: Dra. Mila Naranjo y Dr. José Ramon Lago
Universitat de Barcelona
A child’s ability to understand and use language is foundational to their academic and social development. When teachers are prepared to value, honor, and build from children’s home language experiences, and create classrooms with language-rich learning opportunities, children thrive. Meanwhile, a lack of oral language learning is a source of inequity, both in the immediate and long-term, and disproportionately affects language minority children.
This project is a mixed methods implementation study using a case study design, which aims to elucidate solutions that counteract inequalities in language learning. The case is a public elementary school which uses English as a primary vehicular language. Over the course of the study multi-level stakeholders will share their perspectives, including teachers, school leaders, students, and families. The k-2 teachers are the primary participants, as the study follows their trajectory for one school year of utilizing the Conversational Method (CM).
To learn about the CM, teacher-participants engage in an initial training, followed by monthly sessions with guided reflection. The training sequence centers on two research-validated resources: EVALOE, a classroom observation tool which codifies teacher and student actions that define the CM, and EVALOE-DSS, an online resource which provides training, self-reflection, and goal-setting prompts.
Through data collection and analysis, this study adds to our current understanding of how teachers can utilize the Conversational Method to foster inclusive practices and improve experiences for emergent bilingual students. It will examine the implementation of the Conversational Method in an English-speaking context, illustrating language-specific considerations including challenges and opportunities.
language development, inclusive practices, teacher training