Part 3 Martha Bigelow focuses on the learning strategies (not) used in reading folktales in a high school newcomer class, and explore how these strategies can inform new and more differentiated pedagogies.

1. Acquiring English
and literacy while Martha Bigelow
learning to do &
Kendall King
school:
Resistance University of Minnesota
and TESOL 2012
accommodation Philadelphia

2. 2
Adolescent EL Emergent Readers
› An uncommon population in our journals
› SLA- Tarone, Bigelow & Hansen (2009)
› School Experiences - Valenzuela (1999)
› Few studies in classrooms
› Elementary - Platt & Troudi (1997)
› Post-secondary - Vásquez (2007)
› Few studies on strategies - “doing school”

3. 3
Past Research with Adults
Participants and Study Focus Author
Hmong speakers’ cog. styles – more Hvitfeldt (1986)
cooperative achievement, reliance on
teacher
Hmong, Karen, used fewer interactive Degenhardt (2005)
learning strategies than Spanish speakers
Hmong speakers used many effective Reimer (2008)
strategies; some ineffective

4. 4
Study questions
› How
do EL emergent readers ‘do
school’?
› How
do they cope with the social and
academic demands of high school?
› Whatstrategies do they use as they learn
English and acquire literacy?

5. 5
Research approach & context
› Fourmonths of classroom-focused
ethnographic research
› Two newcomer reading classes
› Teacher: Ms. Mavis
› Valuedstudents’ languages and cultures
› Focused on developmental reading skills

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9
Data
› Audio and video
› 59 hours of classroom observations
› 5 hours of interviews
› 44 hours of tutoring sessions
› 10 focal students
› written work
› elicited assessments in English and dominant language

10. 10
Micro-ethnographic analysis
› Two students
› Ayan
› Nadifa
› Intertwined instances
› Resistance
› Accommodation

11. 11
Micro-ethnographic analysis
Resists Accommodat
es
Ayan Doing independent Completing tasks
work on challenging successfully with
abstract task (verb ongoing peer
worksheet) support; shows
work to teacher
Nadifa Participating in Engaging in plot
standard reading analysis
activity

12. 12
“Ayan”

13. 13
Ayan

14. 14
Ayan

15. 15
Ayan
› Favored strategies:
› peer support/interaction
› physical movement and bodily contact with peers
› This example:
› present/past
irregular verbs
› independent completion of worksheet

16. 16

17. 17
Ayan’s interpersonal moves
› Engages with Ms. M. over ‘saw/see’ (prior to start)
› Gains support from her seatmate (turn 1)
› Manages relationship with student behind her, including
sharing his worksheet (3, 5, 8)
› Returns paper (11)
› Laughs and establishes physical contact with peers (12)
› Grabs Ms. M. and shows her paper (13, 14)
› Consults with seatmate (1, 2, 6, 19)
› Establishes contact again with student behind her
(17-18)
› Takes paper back again with his consent (20)
› Tries to engage researcher by reaching for her (24)
› Requests assistance from teacher (27)

18. 18
Ayan
› Resists:
› Independent work
› Abstract academic tasks
› Accommodates:
› Usinginterpersonal resources
› Navigating classroom rules to ‘do school’
› Demonstrating work to teacher

19. 19
“Nadifa”

20. 20
Nadifa

21. 21
Nadifa

22. 22
Nadifa
› Preferred literacy practices might not align with
school practices.
› Doing school involves giving up her authentic
ways of interacting with text.
› Doing school involves treating text as abstract
object

23. 23

24. 24
Micro-ethnographic analysis
Resists Accommodates
Ayan Independent work on Completing tasks
challenging abstract successfully with
task (verb worksheet) ongoing peer
support; shows
work to teacher
Nadifa Participating in Engaging in plot
standard reading analysis
activity

25. 25
Two Strategy Profiles
Resistance and Look like a Productive
accommodation ‘good for academic
student’ learning
Ayan ✔ ?
Nadifa ✔ ✔ ?

26. 26
Two Different Learning Paradigms
(Table 2.5, DeCapua & Marshall, 2010, p. 40)
SLIFE Conditions for Learning US Schools
Immediate relevance
Future relevance
Interconnectedness
Independence
Processes for Learning
Shared responsibility
Individual accountability
Oral transmission
Written word
Activities for Learning
Pragmatic tasks
Academic tasks

27. 27
Conclusion
› “Good” strategies – they get schoolwork done
› Are strategies sanctioned in the classroom?
› To what extent are they productive?
› Resistance and accommodation: intertwined,
observable only in a close analysis.
› What is culturally-relevant?
› Students’ relationship to texts and school must
be taken into account.

28. 28
Thank you!!
› mbigelow@umn.edu
› kendall@umn.edu
We gratefully acknowledge:
› Ms. M and her students, who welcomed us into
her classroom to gather data and learn from
them.
› The Univ. of Minnesota Dept. of Curriculum and
Instruction for providing funds to hire research
assistants.