An Analysis of Cultural Dissonance: Emergent Readers in High School

1. An Analysis of Cultural Dissonance: Emergent Readers in High School Martha Bigelow, Univ. of MN Nicole Pettitt, GA State Univ. Kendall King, Univ. of MN SLRF 2012 Pittsburgh, PA

2. Adolescents with LFS/SLIFE • 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)

3. Two Different Learning Paradigms(Table 2.5, DeCapua& Marshall, 2010, p. 40)

4. Study questions • How are cultural dissonance and educational hegemony manifested and resolved in a high school ESL reading class?

5. Cultural Dissonance “The mismatch between home and school when SLIFE, who come from different cultural values and different learning paradigms, encounter the mainstream culture and learning paradigm of U.S. schools” (DeCapua & Marshall, 2011, p. 25)

6. Research approach & context • Four months of classroom-focused ethnographic research • Two newcomer reading classes • Teacher: Ms. Mavis • Valued students’ languages and cultures • Focused on developmental reading skills

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8. 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

9. Micro-ethnographic analysis • Two students • Ayan • Nadifa • Intertwined instances • Dissonance • Resolution

10. Micro-ethnographic analysis

11. “Ayan”

12. Ayan

13. Ayan

15. Excerpt 1: ‘No copying’ (Ayan) • INSERT VIDEO HERE

16. Ayan’s interpersonal moves • Engages with Ms. M. over ‘saw/see’ (prior to start) • Gains support from her seatmate (turn 1) • Manages relationshipwith 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)

22. Ayan & power • Preferred ways of learning (e.g., shared responsibility) might not align with sanctioned academic practices • Doing school involves treating language and language learning as abstractions (e.g., verb chart)

23. Micro-ethnographic analysis

24. Nadifa

25. Nadifa

26. Nadifa

27. Excerpt 2: Authentic listening (Nadifa) • INSERT VIDEO HERE

28. Excerpt 3: Nadifa protests predicting • INSERT VIDEO HERE

35. Nadifa & power • 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

36. Two Different Learning Paradigms(Table 2.5, DeCapua& Marshall, 2010, p. 40)

37. Discussion • Examination of assumptions of classroom roles, scripts, pedagogical hegemony • How would you theorize these data? • How can adaptation/accommodation happen?

38. Thank you!! • Martha mbigelow@umn.edu • Nicole pett0006@umn.edu • Kendall 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.