Facilitating culturally sustaining, functional literacy practices in a middle school ESOL reading program: a design-based research study

This paper explores how Culturally Sustaining Systemic Functional Linguistics (CSSFL), a theoretical and pedagogical approach, facilitates emergent bilingual (EB) students' engagement in explicit, equitable literacy practices within the unique context of a middle school intensive reading classr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language and education 2021-03, Vol.35 (2), p.160-179
Main Authors: Cavallaro, Christina J., Sembiante, Sabrina F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
academic literacy
Bilingual education
Bilingual Students
Classrooms
Code Switching (Language)
Cultural Background
Cultural diversity
Culturally Relevant Education
Curriculum development
Direct Instruction
English (Second Language)
English as a second language instruction
functional linguistics
Functional Literacy
Instructional Effectiveness
Learner Engagement
Linguistics
Literacy
literacy practices
Metalinguistic awareness
Metalinguistics
Middle School Students
Middle schools
Public Schools
Reading
Reading Instruction
Second Language Learning
Second language reading instruction
Students
Systemic functional linguistics
Teaching Methods
Urban Schools
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Summary:This paper explores how Culturally Sustaining Systemic Functional Linguistics (CSSFL), a theoretical and pedagogical approach, facilitates emergent bilingual (EB) students' engagement in explicit, equitable literacy practices within the unique context of a middle school intensive reading classroom. This design-based research (DBR) study documents the literacy practices and routines of EBs in a culturally and linguistically diverse intensive reading classroom, what CSSFL-informed lessons comprise when created in response to students' cultural and linguistic affordances, and how students' genre-based language knowledge was supported in these lessons. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Systemic Functional Linguistics informed analysis of data collected from observations, student samples, researcher reflections, and video/audio-recordings. Findings indicate that while there were missed opportunities for culturally sustaining practices and explicit language instruction in the reading classroom, designing and implementing a CSSFL-informed and curriculum-aligned lessons facilitated students' enthusiasm and active participation, community building and shared experiences, and use of translanguaging and multimodal practices to heighten metalinguistic awareness.
ISSN:0950-0782
1747-7581
DOI:10.1080/09500782.2020.1775244