A Description of Literacy Instruction in a First Grade Two-way Immersion Classroom

• Main Author: Patricia López Estrada
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de Costa Rica 2018-10-01
• Series: Revista de Lenguas Modernas
• Subjects: two-way immersion programs; bilingual education; second language teaching; second language learning
• Online Access: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rlm/article/view/34781

This study describes a bilingual teacher during whole group Spanish instruction in a two-way immersion first grade classroom. Inductive analysis, as domain analysis, was used in the study. The data came from four literacy lessons and two teacher interviews during the 2009-2010 school year. Findings indicated that the bilingual teacher promoted opportunities for students to use and develop language. Her teaching practiceswere based on a Contextualization/Problematization/Decentralization framework, which served as an instructional framework and pedagogical combination to student language production. The bilingual teacher provided students with a context for language comprehension, presented students with problems that needed solving, and decentralized her role for students to become autonomous problem-solvers and negotiators. This study adds to the extant literature about effective teaching practices to foster language opportunities for students to build and practice the minority language in two-way immersion classrooms in the United States.