Tejana Bilingual Teachers: Examining Pedagogy and Literacy Practices
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Copyright by Irene Valles Garza 2014 The Dissertation Committee for Irene Valles Garza certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Tejana Bilingual Teachers: Examining Pedagogy and Literacy Practices Committee: ____________________________________ Cinthia S. Salinas, Supervisor ____________________________________ María E. Fránquiz, Co-Supervisor ____________________________________ Jennifer K. Adair ____________________________________ Haydeé M. Rodriguez ____________________________________ Richard Valencia Bilingual Elementary Teachers: Examining Pedagogy and Literacy Practices by Irene Valles Garza, B.S.A.L.D.; M.Ed. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2014 Dedication To my seven grandchildren, Alexys, Michael, Ryan, Rudy, Julian, Celestina and Kaitlynn who mean the world to me, because I want them to know – ¡uno puede cumplir nuestras metas! To my three adult children, Celestino, Victoria, and Venessa who continually encourage and inspire me!! Especially for my parents, Alicia Rodríguez Valles and Fidel Valles — with me in spirit and I know they would have been so proud of their hija. To my grandparents, Eusebio and Herlinda Rodríguez who along with my padres instilled in me the sense of — ¡quien soy hoy! Acknowledgements First, I want to thank my children, committee member, friends, and professors, who have become a part of my life as I went through the phases of my graduate journey. I wholeheartedly give a huge Thank you to my three loving children who have supported me throughout this journey. Their support and encouragement have been greatly appreciated! I also wish to thank my seven grandchildren who have been a part of this long journey with me. I am very grateful and humbled by my committee members’ dedication during these past years. I am honored that Mária Fránquiz has been a tremendous force in my journey, through her mentoring, commitment and encouragement. I am deeply inspired by her dedication. Dr. Cinthia Salinas provided me with the empowerment to continue throughout. She has been a great mentor, the ‘cheerleader’ who tirelessly dedicates countless time and dedication to me. I am forever grateful and humbled by her. I thank, Dr. Adair, for all her support, encouragement in empowering me to believe in my abilities and skills. I also thank whole-heartily Dr. Haydee Rodríguez who has been a great mentor and who tremendously encouraged me. I am forever grateful for Dr. Rodríguez’s wisdom in reminding me the value of family! Last, by no means least, I thank Dr. Richard Valencia who has been a constant beam of knowledge throughout this process. Through the good and the bad, he has remained my strongest supporter! I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn from such gifted scholars. v I want to thank my peers who have listened, provided feedback, critiqued, and encouraged me as I continued. I specially want to thank María Leija and Gilberto Lara who have spent countless hours with me. Last, but not least, I thank all the professors at the University of Texas at Austin who I learned from during these past eight years while pursuing this terminal degree. vi Abstract Bilingual elementary teachers: Examining pedagogical literacy practices Irene Valles Garza, Ph. D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisors: María Fránquiz, Cinthia Salinas This study is significant because U.S. schools are continuously being transformed due to the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, in particular Latina/o youths. Therefore, this qualitative dissertation study explored and described ways three Latina Tejana Maestras utilized Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) during literacy learning as they integrated students’ knowledge about their social and cultural environment, including their native language repertoire, while developing and implementing instruction. This study used sociocultural and borderlands theoretical construct to explore and describe ways the Maestras enacted and sustained CRP during literacy events. The sociocultural perspective is a fitting lens because it takes into account how knowledge is constructed in and through social interaction. Borderlands is also a fitting lens because it takes into account the Tejana Maestras borderlands identity of straddling simultaneous worlds — two languages, two cultures. Sociocultural theory and Borderlands theoretical vii lenses were complemented by CRP, a teaching approach that not only fits the school culture to the students’ culture, but uses the students’ culture as the basis for students to understand themselves and guiding them to becoming academically successful. The two questions used to guide this dissertation were: What culturally responsive pedagogical knowledge and practices do Tejana Maestras enact in bilingual classrooms? Second: How do Tejana Maestras acquire knowledge about the culture, language, and background experience of their students when planning and implementing instruction? The research revealed three themes, a) the presence of Building a Bilingual Classroom Community (BBCC) that was continuously evolving, and seamlessly functioning, as a system was clearly evident in each of the three classrooms, b) the Tejana Maestras notion of agents of change that guided their pedagogical literacy practices, and c) the notion of centering Mexican American students’ values, beliefs, and norms into the pedagogy and curriculum responsive to emergent bilinguals was recognizable. Six findings developed from the data; a) Tejana Maestras foster cultural awareness, b) embrace Latina/o bilingualism, c) employ a menu of culturally responsive literacy practices, d) learn from their students e) are conscious of their identity, and f) teaching philosophy. Due to U.S. schools being transformed by the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, the study demonstrated that it is important to conduct research about Tejana Maestras to learn the ways they are effectively meeting the needs of bilingual students by using CRP to promote academic success. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................ xii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiii List of Illustrations ............................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 Background .....................................................................................................1 Problem Statement ..........................................................................................1 Professional Journey .......................................................................................6 Statement of Purpose ......................................................................................7 Research Questions .........................................................................................9 Significance of Study ....................................................................................10 Overview .......................................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework and Literature Review .................................14 Mexican American Educational History in the U.S. .....................................15 Shifting Perspectives of Bilingual Education in the United States ......16 Bilingual Education in Texas ...............................................................18 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................19 Sociocultural Theory .....................................................................................19 Borderlands Theory ......................................................................................25 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ..................................................................26 Language, Achievement, and CRP ......................................................28 Preparing Teachers for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ...................29 Teacher Characteristics of those using CRP ........................................32 Learning in a Culturally Responsive Teaching Environment ..............33 Enacting Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ..........................................34 Summary ..............................................................................................36 ix Chapter 3: Research Methodology .........................................................................38 Research Design ............................................................................................38 Case Study ....................................................................................................39 Research Setting ............................................................................................40 Research Participants ....................................................................................44 Data Collection .............................................................................................48 Field Notes ....................................................................................................49