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ENGAGING WITH LATIN@ “ETH(N)ICAL ISSUES” IN MIDDLE SCHOOL SPANISH: USING TRANSLANGUAGING AND COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT APPROACHES TO ADVANCE SPANISH PROFICIENCY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE GOALS by Michael Garrett Delavan A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Education, Culture, and Society The University of Utah August 2017 Copyright © Michael Garrett Delavan 2017 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Michael Garrett Delavan has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Verónica E. Valdez , Chair 5/24/2017 Date Approved Frank Margonis , Member 5/24/2017 Date Approved Clayton Pierce , Member 5/24/2017 Date Approved Karen Lichtman , Member 5/24/2017 Date Approved David Schwarzer , Member 5/24/2017 Date Approved and by William Smith , Chair of the Department of Education, Culture, and Society and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT This dissertation reports on practitioner inquiry into a year-long curriculum in middle school Spanish II built around Latina/o cultural topics with social justice implications. A comprehensible input approach supported both the development of a core vocabulary in Spanish and discussion of these issues. Translanguaging—accessing linguistic resources across supposedly separate languages—allowed teacher and students to heighten complexity and comprehensibility. The study used a critical sociocultural theory lens and mixed methods to perform case studies of two classes with a focus on three students of varying positionalities. I asked (1) how the two classes interpreted and applied the central social justice concept used in the course (bilocal culture-crossing, BCC), (2) how much their Spanish improved, (3) how motivating and satisfying they found the experience, and (4) how case study students’ positionalities shaped their experiences of the curriculum. The first and last research questions yielded six findings: First, students joined me in translanguaging in order to make themselves understood around the complexity of power relations. Second, students actively used discourses of taking others’ perspectives. Third, students increasingly recognized and spoke back to issues of unfairness. Fourth, students also began to use the term BCC as a way to discipline and admonish others. Fifth, student resistance centered on the term I had coined and, in one class more than the other, on perceived one-sidedness in some of the videos we discussed. Sixth, students participated in our BCC discourse community through processes of self-recognition work. For case study students this meant using their positionalities as lenses with which to understand BCC. The one case study student of color appropriated BCC in a way that constituted Walter Mignolo’s concept of border thinking. In response to the other research questions, students’ Spanish proficiency grew sufficiently to meet these state and district objectives, with Fourth Period showing more growth and Sixth Period attaining higher proficiency; and Fourth Period was less satisfied by the experience, citing issues with relevance, comprehensibility, and clarity of language goals. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed, including the significance of the study for Latinas/os in world language classrooms. iv For those who have been led to feel less worthy TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... xi Chapters 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 Research questions ........................................................................................................ 5 Significance of the study ............................................................................................... 6 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 9 Organization of the dissertation .................................................................................. 32 2 THE STUDY’S LOCATION IN THE LITERATURE ................................................ 34 U.S. Spanish teaching’s problematic context ............................................................. 35 The TCI movement and scholarship in second language education ........................... 50 Scholarship on social justice teaching in world language education .......................... 81 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................ 94 Practitioner inquiry as a form of qualitative research in education ............................ 94 Context of the research site ......................................................................................... 99 Participants ................................................................................................................ 100 Data collection .......................................................................................................... 103 Ethical considerations in interviewee recruitment and data management ................ 109 Data analysis ............................................................................................................. 111 4 SETTING THE STAGE: THE TRANSLANGUAGED CURRICULUM, THE TWO CLASSES, AND THE CASE-STUDY STUDENTS ..................................................... 125 Curriculum and instruction ....................................................................................... 125 The two classrooms................................................................................................... 130 Three case study students and their positionality ..................................................... 130 Organization of findings chapters ............................................................................. 132 5 STUDENTS INTERPRETING AND APPLYING BILOCAL CULTURE-CROSSING WITH COMPLEXITY, RESISTANCE, AND (SELF-)RECOGNITION ..................... 136 Finding 1: Translanguaging as a form of BCC ......................................................... 137 Finding 2: BCC interpreted and applied as taking others’ perspectives ................... 140 Finding 3: BCC allowed recognition of and a speaking back to issues of unfairness144 Finding 4: BCC as a disciplinary technology to enforce seeing others’ perspectives149 Finding 5: Resistance to BCC ................................................................................... 150 Finding 6: Student positionality shaped how self-recognition work was taken up in BCC........................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter summary ...................................................................................................... 195 6 CHANGES IN PROFICIENCY ................................................................................. 200 Average Spanish proficiency growth and goal attainment were acceptable by state and district standards, Fourth showing more growth and Sixth attaining higher proficiency ................................................................................................................ 200 Case study students all progressed less than the average student and all partially underestimated that progress..................................................................................... 201 Chapter summary ...................................................................................................... 205 7 STUDENT MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION ................................................. 208 Fourth Period ............................................................................................................ 209 Sixth Period ............................................................................................................... 216 Case study students ................................................................................................... 220 Chapter summary ...................................................................................................... 224 8 SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, AND IMPLICATIONS .............................................. 227 Summary of the study ............................................................................................... 227 Overview of discussion and implications ................................................................. 231 Interpreting and theorizing the findings .................................................................... 232 Implications for P-12 educators and those who mentor them ................................... 242 Methodological limitations and implications for further research ............................ 251 Final thoughts............................................................................................................ 252 Appendices A. STUDENT JOURNALING INSTRUCTIONS .......................................................
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