Beyond "limited English proficiency" : reading, bilingualism, and long-term English learners
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation, a multiple case study of five long-term English learners (LTELs), problematizes the prevalent interpretation that their low standardized reading test scores are evidence of their "limited English proficiency." Rather than relying on this predominant assumption, I spent a year examining five high school LTELs' reading practices in biology and English language arts through ethnographic observations, interviews, think-alouds, and the collection of selected documents. Both my data collection and the subsequent analysis were informed by a conceptualization of reading as a social practice. This perspective recognizes reading, as measured on standardized tests, as a cultural product that reflects particular sociocultural ways of making meaning with texts. The analysis, which relied primarily on iterative coding and analytic memoing, led to a multifaceted representation of the five focal students' reading practices. The findings indicate that the focal students were inexperienced with the kinds of reading tasks that they encountered on standardized assessments of reading. In particular, they were unaccustomed to autonomous and silent reading of disciplinary texts. Moreover, students' beliefs about reading reflected what previous research has described as "more passive" ideas about comprehension. Nevertheless, during think-alouds, students demonstrated the ability to engage in comprehension strategies that are prized by the research literature. In summary, these findings suggest that the interpretive focus on English proficiency obscures the students' English-speaking identities and ignores multiple factors beyond language proficiency that influence the way they construct meaning with texts. Specifically, the results suggest that the five focal students' difficulties with reading are not unique to ELs and highlight the importance of their in-school experiences with reading. The implications of this research are integral to research, policy, and practice that seek to create more appropriate instructional environments for LTELs.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Brooks, Maneka Deanna |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Education. |
| Primary advisor | Valdés, Guadalupe |
| Thesis advisor | Valdés, Guadalupe |
| Thesis advisor | Alim, Hesham |
| Thesis advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
| Thesis advisor | Smagorinsky, Peter |
| Advisor | Alim, Hesham |
| Advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
| Advisor | Smagorinsky, Peter |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Maneka Deanna Brooks. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the School of Education. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Maneka Deanna Brooks
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