It’s time to talk!
This is Janessa here with you to discuss an article that gives insight to conversations in the classroom for English Language Learners (ELLs)!
The article and study, “Inviting conversation: meaningful talk about texts for English language learners”, was written by Joyce Purdy. Purdy is an Educational Consultant at the University of Alberta. She also has a PhD in Literacy and English.
The purpose of this study is to examine conversations between ELL students and teachers during guided reading. Understandably, there is a growing diversity in school populations. This study hopes to gain some insight into how to best meet the needs of culturally diverse students.
This study was conducted in an urban setting with a high ELL population. The age of the students involved in the study are in third grade classrooms. The author who conducted this study is familiar with the teacher and the school. Within this particular third grade classroom, there were three English Language Learners, all of whom consented to this study. Specifically, there were two students of the three that the study concerned the most. One student, referred to as Todd, spoke Vietnamese. The other student spoke Cantonese and is referred to as Kenton in the study. From general observation, the two students, Todd and Kenton, interacted freely within the class and participated well in the activities that took place. The observer tape-recorded dialogue in the classroom to analyze how verbal communication was used.
Through the observation of this guided reading dialogue including ELLs, Todd and Kenton, this researcher found connections between elements of questioning, explaining, and collaborative talk. The suggested ways to improve our talk in literacy and verbally guided activities, like guided readings, that were found are “questioning, teaching vocabulary, inviting collaborative talk and adopting a culturally sensitive point of view.” Talking about text and specific text features can be very helpful, and even more so for ELLs. The first suggestion was to use questions. This is talked about as important because questions are asked by good readers and by teachers in order to enhance the process of meaning making. Specifically, open-ended questions are discussed as being more inviting for rich dialogue, even though questions with only one right answer is what is asked most commonly. The next suggestion, teaching vocabulary, is proven to be an imperative portion of reading development for ELLs. Even if ELLs are capable of holding fluent conversation with peers and teachers, what many teachers do not know is that there is still a significant gap in word knowledge. In order to support ELL students in this area, it is suggested practice to explain new vocab in an explicit way, rather than attempting to access student funds of knowledge. Another suggestion for this category, is to limit the number of words that are new to seven or less for each lesson, as not to overwhelm ELL students. Next, it is mentioned that it is important to invite collaborative talk. This is to emphasize both social and personal aspects of learning into the mix. Lastly, we have the adoption of a culturally sensitive view. The author of this article articulates that to have a caring learning environment where everyone feels invited and welcome starts from an inclusion of home culture in school programs.
In the introduction of this article, the common scenario of a guided reading experience is given. This scenario depicts a small guided reading group that is sharing their experiences with bowling. This connection to real-life is acknowledged by all students as familiar, yet the ELL students in the group do not share any kind of fundamental experiences that could relate to the story when the time for sharing comes as a part of Vygotsky’s theory of socially-constructed thought.
The limitations of this study involve the study of only two students and their interactions with teachers and peers in a guided reading group. This is not only just in a single third grade classroom, but also limited further to a couple of the ELL students that are present in the classroom. This extremely small pool of data in which conversations were recorded is not necessarily a representation of every third grade classroom and ELL within them.
Purdy shares some ways in which teachers can best support ELLs and other culturally diverse students. This is important for creating a welcoming classroom culture, as students are being supported and considered when structuring dialogue around classroom talk in ways that benefit such students. To be able to participate and contribute is a large component of building one’s identity in the group (class) as a whole.
See Below for article Citation.
Purdy, J. (2008). Inviting conversation: meaningful talk about texts for English language learners. Literacy, 42(1), 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9345.2008.00479.x
Let's Talk About Talk 
Wow Jan this is very insightful and interesting on the dialogue between ELL students and their teachers. I really enjoy the comment about meeting culturally diverse learners needs. I think it is so important as a teacher to constantly learn new things about your students and find creative ways to engage them in learning. I thought it was very interesting but informative that you don’t want throw more then seven new vocal words at an ELL student well teaching them. This is because it can overwhelm them and that makes sense, but why seven. I feel like even four would be a lot especially on top of knew content. I really enjoyed this post on ELL students especially because I am not very familiar with teaching this type of student. What suggestions of your own would have for an up and coming teacher trying to teach and include these ELL learners in with the rest of your students? Also what is your next topic you will be discussing about?
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