Seventh International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education

Strand II: Advocacy & Policy

Spanish

Elementary (K-5)

This session reports on a one-year ethnographic study conducted in a first-grade dual-language immersion (DLI) classroom in the Northwest. The purpose was to identify instructional strategies to promote cross-cultural relations among dual language learners. Data were collected in the form of classroom observations, teachers’ interviews, document collection, and the researchers’ journals. The focus of the study was to observe how the teacher and her students interacted in a DLI classroom and responded to elements that bring them to potentially reflect on the hybridity of cultures and languages. Findings indicate that specific instructional practices can promote cross-cultural relations, but a colorblindness deficit approach may limit such inclusive environment. Implications of this study consider the possibility that the instructional strategies explored could connect the students’ transnational experiences to their glocal (global and local together) communities.