Enacting culturally sustaining immersion pedagogy through SFL and translanguaging design

• Published in: Foreign language annals Vol. 54; no. 3; pp. 567 - 588
• Main Authors: Troyan, Francis John, King, Nicole, Bramli, Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria Wiley 01.10.2021; American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
• Subjects: African American Students; African Americans; Bilingual education; Bilingual Students; Bilingualism; Black students; Case Studies; Classroom Communication; Classrooms; Code Switching (Language); Community; Content and Language Integrated Learning; Culturally Relevant Education; culturally sustaining pedagogy; Elementary school students; Elementary School Teachers; English; French; French as a second language; Genre; Grade 2; Immersion Programs; Knowledge; Knowledge Base for Teaching; language immersion; Language Styles; Language Teachers; Language Usage; Language Variation; Language varieties; Learning; Linguistics; Multilingualism; Pedagogy; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Semiotics; Spanish; Student Role; Systemic functional linguistics; Teacher Characteristics; teacher knowledge; Teacher Student Relationship; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Translanguaging; Writers
• ISSN: 0015-718X; 1944-9720
• DOI: 10.1111/flan.12577

Framed within the discussions of the knowledge base for language immersion teachers, this article presents a qualitative case study of a first‐year Grade 2 French immersion teacher's enactment of his systemic functional linguistic (SFL) knowledge to position his students in a culturally sustaining genre pedagogy. We examined interactive events and interview data to understand how Ahmed deployed his SFL knowledge base to position four African American students in classroom interactions as they deconstructed and reconstructed focal genres in this second‐grade French immersion classroom. Our findings revealed that Ahmed positioned his students in three ways: as an inclusive classroom community, as readers and writers, and as language analysts. Likewise, the students took up roles as genre analysts, active language users, and engaged community members. The findings also demonstrated that Ahmed selectively deployed his linguistic resources in varieties of French and English to connect with his students, create community with them, and achieve his instructional goals within a translanguaging space (e.g., Tian, 2021; Wei, 2011). These findings point to the potential of SFL and translanguaging pedagogy as a flexible and dynamic knowledge base for enacting culturally sustaining immersion education. The Challenge Research on teacher knowledge in immersion education has primarily focused on the teacher's ability to integrate language and content. In this study, we sought to examine how a French immersion teacher enacted his systemic functional linguistic (SFL) knowledge base in translanguaging design to position his African American students in a culturally sustaining genre pedagogy.