Multimodal Communication in an Early Childhood Bilingual Education Setting: A Social Semiotic Interaction Analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v27n1a05

Keywords:

bilingual education, dual-language instruction, early childhood education, literacy, multimodal communication, social semiotics

Abstract

Bilingual learners often integrate semiotic resources and communicative modes across the languages they speak. Unfortunately, current approaches to researching such a phenomenon assign pragmatic functions to individual discourse moves at best or to isolated utterances at worst. Thus, using a social semiotic multimodal interaction analysis, this study examined actions in interac­tions of a group of six transnational students participating in a second-grade literacy circle at a school in western New York, USA. The purpose of this was to account for the complex reciprocities among their multimodal ways of communicating, their learning climate, and ultimately their learning as mediated and evidenced in their integrated multimodal communicative action. Data included four audio recordings of four literacy circle reading activities that took place during a four-day period. Findings sug­gest that, first, learning results from communication. Second, learning can only be evidenced through communication in interaction. Finally, communication is always multimodal and emergent while, at the same time, culturally governed. This presents direct implications for instruction and learning regarding the social conditions afforded to students to access their full repertoire of semiotic resourc­es and modes to participate and act on their own behalf and in pursuit of their learning.

|Abstract
= 1310 veces | HTML
= 0 veces| | PDF (ESPAÑOL (ESPAÑA))
= 551 veces|

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Wilder Yesid Escobar-Almeciga, Universidad El Bosque

Director, Licenciatura en Bilingüismo, Faculty of Education, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia.
escobarwilder@unbosque.edu.co

Dr. Janina Brutt-Griffler, University at Buffalo

Associate Dean of International Education and Language Programs Director, Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

References

Ascenzi-Moreno, L. (2018). Translanguaging and responsive assessment adaptations: Emergent bilingual readers through the lens of possibility. Language Arts, 95, 355–369.

Aukerman, M., Moore Johnson, E., & Chambers Schuldt, L. (2017). Reciprocity of student and teacher discourse practices in monologically and dialogically organized text discussion. Journal of Language & Literacy Education, 13(2), 1–52

Ben-Zeev, S. (1977). Influence of bilingualism on cognitive strategy and cognitive development. Child Development, 48, 1009–1018. https://doi.org/10.2307/1128353

Boyd, M. P., Jamark, C. J., & Edmiston, B. (2018). Building bridges: Coauthoring a class handshake, building a classroom community. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 13(4), 330–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2018.1437731

Castles, S., De Haas, H., & Miller, M. J. (2013). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2017). Minority languages and sustainable translanguaging: Threat or opportunity? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(10), 901–912. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1284855

Collins, B. B. (2014). Dual language development of Latino children: Effect of instructional program type and the home and school language environment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(3), 389–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.04.009

Fairclough, N. (2011). Semiotic aspects of social transformation and learning. In R. Rogers (Ed.), An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education (pp. 147–155). Routledge.

Flores, S. (2010). State dream acts: The effect of in-state resident tuition policies and undocumented Latino/a students. Review of Higher Education, 33, 239–283. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.0.0134

Flores, N., & García, O. (2017). A critical review of bilingual education in the United States: From basements and pride to boutiques and profit. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 37, 14–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190517000162

Franks, A., & Jewitt, C. (2001). The meaning of action in learning and teaching. British Educational Research Journal, 27(2), 201–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920120037144

García, H., & Nava Gómez, G. N. (2012). The impact of regional differences on elementary school teachers’ attitudes towards their students’ use of code switching in a south Texas school district. Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 14(1), 67–78.

García-Mateus, S., & Palmer, D. (2017). Translanguaging pedagogies for positive identities in two-way dual language bilingual education. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1329016

Graf Estes, K., & Hay, J. F. (2015). Flexibility in bilingual infants’ word learning. Child Development, 86(5), 1371–1385. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12392

Goldenberg, C., & Coleman, R. (2010). Promoting academic achievement among English learners: A guide to the research. Corwin Press.

Goldin-Meadow, S. (2000). Beyond words: The importance of gesture to researchers and learners. Child development, 71(1), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00138

Hamman, L. (2018). Translanguaging and positioning in two-way dual language classrooms: A case for criticality. Language and Education, 32(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2017.1384006

Hymes, D. (1994). Toward ethnographies of communication. In J. Maybin (Ed.), Language and literacy in social practice: A reader (pp. 11–22). Multilingual Matters, Ltd.

Jaffe, A. (2007). Codeswitching and stance: Issues in interpretation. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 6(1), 53–77.

Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation (pp. 13–31). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge.

Kress, G. (2011). Discourse analysis and education: A multimodal social semiotic approach. In R. Rogers (Ed.), An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education (pp. 205–226). Routledge.

Leung, G., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2012). Relationships among language ideologies, family language policies, and children’s language achievement: A look at Cantonese-English bilinguals in the U.S. Bilingual Research Journal, 35(3), 294–313. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2012.731588

Macswan, J. (2013) Codeswitching and grammatical theory. In T. Bhatia & W. Ritchie (Eds.), The handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism (pp. 321–350). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118332382.ch13

MacSwan, J. (2017). A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 167–201.

MacSwan, J. (2020). Translanguaging, language ontology, and civil rights. World Englishes, 39(2), 321–333.

Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: A methodological framework. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493

Norris, S. (2014). The impact of literacy-based schooling on learning a creative practice: Modal configurations, practices and discourses. Multimodal Communication, 3(2), 181–195. https://doi.org/10.1515/mc-2014-0011

Poepsel, T., & Weiss, D. J. (2016). The influence of bilingualism on statistical word learning. Cognition, 152, 9–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.03.001

Rodríguez, M. M. (2015). Families and educators supporting bilingualism in early childhood. School Community Journal, 25(2), 177–194.

Roth, W. M. (2001). Gestures: Their role in teaching and learning. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 365–392. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071003365

Published

2022-02-11

How to Cite

Escobar-Almeciga, W. Y., & Brutt-Griffler, J. (2022). Multimodal Communication in an Early Childhood Bilingual Education Setting: A Social Semiotic Interaction Analysis. Íkala, Revista De Lenguaje Y Cultura, 27(1), 84–104. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v27n1a05

Issue

Section

Empirical Studies

Categories