Interactive read alouds : developing literacy in bilingual second grade classrooms

The qualitative case study investigated how a Latino bilingual teacher incorporated students' linguistic, cultural, and experiences of the Latina/o community through interactive read alouds during an Immigration Project and a Día de los Muertos Project. Given the large and growing demographics of this nation and the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers of color in bilingual education, the significance of this study lies in the depth examination of the contributions of a Latino teacher in his bilingual second grade classroom. The theoretical framework guiding this study drew from CRT and LatCrit (Solórzano & Delgado, 2001) theories, and the continua of biliteracy (Hornberger & Link, 2012). The theoretical framework focuses on the lived experiences of Communities of Color and positions them as having valuable linguistic and cultural knowledge that educators can draw from to further develop students' bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. Qualitative research methods included classroom observations, field notes, semistructured interviews, audio and video recordings, and collection of student and teacher produced artifacts. Findings suggest that the Latino teacher negotiated conflicting language ideologies about the use of code switching in oral and written form during the teaching of language arts. In addition, through the Immigration Project, students and the teacher were able to make text-to-life connections that drew from their personal and community’s linguistic, cultural, and experiential knowledge. During the Día de los Muertos Project, findings revealed that Latinos are a diverse ethnic group with dynamic cultural practices. It’s important to note that when literacy intersects with national origins, religion, and cultural experiences, students and families respond in varied ways.Curriculum and Instructio