The role of funds of knowledge in foreign language education : a participatory action research study with Latino teachers

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Rochester. Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2011.This participatory action research study examined the use of funds of knowledge in Latino foreign language teachers’ practice and became a space for professional development. Today high schools are struggling to graduate Latinos and increase college graduation rates. If we consider predictions describing shifts in nondominant student population, our inability to graduate nondominant students from high schools today may have serious ramifications for the future wellbeing of the country. In the field of education, research examining teacher preparation programs and in-service professional development are calling for transition towards identifying and using teachers’ cultural competency to diversify knowledge and as a productive way of closing the achievement gap between nondominant and White students. However, there is limited scholarship looking at the personal funds of knowledge Latino foreign language teachers bring to educational settings as resources to improve foreign language instruction and schooling for diverse student populations. The participants of this study were Latino foreign language teachers. During the professional training data collected through life history interviews, collegial group meetings, and teacher generated text data helped educators to analyze their personal funds of knowledge and develop student driven lessons that identified, elicited, and activated students’ household funds of knowledge in culturally responsive ways. The findings indicated that this professional development empowered nondominant teachers to braid personal funds of knowledge, students’ household funds of knowledge, and their philosophies of education to inform praxis and enhance the teaching of Spanish