Submission Title
Text Difficulty and Bilingual Student Interactions in Informational Book Discussions
Abstract
This qualitative analysis of small-group book discussions documents how bilingual third-grade students interacted around informational books at their reading levels and books one year ahead of their reading levels. The interactions included: answering the teacher, building on previous ideas, asking questions, introducing new topics, answering own or peer’s questions, disagreeing, agreeing, and peer coaching. The last three of these interactions occurred rarely. Each group adopted opposite interaction patterns in relation to text difficulty. Group 1 predominately asked questions with matched texts, and with difficult texts they introduced new topics and built up related previous ideas. Group 2 mostly asked questions with difficult texts, and they introduced new topics and built them up mostly when speaking about matched texts. It is not clear that one interaction pattern is “better” than the other, and differences in the levels may explain some of the interactions adopted.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Laura Beth. (2020). Text Difficulty and Bilingual Student Interactions in Informational Book Discussions. i.e.: inquiry in education: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 11.Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/vol12/iss1/11