Teacher Language Awareness in a Swedish Bilingual School for the Deaf

383 Pages·2013·2.75 MB·English

Teacher Language Awareness in a Swedish Bilingual School for the Deaf:
Two Portraits of Grammar Knowledge in Practice

Amanda Howerton-Fox

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
under the Executive Committee
of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2013
© 2013
Amanda Howerton-Fox
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT

Teacher Language Awareness in a Swedish Bilingual School for the Deaf:
Two Portraits of Grammar Knowledge in Practice
Amanda Howerton-Fox

This case study explores the relationship between teachers’ language knowledge and their
grammar teaching practices within the context of a bilingual school for the deaf in Sweden, a
country that has demonstrated success in educating deaf children bilingually in written Swedish
and Sweden’s signed language. The study’s participants were two Swedish language teachers
and their 17 elementary school students; both participants were identified as high quality
teachers and models of the school’s approach to the bilingual education of deaf children. Teacher
Language Awareness was selected as the theoretical construct through which to explore the
relationship between teacher knowledge and practice because of its focus on knowledge-in-
action, or the sites where knowledge intersects with practice. The study’s main data sources were
classroom observation and stimulated recall interviews. Data were analyzed sequentially using a
start list of codes derived from a review of the relevant literature. Two portraits of the teachers’
grammatical Teacher Language Awareness emerged from my analysis of the data. Suggested
pedagogical applications for these portraits in teacher education programs are presented.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 
Background and Context.......................................................................................2 
Sweden’s Bilingual Schools for the Deaf ................................................... 3 
The Role of Grammar in the Academic Success of Deaf Children ............ 5 
Limitations in Teachers’ Language Knowledge ......................................... 6 
Lack of Guidelines for the Teaching of Grammar ...................................... 7 
Portraits of Teaching in Language Teacher Education ............................... 8 
Deaf Education as a Unique Case of L2 Pedagogy .................................. 10 
Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................14 
Need for the Research Study ...............................................................................14 
Statement of Purpose and Research Question ....................................................15 
The Researcher ....................................................................................................15 
Definitions of Key Terms ...................................................................................16 
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..........................................................................18 
Research Traditions in Teacher Cognition and Language Awareness ...............20 
A Framework for Research on Teachers’ Language Knowledge .......................22 
Knowledge about Grammar / Knowledge about Language ...................... 24 
Formal Knowledge of Grammar / Subject Matter Knowledge ................. 25 
Pedagogical Content Knowledge .............................................................. 26 
Teacher Language Awareness .................................................................. 28 
Teachers’ Pedagogical Systems / Teachers’ Theories / BAK .................. 33 
i
Teacher Language Awareness as a Unifying Theoretical Construct ..................36 
Relationship Between Knowledge and Grammar Teaching Practices ...............37 
Explicit Language Knowledge .................................................................. 39 
Engagement style. ............................................................................... 45 
Error correction. .................................................................................. 46 
Input. ................................................................................................... 48 
Explanation. ........................................................................................ 49 
Knowledge of Learners ............................................................................. 52 
Input enhancement strategies. ............................................................. 52 
Selection of content............................................................................. 53 
Use of metalanguage. .......................................................................... 54 
Comprehension checks. ...................................................................... 56 
Awareness of sociocultural issues. ..................................................... 56 
Language Proficiency ............................................................................... 58 
Accurate and effective use of the target language(s). ......................... 58 
Use of the non-native speaker advantage. ........................................... 60 
Beliefs and Feelings about Language and Language Teaching ................ 61 
Feelings about grammar. ..................................................................... 62 
Perceptions of students’ feelings about grammar. .............................. 69 
Understandings of the role of grammar instruction. ........................... 72 
Understandings of stakeholder expectations. ...................................... 75 
Summary .............................................................................................................76 
III. METHOD .................................................................................................................77 
ii
Research Design ..................................................................................................77 
Site ......................................................................................................................78 
Participants ..........................................................................................................81 
Data Collection and Analysis..............................................................................89 
Pre-observation Semi-structured Interviews ............................................. 91 
Classroom Observations ........................................................................... 93 
Identification of Key Instructional Episodes ............................................ 94 
Semi-structured Stimulated Recall Interviews .......................................... 95 
The stimulated recall procedure. ......................................................... 95 
Choosing the stimulated recall video segments. ................................. 97 
Transcription of Interviews ....................................................................... 99 
Interim Text 1: transcribing audio data verbatim. ............................ 102 
Interim Text 2: reviewing visual data against transcription. ............. 104 
Transmuted Text: editing for readability .......................................... 104 
Analysis of Transcripts and Classroom Video........................................ 106 
Verifying that the participants were ‘model’ teachers. ..................... 107 
Creating portraits of the teachers’ grammatical TLA. ...................... 108 
Trustworthiness .................................................................................................111 
Limitations ........................................................................................................112 
IV. FINDINGS .............................................................................................................115 
Presentation of the Data ....................................................................................116 
The Portraits ............................................................................................ 116 
Interactions Among the Components of TLA ........................................ 117 
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Christel ..............................................................................................................120 
‘Model’ Teacher Characteristics ............................................................. 120 
Beliefs and Feelings about Language and Language Teaching .............. 126 
Feelings about grammar. ................................................................... 126 
Perceptions of students’ feelings about grammar. ............................ 130 
Understandings of the role of grammar instruction. ......................... 130 
Understandings of stakeholder expectations. .................................... 135 
Language Proficiency ............................................................................. 136 
Accurate and effective use of the target language(s). ....................... 137 
Use of the non-native speaker advantage. ......................................... 137 
Explicit Language Knowledge ................................................................ 138 
Engagement style. ............................................................................. 138 
Error correction. ................................................................................ 142 
Input. ................................................................................................. 148 
Explanation. ...................................................................................... 149 
Knowledge of Learners ........................................................................... 155 
Input enhancement strategies. ........................................................... 155 
Selection of content........................................................................... 158 
Use of metalanguage. ........................................................................ 160 
Comprehension checks. .................................................................... 162 
Awareness of sociocultural issues. ................................................... 164 
Summary ................................................................................................. 166 
Helena ...............................................................................................................169 
iv
‘Model’ Teacher Characteristics ............................................................. 169 
Beliefs and Feelings about Language and Language Teaching .............. 175 
Feelings about grammar. ................................................................... 176 
Perceptions of students’ feelings about grammar. ............................ 179 
Understandings of the role of grammar instruction. ......................... 180 
Understandings of stakeholder expectations. .................................... 182 
Language Proficiency ............................................................................. 187 
Accurate and effective use of the target language(s). ....................... 188 
Use of the non-native speaker advantage. ......................................... 188 
Explicit Language Knowledge ................................................................ 189 
Engagement style. ............................................................................. 189 
Error correction. ................................................................................ 197 
Input. ................................................................................................. 199 
Explanation. ...................................................................................... 200 
Knowledge of Learners ........................................................................... 207 
Input enhancement strategies. ........................................................... 208 
Selection of content........................................................................... 210 
Use of metalanguage. ........................................................................ 215 
Comprehension checks. .................................................................... 216 
Awareness of sociocultural issues. ................................................... 217 
Summary ................................................................................................. 218 
Grammatical TLA in the Context of Bilingual Deaf Education .......................220 
V. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................225 
v
The Problem of Transfer ...................................................................................226 
The Unique Value of Portraiture .......................................................................231 
The Use of Portraiture .......................................................................................235 
Language Awareness as Methodology ................................................... 235 
The Key Design Features of Language Awareness Methods ................. 237 
Use of authentic data. ........................................................................ 238 
Necessity of inductive analysis. ........................................................ 239 
Focus on grammar knowledge-in-action. ......................................... 240 
Focus on reflection. ........................................................................... 242 
Practice Tasks: Application of the Portraits ............................................ 244 
Practice task 1: Analysis of a portrait. .............................................. 245 
Practice task 2: Analysis of a vignette. ............................................. 248 
Questions that Remain ......................................................................................251 
VI. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................254 
VII. APPENDICES ........................................................................................................265 
Appendix A Pedagogical Guidelines for Language Development ...................265 
Appendix B Statement of Teacher Quality .......................................................268 
Appendix C Pre-observation Interview Questions ...........................................269 
Appendix D Stimulated Recall Segments Matrix, Christel ..............................270 
Appendix E Stimulated Recall Segments Matrix, Helena ................................271 
Appendix F Transcription Rules for Interim Texts 1 and 2 ..............................272 
Appendix G Rules for Transmuted Text ...........................................................273 
Appendix H Interview Segment at all Stages of Transmutation .......................274 
vi
Appendix I Pre-observation Interview Transcript, Christel ..............................275 
Appendix J Pre-observation Interview Transcript, Helena ...............................288 
Appendix K Stimulated Recall Interview Transcript, Christel .........................303 
Appendix L Stimulated Recall Interview Transcript, Helena ...........................324 
Appendix M Christel’s Feedback on Her Transcripts ......................................353 
Appendix N Helena’s Feedback on Her Transcripts ........................................354 
Appendix O Example Concept Map .................................................................355 
Appendix P Final List of Codes ........................................................................356 
Appendix Q Statement of Teckenspråk Proficiency .........................................358 
Appendix R Statement of Swedish Proficiency ................................................359 
Appendix S Model Teacher Matrices, Christel .................................................360 
Appendix T Model Teacher Matrices, Helena ..................................................364 
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