Language and Cultural Practices in Communities and Schools

Bridging Learning for Students from Non-Dominant Groups

Inmaculada M. García-Sánchez, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Inmaculada M. García-Sánchez, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429943768
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning, this book examines how the everyday language practices and cultural funds of knowledge of youth from non-dominant or minoritized groups can be used as centerpoints for classroom learning in ways that help all students both to sustain and expand their cultural and linguistic repertoires while developing skills that are valued in formal schooling.

Bringing together a group of ethnographically grounded scholars working in diverse local contexts, this volume identifies how these language practices and cultural funds of knowledge can be used as generative points of continuity and productively expanded on in schools for successful and inclusive learning. Ideal for students and researchers in teaching, learning, language education, literacy, and multicultural education, as well as teachers at all stages of their career, this book contributes to research on culturally and linguistically sustaining practices by offering original teaching methods and a range of ways of connecting cultural competencies to learning across subject matters and disciplines.

1

LEARNING BY OBSERVING AND PITCHING IN: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Maricela Correa-Chávez and Angélica López-Fraire

In this chapter, we outline some of the ways that learning in classrooms can more closely mirror what we see when children engage in Learning by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI) to family and community activity. LOPI is more than one particular behavior or practice, it is an approach to organizing learning that includes children having the opportunity to routinely observe and listen in on mature activities to which they are expected to contribute. This form of organizing children’s lives and learning is especially common in communities that have historical Indigenous roots in the Americas (Correa-Chávez, Mejía-Arauz, & Rogoff, 2015). Luis Urrieta (2013) described a particularly illustrative example of LOPI from the P’uhérpecha community of Nocutzepu in Michoacán, México:

Daniela (pseudonym), age five, was regularly observed making small, awkwardly shaped tortillas that her mother Isaura cooked on a comal (clay griddle) over a fiery parangua (hearth). Isaura, usually very busy, seemed not to pay too much attention to Daniela as she usually struggled with the dough. Isaura would, however, once in a while say “fíjate” (look with fixation) to Daniela, as she turned half of her upper torso toward Daniela while shaping a tortilla with her hands. Daniela would respond by looking at and imitating her mother’s movements, until Isaura resumed her position facing the metate (grinding stone), and placed the finished tortilla on the comal. Every attempt Daniela made at shaping a tortilla ended up cooked on the comal, and Isaura would quickly offer Daniela more dough. On occasion when Daniela started to head out of the kitchen, Isaura would quickly say “toma” (take this) and would again hand her more dough. Even when Daniela’s dough ended up on the dirt floor, Isaura cooked it and fed it to the dog and advised Daniela by saying “cuidado Dani” (careful Dani). Daniela’s better tortillas were always placed at the top of the pile, and were the first to be eaten as Daniela watched smiling silently, thus rewarding Daniela for her effort and contribution and encouraging her to continue to pitch in to tortilla making.

(Urrieta, 2013, p. 325)

We begin by reviewing some of the research findings that have explored different aspects of LOPI. We do not describe all facets of LOPI (see Rogoff, Mejía-Arauz, & Correa-Chávez, 2015), but rather focus on the community organization of LOPI, the means of learning in LOPI, the social organization of endeavors in LOPI, the means of communication and coordination in LOPI, autonomy in LOPI, and motivation in LOPI. Following each research section there is a brief classroom tip that relates the research to the classroom context. At the end of the chapter, we consolidate the findings to provide larger suggestions that can be implemented in schools. We outline steps individual teachers can take in their classrooms, and suggest changes that would be beneficial at the institutional level to change our paradigms of learning and incorporate some strengths of LOPI.

Throughout this chapter we contrast LOPI with traditional ways of structuring school learning with teachers as transmitters of information that children soak up as they sit at their desks, in what Rogoff and her colleagues have called Assembly-Line Instruction (ALI) (Rogoff et al., 2003). Decades of research have shown that ALI is not the ideal way to structure learning (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999), but it is still common in many schools. When Texas first-graders from Latino immigrant families (who attended a school organized by ALI) were shown videos of first-graders at a nearby school taking agency in learning by moving from their desks to help one another and seek answers, the interviewed students characterized the children in the video as “bad” for not following the rules and sitting quietly at their desks (Adair, 2015). LOPI starts from a different place. In this way of learning, children are not receptacles of information, or even necessarily co-constructers of knowledge; rather they are valued participants in important ongoing activity. Because of this, we see different patterns of interaction when we compare children’s behaviors in communities where LOPI is common to the behaviors of children in communities where ALI is common. This contrast is one we turn to next, outlining some of the results of studies where this comparison has been central to examining learning.

Community Organization of Learning in LOPI

At the heart of LOPI is children’s inclusion in ongoing family and community activity in meaningful ways. Children are not “being prepared” for future participation in community activity (sometimes referred to as adult activity), rather their participation is ongoing and already valued, even if not at an expert level. The example of Daniela making tortillas at the beginning of this chapter clearly illustrates this idea. Although Daniela’s end results still needed work, she was nevertheless able to see that her contribution was important because the tortillas served to feed the family and occasionally its animals.

In this example, Daniela was not “playing” at making tortillas, neither was she taking part in a “tortilla-making exercise” where the only purpose was to teach her. Rather, Daniela was involved in the actual activity alongside her mother, observing her mother’s work, and engaging to the best of her abilities even though she was not participating at a competent or expert level. Nonetheless, she was part of the real activity and her contribution was seen as legitimate and important. This inclusion in central and productive ongoing activity is not incidental, but rather fundamental to the organization of LOPI, and has been for centuries (Chamoux 2015; Flores et al., 2015).

Accounts such as Daniela’s have been seen in the historical record dating back to the Mesoamerican codices outlining family life prior to the European invasion and colonization of the Americas. What is common in both the historical record and in the ethnographic accounts and interviews of the present day is the idea that children learn through co-presence in activity, through facilitation by more knowledgeable others, and through observation (Chamoux, 2015). Another important theme present in both historical records as well as in current day interviews (Cardoso, 2015; Garcia, 2015) is that children are learning not only one important skill or practice through their participation (for example “just” learning how to make tortillas or how to care for crops), but rather they are also learning how to be members of the community, with all that this entails. Learning to be everyday participants of a community involves being aware of others, attentive to the needs of others, and respecting others’ initiative, topics we will discuss in more detail.

Brief tip: Include children in the meaningful work of the community (in schools, the community could be the classroom), and not only in exercises that prepare for later inclusion in the larger community or labor market. Children can, for example, take the initiative in helping peers with their work, can help teach or demonstrate a subject or topic of interest, or can plan an event or activity around an academic topic.

Means of Learning in LOPI

In LOPI, because young children are regularly included in the wide range of social and productive activities of their community, they are often in positions to observe and listen to ongoing events, and are expected to pay attention in order to be able to contribute to them in the future. Psychological research shows that young children are especially interested in adults and pay close attention to what they are doing (Coppens & Rogoff, 2017a); thus co-presence and collaboration with others is likely rewarding to most young children. Nevertheless, in most middle-class communities, children are often largely segregated from adults in early childhood and instead encouraged to engage in developmentally appropriate child-focused activities (Morelli, Rogoff, & Angelillo, 2003). However, when children are included in the work of family and community, as they are in many Indigenous heritage communities of the Americas, they are not only generally interested in the activities, but can also see how their contributions help their families and communities. Adults in communities where LOPI is common urge children to be attentive to what is taking place around them and seek out moments when their help or contribution is needed (Chavajay, 1993). Interviews with parents and other adults have shown that observation of others and of ongoing activity is one of the principal means through which learning takes place in LOPI (Chamoux, 1992; Mejía-Arauz, Rogoff, & Paradise, 2005; Rogoff, et al., 2003). For example, parents in a Mazahua community in central Mexico reported that observation as a form of learning is a more direct and effective way of transmitting knowledge compared to lessons or giving directions (de Haan, 1999).

Sentiments such as the one expressed by the Mazahua parents are common in many Indigenous communities of the Americas and research has shown that children from communities where LOPI is common often managed their attention differently compared to children from middle-class communities where ALI is more common. A series of studies examining what children attended to when they had the opportunity to observe a nearby activity, but were not expected or required to attend to it, showed that children from Mexican immigrant and Guatemalan Maya families (where LOPI is common), were more likely to pay attention to the actions of the others compared to children from families who were more familiar with schooling and middle-class practices. The children whose families had more experience with school practices, in contrast, were more likely to attend to a distractor toy, pay attention to the room itself, or seem to “space out.” Additionally, these studies focusing on third party attention also consistently showed that children who observed the ongoing task could remember and use that information a week or more later when they were given the opportunity to engage in the same activity. In fact, all children who had paid attention to the activity learned something about the task (regardless of cultural background); unsurprisingly, the children who did not pay attention to the activity of others, did not learn (Correa-Chávez & Rogoff, 2009; López, Correa-Chávez, Rogoff, & Gutiérrez, 2010; Silva, Correa-Chávez & Rogoff, 2010).

Other studies examining cultural differences in children’s attention and LOPI found that toddlers, children, and adults from Guatemalan Maya and Mexican immigrant communities (where LOPI is common) were skilled at attending to multiple ongoing activities in their environment in a smooth uninterrupted manner compared to people who were more familiar with school ways of organizing learning (Chavajay & Rogoff, 1999; Correa-Chávez, Rogoff, & Mejía-Arauz, 2005; Rogoff et al., 1993). Whether attending to the activities of others or skillfully attending to two activities, the attentional skills demonstrated by children whose families had Indigenous history and familiarity with LOPI were often different than the way attention in school is typically displayed (Paradise et al., 2014). School actively discourages attending to the work of others in one’s environment by labeling it as cheating and asks that attention to learning be demonstrated by undividedly focusing on either the teacher or one’s own work. Yet expecting only these school-like forms of attention from children may also prevent children from using some of the tools they have commonly used in their families and communities for learning.

Brief tip: Attention to others’ activities is an important and valued means of learning in communities that have Indigenous heritage. This can be incorporated in classrooms by encouraging children to learn from one another’s work throughout the day—rather than talking about cheating or copying, talk about how children can become productively informed by others. There are likely many activities where children can be encouraged to observe and learn from peers.

Social Organization of Endeavors in LOPI

In LOPI, the expectation to observe ongoing activity is usually accompanied by an expectation of help, or participating in the activity itself. The following quote was an answer given by a P’urhépecha (Mexican) mother with eight years of schooling to researchers when asked how her children helped at home:

Sometimes when they see that I am washing, the older one (10 years old) will tell the younger one (8 years old), “start hanging the clothes to dry or clean up.” I’ll see my older daughter sweeping and the younger one washing dishes in the kitchen … she’ll clean up and they’ll tell me, “mom we already cleaned the kitchen while you were washing” or something like that [and I tell them] “that’s good, thank you.”

(Mejía-Arauz et al., 2015)

Later in the interview this same mother went on to say that the children help her because they wanted to, not because they were given rewards for helping or punishment for not helping. Collaboration in family and community work from early ages has been found to be common in Indigenous heritage communities of the Americas including in: household chores, childcare, animal care, participation in celebrations and festivals, and translation for adults (Gaskins, 2000; González, Moll & Amantí, 2005; Orellana, 2001; see also the chapters by García-Sánchez and Reynolds and Orellana in this volume).

Several studies have also found collaboration and helping as common among Indigenous heritage and Mexican heritage communities in peer interactions. For example, compared to children whose families were familiar with middle-class ways, Mexican heritage siblings (from immigrant families familiar with LOPI) were more likely to work together and build off one another’s actions on a joint activity (Correa-Chávez, 2016). When asked to work together on a planning task, Mexican heritage sibling pairs from immigrant families with basic experience with western schooling showed sophisticated patterns of blending their agendas by collaborating fluidly, anticipating each other’s actions and sharing leadership and exchanging roles in order to accomplish the task (Alcalá, Rogoff, & López Fraire, 2018). This contrasts with sibling pairs of highly schooled European American families who often divided the task, collaborated half as much, and instead of sharing ideas, took turns while sometimes excluding a sibling. In Mexico, P’urhepecha children were more likely to work together as a team when playing a board game against another team than were middle-class children from a Mexican cosmopolitan city (Correa-Chávez, Mangione, & Mejía-Arauz, 2016).

Brief tip: In LOPI, collaboration is a built-in expectation and may be a taken for granted way to demonstrate learning as well as a way to continue to engage in learning. If we create classroom cultures where learning from others is encouraged then we will likely also see children taking the initiative to work together and collaborate.

Communication and Coordination in LOPI

Although many schools and educational researchers have called for increased collaboration in schools, the model of collaboration presented is often one that is particular to schools and different from the LOPI model. For example, in one study, children from a traditionally organized classroom who were asked to collaborate mostly used tests and quizzes instead of interacting in ways that built off others’ efforts (Matusov, Bell, & Rogoff,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Author Biographies
• Introduction: Everyday Learning: Centering in Schools the Language and Cultural Practices of Young People from Non-Dominant Groups
• 1. Learning by Observing and Pitching In: Implications for the Classroom
• 2. Seeing Together: The Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous Families in Chicago Urban Forest Walks
• 3. Building on Students’ Cultural Practices in STEM
• 4. “They Think Detroit Is Just Litter”: Youth Challenging Environmental Injustice Through Participatory Research and Civic Engagement
• 5. Leveling the Politicized Experiences of Children from Mixed Status Families: Connections to Civic Education in Elementary Schools
• 6. Linking Church and School: Language and Literacy Practices of Bilingual Latinx Pentecostal Youth
• 7. Figurative Language in Religious Community Contexts: Opportunities to Leverage and Expand Bilingual Youth’s Linguistic Repertoires
• 8. Centering Shared Linguistic Heritage to Build Language and Literacy Resilience Among Immigrant Students
• 9. Finding a Way into Storyworlds: Youth Co-Narrations of Cross-Cultural Lives as Analogue for Academic Literary Talk
• 10. Where Everyday Translanguaging Meets Academic Writing: Exploring Tensions and Generative Connections for Bilingual Latina/o/x Students
• 11. Transliteracy Practices by Youth in New Immigrant Communities
• 12. Exploring, Thinking, and Learning about Languages and Literacies with Young People in Super-diverse Australian Classrooms
• 13. Leveraging Youth Cultural Data Sets for Teacher Learning
• Don’t Believe the Hype: Reality Rules
• Index