Inside Transitional Bilingual Classrooms: Accurately Describing The Language Learning Process Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The field of bilingual education lacks reliable methods for accurately describing the instructional process in transitional bilingual classrooms. In this article, a four-dimensional pedagogical model of transitional bilingual education was operationalized and an observation tool created. Pilot-testing of the observation tool occurred in four Grade 5 transitional bilingual classrooms, for the initial purpose of judging interrater reliability and stability of observation-based results over time. Finally, several hypotheses were posed about instruction within the four classrooms, and observation results were used to confirm or challenge these hypotheses. Results demonstrated high interrater reliability, but found that adequate stability over time would require more extensive observations. Most of the hypotheses posed about instruction in the target classrooms were disconfirmed by observation data. 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

published proceedings

  • Bilingual Research Journal

author list (cited authors)

  • Bruce, K. L., Lara-Alecio, R., Parker, R. I., Hasbrouck, J. E., Weaver, L., & Irby, B.

citation count

  • 5

complete list of authors

  • Bruce, Karen Leigh||Lara-Alecio, Rafael||Parker, Richard I||Hasbrouck, Jan E||Weaver, Laurie||Irby, Beverly

publication date

  • January 1997