Teaching Social Studies to English Language Learners

Supporting Knowledge and Language Acquisition of Secondary Emergent Bilinguals through Social Studies Instruction

“…The teacher used a multicultural citizenship framework to teach historical and social perspectives from around the world and to build culturally relevant connections between his students' culture and the content through their group activities and discussions. Additional case studies of adolescent EBs and their social studies teachers have emphasized that linguistically responsive instruction can assist EBs with their development of disciplinary language skills and content by leveraging their bilingualism (Jaffee & Yoder, 2019; Salinas et al., 2017). Also referred to as translanguaging by some scholars, teachers can adjust literacy activities and materials for bilingual students to utilize their EBs' linguistic resources in making meaning of new content (de los Ríos & Seltzer, 2017; García, 2012: Ramirez & Salinas, 2021).…”

“…Recent reviews of qualitative research focused on the experiences of adolescent EBs in social studies suggest that culturally and linguistically responsive instructional approaches address a need for teachers to invite EBs to voice their experiences and to integrate those experiences into their social studies instruction (Jaffee & Yoder, 2019; Salinas et al., 2017; Yoder et al., 2016). In essence, culturally responsive teaching connects students' lived experiences and their cultural knowledge with their learning so that it is more relevant, engaging, and effective for students (Gay, 2010).…”