Breaking Barriers with Collaborative Language Practices in a Multiethnic Classroom: A Potential Model for Immigrant Children

Abstract

Children's spontaneous peer-group interactions were video-recorded and analyzed using techniques of ethnography and talk-in interaction. The examples illustrate how the children socialize novices to language practices and other culturally appropriate practices used in their peer-group communities. The children's translation work is a discursive practice but it has material outcomes for their novice peers, such as creating a venue for them to access concrete learning opportunities.