Abstract
This paper reports on some of the findings from research that investigated how the notion of ’intellectual quality’ is played out in schools where there are large numbers of students who are learning through the medium of English as a second language (ESL). Starting with the premise that high challenge, high support classrooms benefit all learners, the paper discusses and illustrates the recurring intellectual practices identified in five linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms, where the teachers were involved in action research projects. The paper also discusses the collaborative process by which the research was undertaken, and the teacher learning that resulted. It concludes with a brief discussion of the implications for pedagogy, and suggests that the ’apprenticeship’ approach that broadly describes the pedagogy adopted by the teachers has the potential to be particularly significant for ESL learners’ engagement and participation in curriculum and language learning.
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Gibbons, P. “It was taught good and I learned a lot”: Intellectual practices and ESL learners in the middle years. AJLL 31, 155–173 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03651795
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03651795