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This paper documents English teachers' and advanced English students' perspectives on the use of Spanish in the English classroom in Puerto Rico. Using qualitative data collection methods such as interviews and focus group data, the researchers document the ways that many English teachers on the island justify their use of Spanish in the English classroom as they work to make their teaching more comprehensible. Nevertheless, the advanced students from both public and private schools who participated in this study offer a note of caution regarding the use of too much Spanish in the English classroom. Ultimately, findings suggest that many English teachers consciously or unconsciously adopt a translanguaging approach that needs to be assessed critically depending on the language proficiency and confidence of the students in their classrooms.

In this article Vanessa Mari describes how she uses the linguistic landscape to bridge two or more languages with students learning English. The linguistic landscape is defined by Landry and Bourhis (1997, 25) as "the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings." Making use of the linguistic landscape provides opportunities for students to engage in contextualized authentic language discussions--in English--about their first language (L1) and English. Through the activity described in this article, the teacher makes use of multiple languages to help students learn English; additionally, students become critical thinkers about language use throughout their community. This analysis creates a bridge between the L1 and English because students use both simultaneously as they analyze the languages they know or are learning. They also see their L1 portrayed in their classes, which makes it easier for them to see how both languages connect in the same space.

This research examines the role of Supplemental Instruction in assisting students at a small Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the Southwest United States to improve their final grades in a required statistics course for criminal justice majors. Data collected over three semesters were analyzed using multivariate regression to test if participation in Supplemental Instruction moderates the relationship between race, ethnicity, and final grades earned, with Latinx students and students from other historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups especially benefitting from SI participation. We find positive interactions for race, ethnicity, and final grades; however, the interaction term is only statistically significant for students from other, non-Latinx underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. These students attended SI most frequently, derived the most benefits from their participation, and were also notably the most underrepresented in the institution and the course. We go on to discuss evidence-based recommendations that SI and other collaborative learning programs may consider if their goal is to move toward servingness by improving equity in performance and academic success outcomes across students from diverse backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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