Third Space framework for everyday and academic language interaction in classrooms¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Third Space, drawn from Vygotsky and Gutierrez et al., treats students' community as Space 1, where familiar registers are used, and the school classroom as Space 2, favoring technical vocabulary. The framework posits an emergent classroom space where formal and everyday ways of knowing interact bi-directionally, letting students test formal practices with everyday language and generalize everyday language into formal uses. The authors use it to interpret how ELLs' invented and familiar terms entered and shaped a physics discussion.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A learning environment that allows and invites students' familiar registers and practices into science activities

Constraints¶

• The current educational system tends to privilege academic language and often discourages everyday language associated with out-of-school spaces

Target Learners¶

• English Language Learners in elementary school

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Conceptual understanding of physics
• English language development

Claims¶

• Ells Recruit Everyday Language Sound Discussion [+M]
• Third Space Distributes Authority Among Students [+M]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Suarez, E. and Otero, V. (2008). 3rd grade English language learners making sense of sound. https://www.eric.ed.gov