Abstract

In this article, I will discuss the role of reformulation in bilingual classroom storytelling in two early immersion programmes in Colombia. My discussion will be based on an ethnographic study of bilingual classroom interaction, where the languages used were English and Colombian Spanish.I will first examine the development of the notion of reformulation in the area of discourse studies and code-switching. I will then present a brief overview of the school context in which I carried out my data collection, with particular reference to social and institutional aspects, such as the type of educational provision available, the teaching materials used and details of classroom organization. I will also include information on the background of the participants, teachers, parents and children, as well as details of teacher perceptions on their classroom language use.I will go on to examine characteristics of bilingual classroom storytelling, as revealed in my audio-recorded data from six selected events, focusing specifically on how the two teachers in the study used interlingual reformulation as a facilitative pedagogic strategy in their storytelling. I will argue that differences of teaching style and manner of story presentation may account for variations in the two teachers' use of reformulation in their teaching.

How to Cite:

DE Mejía, A., (2004) “Two Early Immersion Classes in Colombia: The Role of Reformulation in Bilingual Storytelling”, Wales Journal of Education 13(1), 30-43.