In this chapter, I test the utility of using a recently developed live observation tool, the Activity Setting Observation System (ASOS), to quantify and analyze patterns of instructional activity using a sociocultural lens. Specifically, I used the ASOS to examine the extent to which features of effective pedagogical and organizational practices were present in language arts instructional activity in 27 culturally and linguistically diverse first- and fourth-grade classrooms. In addition, I examined the association of the presence of these features with measures of student performance.
Efforts to identify best practices for culturally and linguistically diverse students from poverty backgrounds have grown steadily in recent years. Spurred by the well-known facts of underachievement among this group and its quickly increasing numbers, a number of researchers have begun to document the kinds of classroom instruction these students typically receive, as well as to investigate the kind of instruction that is effective (e.g., Brookhart & Rusnak, 1993; Estrada & Imhoff, 2001a; Garcia, 1990; Saunders & Goldenberg, 1999; Speidel, 1987; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Waxman, Huang, & Padrón, 1995).
Ironically, the teaching that these children receive is often an impoverished version of the common tradition dominated by whole-group instruction, teacher talk, assignment of tasks, and assessment. Studies looking at instructional practices in classrooms serving high proportions of low-income students have shown that teachers often operate with a hierarchical or linear perspective of student learning: Basic skills must be mastered before students can engage in higher-order thinking.