Felipe Garcia
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Teresa Satterfield
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Romance Languages Literatures / LSA
Program:
Authors: Felipe Garcia, Teresa Satterfield
Session: Session 3: 11:00 am – 11: 50 am
Poster: 98
Abstract
??????Research suggests that children’s perceived peer social experiences and perceived peer victimization levels are influenced by teacher interactions with students in the classroom (Jing, Jiang, Justice et al., 2020). Children’s perceptions of peers likely increases or decreases their social drive, particularly when filtered through (positive or negative) interactions with the classroom teacher (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Hughes & Im, 2016). Boys and girls experiencing high levels of conflict with their kindergarten teacher receive more disciplinary infractions in upper elementary school, and this pattern continues for boys in middle school (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Studies specific to US Hispanic children also show a higher likelihood of adolescent anxiety and depression in these scenarios (Almeida, Rego,Teixeira & Moreira, 2021).The current project relates these studies to young Latine students’ (ages 6 – 8) socialization with peers, and seeks to understand the effects of meaningful cultural socialization in US Spanish-speaking contexts with Latine peers and Latine teachers. We explore whether a correlation exists between the duration (time) of child-to-teacher (CT) interactions and the likelihood of child-to-child (CC) interactions in the US Spanish-speaking classroom. We posit that the level of social interaction between this population of Latine children will be directly related to the ratio of CT to CC. Methods: Behavioral observations were taken on participants in a Spanish-language Saturday classroom in SE Michigan, in two-and-a-half-hour periods for ten weeks. Participants were members of two Spanish classrooms each with 10 US-born heritage language students; N=5 girls and 5 boys. Children were evaluated for Spanish language and literacy proficiency. Observations tracked the type of interaction that students had at a given time on a given Saturday. Quantitative analysis grouped each student’s daily observational data, counting the number of times that student interacted with their teacher and the number of times that same student interacted with another student, to calculate the ratio of CT interactions to CC interactions. We compared this ratio across the 10 weeks of data. Preliminary findings suggest correlations between increased levels of CT and measurable effects on CC. As we continue the analysis on CC interactions, it may be possible to determine a bell curve based on CT interactions for each child. That is, a “Proporción dorada,” constituting the ideal quantity of time that each Latine child needs to interact with their Latine teacher in Spanish to produce a peak in social interactions with other Latine children.
