Karen Paine - Epilogue - Rigorous Researcher

In the epilogue, the "Faltis four level approach" is mentioned as a reference for developing communication with multilingual parents (Ruggiano-Schmidt, page 129). As rigorous researcher, I looked into Christina J. Faltis to better understand the reference. The four step approach is from a book published in 1993 called "Joinfostering: Adapting Teaching Strategies for the Multilingual Classroom." According to the Faltis, joinfostering is "the organization and implementation of conditions to promote two-way communication and social integration within the linguistically diverse all-English classroom" (Faltis, page 1).

The four levels include:

I: early stages of teacher-parent informal contacts in the home and school

II: how to proceed to small informational meetings

III: examples of ways to encourage parent participation and sharing in the classroom

IV: parent empowerment when they are included in curricular decisions

These levels correspond with the more general Faltis framework, designed particularly as a guideline for native-English speaking teachers working in a multi-lingual classroom environment. The framework involves:

1.) two-way communication

2.) social integration

3.) second language acquisition principles

4.) parental participation