Leveraging Multilingual Identities in Computer Science Education

Abstract

Too often, educators assume that multilingual students come to school without the conceptual or linguistic resources necessary for learning the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To address this issue, K-12 STEM educational policymakers have called for instructional models that build on language learners' existing resources, opening new possibilities for computer science education. In connecting an upper elementary computer science curriculum to students' lives and interests, this qualitative study explores how multilingual students leverage their identities to support disciplinary skills development. Using data from student semi-structured interviews, we find here that multilingual students express their identities through computing and that this expression supports positive social and academic outcomes in the classroom.