Tensions in Text Selection: How English Teachers Balance Text Selection When Working with Emergent Bilinguals

The authors examined secondary English teachers' values and beliefs about text selection (canonical versus modern and young adults) when working with emergent bilinguals. Findings showed that the tensions teachers identified were focused on whose literacy actions the teachers wanted to prioritize in the classroom: those of the students or those of the authors. Teachers who wanted to prioritize students' literacy actions were concerned with what they lost by not having shared novels. Teachers who prioritized the authors' literacy actions were also conflicted about text selections but primarily wanted to support students' engagement with canonical texts. While the dichotomy has been set up to be between canonical and noncanonical texts, perhaps teachers can focus on the difference between student and author/text-directed literacy acts and how those acts are being enacted in the classroom (individually or collectively).