Exploring the Reciprocal Relationship between Transformative SEL and Literacy with Interactive Read-Alouds: A Discourse Analysis

This study investigates the reciprocal relationship between transformative social-emotional learning (SEL) and literacy during a series of interactive read-alouds in a 5th-grade classroom. Using discourse analysis, I explored the observed patterns between teacher moves that integrate transformative SEL and literacy and student talk about the text during the first implementation of a design-based instructional sequence, Read-alouds for Social-emotional Learning (RASEL). RASEL provides educators with an alternative to traditional SEL practices by providing a justice-oriented approach embedded within a common literacy practice (interactive read-alouds) to simultaneously support their students' social-emotional and literacy development. The patterns that resulted from my analysis illustrate and operationalize the evidence for the reciprocal relationship between social emotional and literacy development and the growing body of literature around transformative SEL. The findings offer promising steps for elementary teachers to simultaneously support students' social-emotional development (self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills) and literacy development (vocabulary, narrative reading comprehension, constructing meaning from the text, and cultivating student engagement) in ways that are culturally responsive, humanizing, and authentic.