| This study investigated English language learning (ELL) students' participation in discussions about text during teacher-designed reading comprehension activities, and how they were academically and socially positioned during these interactions with the teacher and peers. A critical discourse analytic framework was used to examine ELL students' discursive practices and social positioning during a variety of whole-group, small-group, and one-on-one reading activities in their multilingual, third-grade classroom.;The findings suggest that the teacher played a pivotal role in ELL students' participation in the construction of meaning with texts, even when she was not a participant in the event. The teacher shaped routines for turn-taking, text selection, engagement with others, and access to new information. Her role during interactions shifted from director to collaborator as the event moved from whole-group to small-group and one-on-one events. In smaller groupings, the teacher increased wait time and elaborated on ELL student utterances more than in large group events. Correspondingly, ELL student participation, high-level of talk about texts, and student control of text selection increased as the event size got smaller which in turn, increased ELL students' opportunities to engage in the construction of meaning. ELL students' participation also increased when their interpretations of text were the focus of interactions that elaborated on and expanded their knowledge.;The texts used during reading instruction also affected how ELL students were positioned during interactions. The inherent cultural, social, and linguistic qualities of texts influenced how ELL students engaged with others in the construction of meaning. When texts were culturally familiar, ELL students demonstrated complex reading strategies and were the 'knower' in conversations. When ELL students engaged in talk about less culturally familiar texts, they relied on others, particularly the teacher, to help bridge the social distances this created through elaborated talk.;This study has implications for theories about instructional practices for ELL students. Oral language mediated students' comprehension such that they needed opportunities to engage in elaborated talk to more fully construct meaning with texts. This study also raises questions about the quality of learning in whole-group events for ELL students and the nature of texts used in reading instruction. |
