Becoming bilingual in two-way immersion: patterns of investment in a second-grade classroom

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how second-grade students in a Spanish/English two-way immersion (TWI) program make sense of becoming bilingual. Drawing upon the expanded model of investment theory, I examine how and why students in this classroom “invest” in their emerging bilingualism, attending to the similarities and differences in the sense-making of Latinx students and their non-Latinx peers. Findings reveal that students across linguistic backgrounds held similar understandings of the perceived benefits of bilingualism, including bilingualism for global citizenship, to help others, and to increase their employment opportunities. Students sense-making differed, however, when it came to the uniqueness of the bilingual experience. That is, among White English home language students, there was a shared discourse of bilingual exceptionalism—their bilingualism making them ‘feel special,’ as if they had ‘a secret language’—while Latinx students framed bilingualism as a ‘normal’ phenomenon. I consider these findings in relation to systemic patterns of control and spaces of resistance and discuss implications for fostering and sustaining equitable models of bilingual education.