Framing bilingualism within the context of a transnational border: place-based and place-conscious enactments for two kinds of bilingual youth in Laredo, Texas

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the bilingualism of local communities and the way that a group of high school teachers discuss and understand bilingualism and biliteracy of two kinds of bilingual youth are examined from a place-based, place-conscious perspective. The high school teachers want to create a new dual language program for local students from Laredo and students from across the Rio Grande River, Nuevo Laredo. The paper shows how the teachers’ language orientations and ideologies inform the ways they view the language capabilities differently for each group of students, favoring academic Spanish and lamenting the language deficits of local Laredo bilingual youth. The paper ends with a recommendation for ways to trouble language orientations and ideologies with an eye toward gaining a deeper, more place-conscious understanding of youth bilingualism and how schools and teachers bear responsible for improving conditions for expanding bilingualism of local youth.