‘More than being in a class’: adolescents’ ethnolinguistic insights in a two-way dual-language program

Abstract

Much of the debate regarding outcomes of various types of dual-language programs has focused on linguistic and academic results, and with good reason: improving the educational outcomes of language minorities and supporting societal multilingualism are vital goals. More rarely explored, however, are these programs’ ethnolinguistic outcomes: the ways in which they provide students with insights into themselves, language, language learning processes and others. This study uses interview and audio data to examine ways in which adolescents reported learning about themselves, language and its learning and others through participation in an extracurricular high school program for Spanish-dominant English language learners (ELLs) and English-dominant Spanish language learners (SLLs). Findings suggest the program provided opportunities for adolescents’ recognition and ratification of peer ethnolinguistic identities, understanding of language-in-use as an ethnolinguistic phenomenon, awareness of language learning through language-in-use and appreciation of students’ own and others’ ethnolinguistic resources. Patterns of learning were largely consonant with students’ sociolinguistic positioning in schools as language minority or majority speakers. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.