Positioned as a burden: Analyzing the participation of multilingual students of color in undergraduate mathematics courses that use groupwork

Abstract

More college mathematics classrooms are adopting active learning practices like groupwork. These practices typically foreground vocal communication and interpersonal interactions, both of which are mediated by language. Given that undergraduate classrooms in the U.S. are also becoming more racially and linguistically diverse, this study focuses on multilingual students of color, whose learning experiences have often been overlooked. Specifically, this study aims to learn more about the relationship between groupwork and equity in classrooms with linguistic diversity. Using positioning theory, this study analyzes the learning narratives of 26 multilingual students of color about their experiences working with peers in groups. Findings demonstrate that while multilingual students described enacting a range of different positional identities during groupwork, they were more likely to report being positioned by others in deficit ways. Results highlight how the positional identities perceived to be available to students were often constrained by normative classroom Discourses about language, participation, and mathematics.