“Research shows that I am here for them”: Acompañamiento as language policy activism in times of TWBE gentrification

Abstract

Two-way Bilingual Education (TWBE) programs are currently experiencing gentrification processes that are displacing the original beneficiaries of these programs. These gentrification processes have led to a whitening of bilingual education (Flores and Garcia in Ann Rev Appl Linguist, 37:14–29, 2017) marked by inequities and the dangerous potential to erase Latinx communities and voices. These troubling processes have led to a fourth fundamental goal in TWBE, the development of critical consciousness for all stakeholders (Palmer et al. in Theory into Practice, 58:121–133, 2019). This article examines a fifth-grade TWBE teacher’s (Michelle) centering of the fourth goal and Latinx families being impacted by gentrification and explores: How did Michelle accompany Latinx families and students in the midst of gentrification processes at the neighborhood and school levels? Findings revealed that Michelle’s language policy activism of acompanamiento mitigated and interrogated gentrification processes that were pushing these families out of the neighborhood and schoolwide processes that were now focused on new customers. The discussion points to why a language policy activism of acompanamiento should count as language policy and its succinct connection to TWBE’s fourth goal. We argue that another crucial element of the fourth goal is the enactment of a language policy activism (Flores and Chaparro in Lang Policy 17:365–384, 2018) of acompanamiento; actions and practices in support of communities that experience injustices guided by fellowship and being in relationship with the oppressed.