Samina Hadi-Tabassum: Language, Space and Power: A Critical Look at Bilingual Education

Abstract

Bilingual education is often viewed as a controversial topic. Perceptions range from its validity as an educational program to support linguistic minorities, an opportunity to expand linguistic and cultural capital for all students, to an unnecessary and even harmful ‘‘crutch’’ for marginalized populations. It is among these divergent perceptions that Samina Hadi-Tabassum critically examines one specific type of bilingual program, the dual immersion model. Her book employs an ethnographic critical analysis that considers the various power structures of language, culture and race to examine one fifth-grade dual immersion classroom. While noteworthy for its consideration of the power dynamics between the two languages at play in that classroom, the book is more suited for academics and those interested in the specifics of linguistic equity and critical theory than for practitioners in the field. Following a dual immersion model, this classroom’s goals are to use English and Spanish equally in instruction with a balanced mix of Englishand Spanish-speaking students. The aim is to create students who are fully bilingual, biliterate individuals who have an appreciation for multicultural perspectives (Torres-Guzman 2002; Freeman 1998). Hadi-Tabassum takes this program model and uses it to critically analyze the degree to which true bilingualism, biliteracy and cultural pluralism are able to exist in this New York City classroom. In the six chapters of the book, the issue of equity within this classroom context is examined. The first chapter describes the research setting, paying close attention to the various backgrounds of the students and teachers. She shows that students are mixed ethnically, while linguistically there are more English-dominant students than Spanish-dominant ones. Chapter Two considers how the use of physical space in the classroom can create an unequal division between languages. Because the aim of the program is to create