Teacher language ideologies mediating classroom-level language policy in the implementation of dual language bilingual education

Abstract

Drawing on multiple measures of language ideology, this paper examines the language ideologies of two third grade teachers tasked with implementing a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program to explore the relationship between teachers’ language ideologies and local language policy. After situating the classrooms within their respective broader language ideological contexts, the language ideologies of each teacher are presented followed by a discussion of its relationship to classroom-level language policy. Each teacher espoused both hegemonic and counterhegemonic language ideologies, which was reflected in classroom language practices. The cases illuminate the ideological struggle of each teacher within their own contexts, including how different levels of language policy (i.e. district, program, school) shaped or constrained teacher agency. While both teachers constructed pluralist classroom spaces for students to draw on their full linguistic repertoires, each classroom was simultaneously embedded within a transitional language ideology and influenced by the monoglossic ideologies of standardized assessments.