Transforming, translanguaging, and transcending identities: developing culturally responsive educational leadership

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study offers a review of existing research on translanguaging, inclusion, and computational literacies. It assesses existing school statistics and a student opinion survey released by the New York City Department of Education in Spring 2019 to investigate the attitudes and experiences of students at a public secondary school in the South Bronx that incorporates translanguaging into grades 6–8 computer science and Spanish courses given to most students. The findings of this study indicated that both Language Heritage Learner (LHL) and Non-Language Heritage Learner (NLHL) and perceived overall positive cultural responsiveness from the school community regarding their language identity in a setting where translanguaging exists (most notably in the Dual Language programme), but a minority of staff felt that they did not sufficiently incorporate considerations for cultural heritage and linguistic background into instruction. This study concludes with implications to further improve cultural responsiveness at the staff and administrative levels, the limitations of the study, and thoughts on further research on the issue of assessing whether culturally responsive education is accessible to neoindigenous student populations, particularly given that a citywide survey instrument facing hundreds of thousands of students throughout New York City does not specifically ask about language inclusivity.