Dual Language Bilingual Education Research Articles

What Lau could have precipitated but did not: The stalled campaign for DLBE in the “middle of everywhere”

ABSTRACT Lau transformed schooling for millions of students, but we should examine what its “equal protection” and assimilationist logic did not entail and thereby illuminate prospective academic and social good that it did not generate. This paper does just that by examining Nebraska’s well-resourced second-largest district and how Lau left intact their notions of “language as problem” as the response rationale to students it identifies as “English learners” (ELs), while the development of dual language/bilingual education (DLBE) programs which embed “language as resource” or “language as right” orientations was endlessly deferred. We explore this conundrum through an anthropology-informed three-part main argument that first offers a brief account of the district’s response to Lau over the past 50 years which orients our paper to the call of this special issue while simultaneously providing space to consider paths not taken. The second and third parts then juxtapose first- and third-person accounts to describe the unsuccessful mobilization over the last 12 years to create a DLBE track. We conclude by reviewing how the district complies with Lau, but also how Lau has never been enough.

Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Opportunity obscured

ABSTRACT This article reports on analysis of A Master Plan for Bilingual-Bicultural Education (MP), created after the Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court ruling. Qualitative analyses reveal authors’ intention to: 1) intertwine language and culture; 2) promote richly diverse multilingualism; and 3) systemically embed its implementation among local linguistically marginalized communities. Although the purpose of the MP was to detail a replicable model for new BBE program development across the nation, its rejection reveals the continued dominance of English-only instructional approaches, despite decades of research documenting that dual language bilingual education is the most effective instructional model for multilingual students. It also serves as an invaluable tool and roadmap for the development of future, and revision of existing, bilingual programs in ways that enhance multilingualism and improve inclusivity among minoritized language-speaking students, families, and communities.

Exploring diverse educators’ language ideologies: how lived experiences shape understandings of bilingual education goals

ABSTRACT This study explores the ways diverse educators’ lived experiences shape their understanding of dual language bilingual education (DLBE) goals, responding to calls for research to better understand how educator ideologies impact the equitable implementation of program goals. This qualitative case study highlights the voices of DLBE educators who identify as transnational, Latinx and African American and includes data from classroom observations, interviews, focus groups and pláticas. We offer a conceptual framework that reveals how ideologies related to language acquisition, status, and variation are impacted by teachers’ prior schooling/teaching, institutional positioning and understandings of racialization and cultural identity – sociocultural factors that are co-constructed across micro and macro-level discourse. Our findings suggest that through teaching in DLBE programs and reflecting upon their lived experiences, educators’ ideologies are constantly developing and can shift to foreground equity and center multilingual learners in DLBE programs. Our study has implications for teacher education and professional development that recognizes educators’ diverse experiences (e.g. transnational and/or lived experiences related to race/ethnicity and institutional positioning) to support the ongoing development of ideological clarity that has bearing on the realization of DLBE goals in the pursuit of equity.

“A lot for one human to handle”: the experiences of two dual language bilingual education teachers in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT While the challenges that educators have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic are widely acknowledged, there is little scholarship that provides opportunities for teachers to share their stories. This article documents the journeys of two dual language bilingual education elementary teachers, one in Georgia and one in Texas, which were a part of a narrative inquiry into the experiences of United States educators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in a conceptual framework that centers humanity as a key dimension of teaching bilingual learners, we found that the teachers enacted humanizing pedagogy to counteract a range of dehumanizing experiences that they, as well as their students and families, faced during the early days of the pandemic. We attend to the ways in which the teachers’ stories inform the field of dual language bilingual education moving forward.

Beyond Lau: Envisioning humanizing and culturally sustaining workspaces for teachers in dual-language bilingual education schools

ABSTRACT Fifty years after the Lau decision, dual-language programs face critical challenges, particularly a national teacher shortage, especially in bilingual programs representing less commonly taught languages like Mandarin Chinese. This study explores the workplace environments of 13 Mandarin Dual Language Bilingual Education (MDLBE) teachers in a diverse urban school district. Drawing on Freire’s concept of humanization, Paris’s cultural sustainment framework, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, qualitative interviews reveal themes of outsiderness, coupled with a need for humanizing relationships with colleagues and leadership. Findings highlight the importance of culturally sustaining practices and systemic changes to foster inclusive, supportive environments, advocating for a transformation “Beyond Lau” to sustain dual-language programs.

“They are not losing anything”: preschool educators’ language ideologies and use for young emergent multilinguals labeled with disabilities

This study examines preschool educators’ language ideologies and use in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms for young emergent multilinguals labeled with disabilities (EMLWDs). EMLWDs require services supporting both their linguistic and disability needs; however, current policies either address their linguistic or disability needs. One equity-oriented approach for preparing EMLWDs is through inclusive DLBE. Educators’ language ideologies can enhance or constrain EMLWDs’ access to equitable multilingual spaces. For example, educators’ misconceptions regarding the bilingualism of EMLWDs restrict their access to DLBE. Therefore, there is limited research concerning EMLWDs conducted in preschool DLBE settings. This study aims to fill this literature gap by focusing on educators’ language ideologies and use for EMLWDs in preschool DLBE classrooms, using language ideology and language policy theories, as well as Disability Studies in Education perspective. As an ethnographic study, the data were collected via participant observations, interviews, and recording classroom interactions. The interview data were analyzed using a constant-comparative method, and the video data were analyzed following Erickson’s five-step inductive approach. The findings revealed educators’ three primary language ideologies: multilingual language ideologies, heteroglossic language ideologies, and ideologies that reinforced English dominance. Educators’ language use revealed English as the dominant language and translanguaging for several purposes, such as to scaffold children’s understanding.

Bittersweet Experiences for Brazilian Newcomers: Positive Interactions, Microaggressions, and Isolation in General and Dual Language Bilingual Education

ABSTRACT With the rise of the number of immigrant children in schools across the U.S. educational research has directed its attention to understanding these newcomers’ social experiences at school. Grounded in critical sociocultural theory, this interpretive phenomenological study shares the social experiences of four Brazilian newcomers in elementary school. Participants were adolescents who were reclassified English learners, had immigrated to the U.S. as children, and attended general education and/or world language dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs. As adolescents, participants were able to look back on their experiences as designated-English learners and newcomers in elementary school with greater perspective. Analysis of interview data reveal three main themes: (a) positive interactions with other Brazilian students; (b) microaggressions from non-Brazilian students; and (c) isolation due to participants’ language barriers and English hegemony. Findings highlight the importance of Portuguese-English DLBE programs as a place for Brazilian newcomers to support one another, even if the program was considered a world language immersion program due to the low number of Portuguese speakers. Additionally, findings reveal the prevalence of microaggressions and isolation across general and DLBE settings, underscoring the need for schools and teacher preparation programs to equip teachers with tools to support newcomers.

Lau v. Nichols revisited: unveiling dual language program disparities in California for Asian students and marginalized communities

AbstractCalifornia has witnessed substantial growth in multilingual programs over the past half-century since the foundational Lau v. Nichols decision, with one in seven public schools statewide offering such programs for students. Likewise, the rapid rise in California’s Asian population, as well as the increase in both overall racial diversity and socioeconomic disparities across the state, have influenced dual language bilingual education discussions. Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Lau decision, this study examines the impact of school and community characteristics on the availability of dual language programs in California public schools, with particular focus on the state’s Asian student population. Employing logistic regression analysis to delve into the American Community Survey and California Department of Education datasets, the study specifically examines how student demographics and school characteristics (e.g., grade level, charter, and magnet status), as well as community features (e.g., the share of foreign-born populations and median household income), are associated with the offering of dual language programs in California schools. Despite the considerable growth of the state’s Asian American population, the study could not find a meaningful connection between Asian representation and the provision of dual language programs. In addition, the results reveal severe equity concerns regarding low-income students’ access to dual language programs. Charter schools also tend to underutilize dual language programs compared to their non-charter counterparts. Based on the study’s findings, we raise concerns regarding why the presence of Asian students cannot be better leveraged as a driving force for implementing dual language programs in California’s public schools and highlight the persistent disparities faced by economically disadvantaged students.

Tensions using the “master’s tools”: A case study analysis of two middle school dual language bilingual education programs

ABSTRACT Despite the plethora of research advocating for culturally sustaining pedagogical practices, schooling in the United States continues to perpetuate systems of white supremacy that alienate racially and linguistically minoritized students. Considering that DLBE programs challenge whiteness by disrupting the hegemony of English, we believe that when (re)rooted to the race-radical roots of bilingual education, DLBE holds a space of transformation where minoritized communities can thrive toward self-determination. Through a theoretical framework that braids Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP) and critical racial-consciousness, this case study of two middle school dual language bilingual education (MSDLBE) programs in California examines how culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP), including counter-hegemonic literacies are fostered within middle school DLBE programs. Teacher and student interviews and classroom observations suggest that systemic factors such as high-stakes testing and district-adopted curriculum influence teachers’ interpretation and prioritization of sociocultural competence, consequently, reproducing racial liberal practices. In this article, we call for pedagogical approaches that intentionally disrupt systems of white supremacy within DLBE by placing the experiences of minoritized communities at the forefront.

Blackness in dual language bilingual education research: A call to expand constructions of U.S. Latinidad

ABSTRACT Though recent research has begun to problematize the enactment of anti-Black ideologies within dual language bilingual education (DLBE) research, fewer studies have explored how dominant raciolinguistic ideologies impact U.S. AfroLatinx learners. In this semi-systematic literature review, I examine how Blackness is (or is not) taken up in DLBE scholarship, focusing on three primary lines of inquiry: deficit orientations toward Black language, race-evasiveness, and the role of raciolinguistic ideologies in mediating identity development. This endeavor merges insights from raciolinguistic ideologies and Black-imiento to challenge the under-theorization of U.S. AfroLatinidad in DLBE and call for an expansion of research that specifically attends to the intersectional experiences of Black emergent bilinguals and developing an AfroLatinx historical consciousness in DLBE scholarship and pedagogy.

An urgent call to center AsianCrit in Chinese/English dual language bilingual education programs

ABSTRACT In recent years, neoliberal interests in U.S. Chinese/English dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs have emphasized white, English-speakers’ use of Mandarin for economic and political gains. Such interests reify white supremacy and contribute to the erasure of Chinese and Chinese American voices, histories, and cultures in curriculum and instruction. While early literature on Chinese DLBE contexts examined program success based on students’ academic achievement and biliteracy development, there has been limited attention to cultivating critical consciousness to resist the commodification of language and multiculturalism for capitalist enterprise. Therefore, we propose a cohesive programmatic framework informed by Asian Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit) for Chinese DLBE programs to cultivate critical consciousness as a foundational educational goal. In this conceptual paper, we apply the seven tenets of AsianCrit to U.S. Chinese DLBE contexts to reimagine a community-based, historically-situated, and equity-oriented educational space. We hope this proposal will inform efforts toward just and innovative Chinese DLBE pedagogies and inspire new lines of critical research in the field of bilingual education.

Feeling Saudade: Transborder Brazilian children’s critical consciousness in liminal zones of dual language bilingual education classrooms

ABSTRACT This article reports on a multi-year ethnographic study that explored how transborder children with ties to Brazil and the U.S. embodied and further (co-)developed critical consciousness in K-3 two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms. Leveraging a decolonial transborder approach in the analysis of classroom observation data, this article foregrounds how the children contested marginalized social identities related to unauthorized immigration status and co-constructed subalternized knowledge under the teacher’s radar in spatio-temporal liminal zones of sanctioned classroom discourse. Such contestation, embedded in accounts of saudade, or nostalgic longing, as well as transnational im/mobility, mapped onto critical consciousness components. This study calls on bilingual education scholars to attune to elementary-aged children’s knowledges, subjectivities, and actions on various scales as essential to understand and further support their critical consciousness formation.

School leadership envisions sociocultural competence: a case study of one private dual language bilingual education school in Central America

ABSTRACT Multiple conceptualizations of sociocultural competence, coupled with the elevation of issues related to social justice and the promotion of equitable practices in DLBE programs has, unsurprisingly, raised urgent questions of practice for school leaders . School administrators in DLBE programs need guidance and examples of how to implement school-wide systems that support the development of sociocultural competence. In this case study, three social justice-oriented school leaders from the U.S. at one private international DLBE school in Central America talk about how they conceptualize and work to enact programs that support the development of sociocultural competence for students at their school. Qualitative analyses of interviews show that leaders’ notions of sociocultural competence are intricately linked with why they want their students to be socioculturally competent. Findings highlight specific ways leaders conceive of and organize sociocultural learning opportunities in order to nurture social and emotional selves and help students to use sociocultural competence they develop to operate in the world in peaceful, equitable, and socially responsible ways.

“(Not) the same as it was”: Parents’ and teachers’ perception of the impact of COVID-19 on a bilingual elementary program

This article examines teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning on the implementation of a Portuguese-English Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) program in an elementary school in the U.S. Drawing on the literature on language orientations and in/equity in DLBE, this study hones in on the results of two surveys, involving 66 parents and 18 teachers, conducted as part of a three-year mixed-methods project. Our analysis points to the contrasting perceptions of parents regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their children’s education. English-speaking parents believed that the benefits of DLBE such as foreign language learning diminished, leading some to withdraw their children from the program. In contrast, Portuguese-speaking parents expressed commitment to the program and vouched for its positive impact on their children’s learning of Portuguese and English during the pandemic. Teachers reported the negative impacts of remote learning on all students’ language learning, but Portuguese-speaking students were perceived as struggling more due to a lack of parental support. This study contributes to research on in/equity in DLBE by showcasing how varying perceptions of parents and teachers during a crisis can accentuate inequitable dynamics for racialized bilingual students and families.

Exploring Latinx and non-Latinx families’ experiences of dual language Catholic schools: A national survey of parent engagement and satisfaction

ABSTRACT Parent involvement is often cited as an essential component of effective dual language bilingual education (DLBE), yet we have limited understanding of the ways parents participate in DLBE or how parent experiences differ between Latinx and non-Latinx families, who often have different reasons for enrolling their children in bilingual programs. Addressing these gaps, this article presents findings from a national survey of parent engagement and satisfaction for Latinx and non-Latinx parents whose children attend DLBE programs in Catholic schools. Findings revealed that parents viewed their involvement as important, although they reported being more involved in participation-oriented activities (e.g. volunteering in the classroom) than engagement-oriented activities (e.g. co-developing academic initiatives). Latinx parents reported similar or higher levels of involvement than non-Latinx parents in all areas except for school leadership. Parent satisfaction was extremely high, with Latinx parents expressing slightly higher satisfaction than non-Latinx parents. While parents were largely satisfied with school communication, many reported that certain communication was only available in English. These findings led researchers to conclude that high levels of reported satisfaction, particularly from Latinx parents, might obscure equity issues and that DLBE schools must look beyond satisfaction to understand parent experiences and to cultivate more equitable parent engagement.

Missed opportunities and implementational spaces for developing critical consciousness: Three case studies in secondary Mandarin Chinese dual language bilingual education

ABSTRACT In response to the call for centering critical consciousness as a foundational goal in dual language bilingual education (DLBE), this article explores secondary Chinese teachers’ instructional practices in Utah Mandarin Chinese DLBE programs and how their instructional practices reflect the missed opportunities and implementational spaces for developing critical consciousness in the backdrop of anti-Asian sentiment. Drawing on theoretical constructs of critical consciousness and using a narrative inquiry approach with ethnographic methods, this study focused on three secondary Chinese DLBE teachers’ reported and observed classroom practices concerning the development of critical consciousness. Findings reveal the different ways in which three Chinese DLBE teachers addressed critical topics in classrooms shaped by their attitudes toward the importance of promoting critical consciousness. Their classroom practices demonstrate the missed opportunities as well as implementational spaces to cultivate critical consciousness within the Mandarin Chinese DLBE curriculum. This study provides examples for DLBE teachers to implement critical pedagogies toward the critical consciousness goal and has implications for teachers, educators, families, and communities to support critical consciousness actions in and out of the classroom.

Heritage language identity matters: Tracing the trajectory of a Chinese heritage mother and contested Chinese dual language bilingual education

This article presents a narrative inquiry of a Chinese heritage mother to theorize and explicate how historical, relational, and spatial processes impacted her negotiation with power and agency in relation to her own heritage language (HL) identity development. A narrative approach enables us to draw on participant counter-stories against master narratives that erase experiences of marginalization of Asians in Asian language education in the United States. We do this through a model of HL identity development (Zhou & Liu, 2022) supplemented by an AsianCrit lens (Iftikar & Museus, 2018). We show the importance of normalizing Chinese as a HL outside of the home in terms of language maintenance as well as the impact such normalization has on the development of an affirmative Chinese HL identity. We add that spaces for such identity development are deeply associated with language programs like dual language bilingual education (DLBE), especially as the number of DLBE opportunities grow in number and in popularity. Thus, language programs, including DLBE, have a responsibility to ensure that the language education they provide address the interests and investments of families with respect to their HL in order to decenter a primary focus on the interests of ethnolinguistic majoritized families.

“Puro English and a little bit of Spanish”: Bi/multilingual kindergarteners’ language ideologies in a dual language bilingual class during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: The goal of the study is to examine bi/multilingual children’s language beliefs and their contributions to school and family language policies in a two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in the United States while participating in online schooling from home. Methodology: We report from a larger critical ethnographic study with a Title I K-8 school in Arizona. The data for this study are based on ethnographic fieldwork during the 2020–2021 academic year with a DLBE kindergarten cohort. Data and analysis: We conducted semi-weekly class observations and individual semi-structured interviews with 12 bi/multilingual kindergarten children. Data analysis entailed a multi-step thematic analysis through several rounds of focused coding. Findings: Our findings show that the children were deeply aware of the languages they spoke, their proficiency in each, how they chose to express those proficiencies, and the way they identified with each language. We identify ways that children agentively used language to transcend separative language policies by using language fluidly. Originality: The study contributes to the literature on young children’s language policymaking and their reproductive and resistive forms of agency. Our child participants were 5 and 6 years old, an underrepresented age in research that connects school and family language policies. Furthermore, this group’s linguistic, racial-ethnic, and cultural diversity allows for a deeper glimpse into how bi/multilingual children develop complex identities. Implications: The study has implications for the importance of pedagogical and linguistic flexibility with young children in DLBE programs. The study shows the importance of how young bi/multilingual children respond to the processes of implementing a program by highlighting the role and position of each language in their home and school environments.

Pedagogies of Resistance and Healing: Latinx Dual Language Bilingual Education Teachers Battling Racialized Ideologies of Languagelessness in Arizona

ABSTRACT Language ideologies of Latinx dual language bilingual education (DLBE) teachers have been increasingly examined, but few studies have chosen a race-based analytical approach. This study examines the language ideologies of six Latinx K-5 DLBE teachers in Arizona through the lens of “racialized ideologies of languagelessness.” At the time of the study, all six teachers considered themselves bilingual. Yet, they shared experiences with linguistic violence during their upbringing and K-12 schooling and identified areas of vulnerabilities that had undermined their self-perception of bilingualism. We report the complexities of these teachers’ racialized language ideologies, shaped by their experiences with linguistic violence as well as positive reinforcement during their upbringing and teaching careers. As DLBE teachers, our participants reflect on their complex experiences with language to stop the cycle of linguistic violence and racialized ideologies of languagelessness for the next generation of bi/multilingual children in their classrooms. We call their critically conscious practices “pedagogies of resistance and healing.”

The Conflation of Dual Language Bilingual Education With Gifted Programs in New York City Schools

As neighborhoods across New York City gentrify, Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) has become a big draw for gentrifier families. Our research contributes to growing literature on DLBE gentrification by examining how a racially diverse group of parents in two communities perceived DLBE as a school choice option. We found that schools with DLBE programs screened potential students via academic screening tests or school choice processes to determine admission into DLBE programs. This screening process has contributed to a) the conflation of DLBE with the city’s gifted programs, and b) a focus away from admitting and centering emergent bilinguals. While this screening served to further advantage gentrifier families, some parents resisted the opportunity hoarding behaviors of their peers through their alternative school choices and advocacy efforts. In this way, we show how all parents are constrained and impacted by the neoliberal logics of contemporary DLBE policy and school choice.