Dual Language Bilingual Education Research Articles

‘Somos bilingües’: translanguaging socialization of DLBE teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the disruption of in-person schooling has significantly affected many students including emergent bilingual students. Designed as an ethnographic study, this research study examines two Spanish-English dual language bilingual education teachers’ implementation of translanguaging pedagogies and language socialization during the pandemic through the following research questions: (1) What adjustments did the teachers make to their teaching and curriculum to support the students as they navigated the pandemic times? (2) How did the teachers and students use languages in their interaction in blended learning environments? Findings from the 2nd grade Spanish Language Arts and 4th grade Social Studies classes demonstrate that both teachers reported an increased awareness of the importance to integrate translanguaging pedagogies and reflected a translanguaging stance. They also intentionally integrated translanguaging strategies into their teaching through translanguaging design. The 2nd grade teacher invited the students to draw upon their full linguistic repertoires for Spanish literacy development, whereas the 4th grade teacher adopted translanguaging design to make content materials more accessible. Through translanguaging socialization, both teachers socialized the students into and through flexible language use and created a learning environment where students’ linguistic repertoires were valued as a resource for learning.

Following Indigeneity to unbuild inequities in teaching for multilingualism: restoring relationship with the Land

ABSTRACT This theoretical article explores how Land-based education could help decolonize language education, starting from the case of dual language bilingual education (DLBE) in the United States. We invoke other scholars’ metaphor of basements versus boutiques to understand how such programs have often either been colonially marginalized into basements or colonially gentrified by middle-class White students. We extend this DLBE problematic beyond and beneath the human-made buildings implied in the basements and boutiques metaphor toward the decolonizing potential Land offers. We analyzed relevant literature on Indigenous language and culture revitalization programs in North America, calling on their expertise and leadership in how to center Land-based thinking and ways of knowing across DLBE. We argue that Land-based pedagogy’s critiques of settler colonialism and Mother Earth’s destruction by humans can help DLBE expand its equity focus toward societal transformation that goes beyond human-centered and language-centered thinking. We theorize what it would mean to bring Land to the heart of non-Indigenous DLBE programs, including six actionable recommendations for a Land-based reframing of DLBE that can further unbuild the coloniality of basements and boutiques.

Pre-service Teachers' Language Ideologies of Dual Language Bilingual Education Program : A Discourse in Language Education Policy

Dual language bilingual education programs have been applied in Indonesia for a long time, especially in Islamic boarding schools. Drawing to classroom language policy, this paper aims to explore language ideologies of pre-service English teachers in implementation of dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in the classroom and to what extent do their language ideologies affect their DLBE implementation before and after-class reflection. This article uses an ethnography case study in describing and exploring individual phenomena to find out the natural data from individual daily activity. Interview and observation will be used as a data collection. The participants of this study are four pre-service English teachers represented in different race, native-language and gender categories. The focus use in this study on DLBE when students learn more than one language. Languages are separate and distinct when bilingual speakers are compared to monolingual speakers. Therefore, different language ideologies of pre-service teachers which are influenced by race, gender, and native language will affect the implementation of DLBE itself.

Co-learning about translanguaging and testing in dual language bilingual education: examining ideological and implementational spaces

Co-learning about translanguaging and testing in dual language bilingual education: examining ideological and implementational spaces

Beyond the Land of Thorns: Epistemic Authorship in Dual Language Bilingual Education

Using an ethico-epistemic lens that integrates Latina decolonizing feminist thought, I examine the ways in which Latina dual language teachers in a Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) program in Massachusetts mobilized epistemic authorship to address knowledge-based injustices that they experienced at work. The teachers enacted epistemic authorship by inscribing experiential, relational, and healing epistemic practices and communities as vehicles for hope and possibility. I argue that epistemic authorship is a crucial dimension of critically conscious DLBE teacher preparation.

Cultivating a critical translanguaging space in dual language bilingual education

ABSTRACT An area of ongoing debate among bilingual scholars and practitioners is the extent to which instructional languages should be separated in dual language bilingual education (DLBE). This article contributes to and extends this effort by proposing critical translanguaging space as a conceptual lens to guide the design of translanguaging pedagogies in DLBE programs. This concept is grounded in spatial understandings of languaging and learning and comprised of three interrelated dimensions: (1) dynamic languaging, (2) heteroglossic ideologies, and (3) critical consciousness. After outlining these central tenets, I concretize this approach through a case study of a researcher-practitioner collaboration aimed at fostering a dynamic languaging space in a DLBE classroom that had previously enforced strict language separation. Findings reveal the ways in which this project reflected the aims of a critical translanguaging space, including by affirming students’ dynamic bilingual repertoires and identities, reframing linguistic expertise, fostering practice-based understandings of bilingualism, and creating opportunities for interrogating issues of equity. At the same time, the project fell short of cultivating students’ critical consciousness, as critical inquiry was largely relegated to students’ small group conversations. I conclude with a discussion of findings and implications for future efforts at fostering critical and flexible bilingual learning spaces.

Teaching as poetry: outlaw emotions and embodied knowledge of injustice

ABSTRACT This paper explores the emotional experiences of three first-year Latinx teachers in Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs. Drawing on interviews completed over the course of a year-long critical ethnography with collaborative elements, I created a series of transcription poems highlighting salient emotions. Applying feminist theories of emotion as knowledge to the teachers’ expressions in the poems, I argue that the poems indicate the teachers’ embodied awareness of (in)justice and creative means of resistance. Through the presentation of the poems and the invitation to ‘critically listen,’ this article offers an opportunity for readers to feel the impact of Latinx teachers’ voices and experiences in white supremacist systems.

Flexible co-construction of meaning: facilitating emergent bi/multilingual children’s emergent exploratory talk in Spanish literature discussions

ABSTRACT Emergent bi/multilingual children have historically been afforded few opportunities to engage dialogically with peers and teachers in posing authentic questions and co- constructing interpretations of texts as their reading instruction has traditionally been skills driven. Additionally, more recent scholarship has identified increased opportunities for participation and meaning-making when bi/multilingual children discuss literature within linguistically flexible discussion spaces. This case study examines teacher discourse and discussion facilitation that foreground children’s emerging exploratory talk and validate their bi/multilingual practices during literature discussions conducted in Spanish in a second-grade maintenance dual language bilingual education classroom within a public school in the Midwest United States. Analysis focuses on teacher and child interactions, including the teacher’s uptake of children’s ideas and authentic questions, shared authority among teacher and children, and the teacher’s use and modeling of bilingual practices, such as external code-switching when recounting brief stories, within the discussion space. Findings demonstrate how teacher facilitation and discourse patterns interact in ways that promote children’s emerging exploratory talk within a dialogically organized linguistically flexible discussion space.

Not for us: Chinese immigrant parents’ perspectives on Mandarin Chinese dual language bilingual education programs

ABSTRACT Drawing on a raciolinguistic and AsianCrit lens, we analyze the voices of first-generation Chinese immigrant parents regarding their decisions on whether to enroll their children in Mandarin Chinese dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs. Our findings reveal Chinese immigrant parents’ lack of confidence in DLBE programs as a space created for them or a program that can effectively serve their children’s English learning and academic needs. Also evident was Chinese immigrant parents’ agency in promoting Chinese as a heritage language outside DLBE spaces for their children. This study highlights the marginalization of heritage language-speaking children’s interests in DLBE programs and the need to incorporate language-minoritized families’ needs and voices in DLBE spaces.

A Raciolinguistic and Racial Realist Critique of Dual Language’s Racial Integration

ABSTRACT Offering a raciolinguistic and racial realist perspective, this theoretical article critiques using dual-language bilingual education (DL) as a strategy to provide youth, particularly “English-language learners,” the elusive goal of a bilingual and racially integrated education. The author argues this racial desegregation approach – through its assumption that White students will be the English-language models – impedes DL’s potential to provide equity to Latinxs and other students. The author contends this integration strategy inadvertently perpetuates racist ideologies about racialized youths’ bilingualism, White mainstream English’s superiority, and majority-Latinx bilingual education. Furthermore, the strategy tethers justice for Latinxs to Whites’ interest in DL, consequently perpetuating material inequities.

What is visible and invisible: the portrayal of dual language programs on school websites

Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs have expanded rapidly in a large Northeastern urban school district in the United States in recent years, but multilingual families, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds, receive limited information about program offerings from school websites. In this qualitative study, utilizing critical discourse analysis, 21 websites of district schools with DLBE programs were reviewed. Findings suggest there was limited information overall about DLBE offerings such as the program model, principles, and values on school websites, even in programs recognized as ‘district model programs’. More professionally done websites with vibrant photos, videos, and detailed information about bilingual education, in multiple languages, were most often found in gentrified communities, but the information was not tailored to the needs of low-income and immigrant communities and did not actively promote multilingualism. Most of the websites that did provide information about DLBE focused on cognitive, academic, and sociocultural goals rather than economic benefits and family and heritage connections which have been found to be attractive to immigrant parents. Using an equity lens, implications and recommendations for schools and policymakers are discussed.

Over-framing: interrogating sentence frames as pedagogical support vs. language restriction

ABSTRACT Sentence frames are a frequently used form of pedagogical scaffolding in language education. Yet there is debate around whether sentence frames offer the opportunity for analysis and internalisation of authentic language use, or simply facilitate rote, ‘plug and play’ language use. This paper takes a linguistic ethnography approach informed by case study methodology to explore the use of sentence frames in a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) setting. Data were collected across 78 h of field observations and 15 h of interviews conducted over one school year. Classroom observations and interviews were conducted in both Spanish and English. Findings point to the frequency with which the use of sentence frames can perpetuate a phenomenon we describe as over-framing. Specifically, our findings demonstrate tensions between a teacher’s introduction of sentence frames as a ‘fill in the blank’ format, as opposed to an opportunity to develop language awareness through breaking down and exploring frames with students collaboratively. We provide recommendations for shifting the field’s approach to the use of sentence frames in future research and practice.

“There Was Nothing Here”: School Leaders Using Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs as a Formula to Re-Engineer Student Populations for School Turnaround

New York City offers an example of the national trend to expand dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs, yet only a small proportion of multilingual learners are enrolled in these programs in city schools. Our examination of new DLBE programs in three city schools builds on research about the “gentrification” of DLBE. Specifically, our findings show how school leaders opened DLBE programs to re-engineer the demographics of their student population by enrolling more White, privileged students in the name of “school turnaround”—namely, to increase enrollment and popularity in a school choice context and improve performance on accountability measures.

Mexican and Mexican-American mothers’ visions and decisions amidst dual language bilingual education expansion

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine Mexican and Mexican-American mothers’ perspectives about the construction of two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in the context of an urban area in South Texas and to analyze the factors that contribute to their decision about their children’s participation in such programs. Our main data sources included 14 interviews, two personal narratives, field notes, and audio recordings from school and district meetings. We found that in addition to the general goals of DLBE programs (i.e., academic achievement, bilingualism, and biculturalism), there are additional factors that DLBE programs need to consider to better serve Mexican and Mexican-American communities. These factors include: a) bilingualism for heritage sustainability, social integration, and occupational inclusion; b) school-community building; c) meeting families’ basic needs; and d) attention to the dissemination of program information and misinformation. DLBE must adopt these components in order to foster a social justice stance as a central program tenet.

Beyond Grades: A Holistic Parental Report Card for Korean Dual Language Programs

Background/Context: As dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs expand nationwide, parental feedback becomes crucial in evaluating their effectiveness and ensuring equitable access. Understanding the perspectives of diverse parental groups, including marginalized and privileged communities, is essential for developing inclusive and equitable language programs that serve all students. Furthermore, the changing demographics of students and their families with transnational experiences, along with the growing diversity in non-Spanish DLBE languages, highlight the need for research that documents diverse DLBE programs and contexts. Considering this context, acknowledging parental views on Korean programs is meaningful in valuing the opinions of parents with rich transnational experiences in one of the less-commonly taught language programs in the country. Korean dual language programs are also under-researched in the DLBE literature, despite their unique spaces where different power dynamics emerge compared to Spanish or Chinese DLBE programs. Objective and Research Question: This study aims to investigate parents’ evaluations of DLBE programs, their plans to enroll their child until the secondary level, and potential reasons for leaving DLBE programs. First, the researcher explores parents’ evaluations of Korean dual language programs (KDLPs) and examines how parental evaluation is associated with other aspects of parents’ views and characteristics, such as their demographic features, parental satisfaction with their child’s language development, integration experiences among both children and parents, and parental involvement in the program. Next, the researcher investigates whether parents plan to enroll their child in KDLPs until the secondary level (grade 8 or 12) and examines the relationship between their plan and program evaluation. The study also probes the association between parental commitment plans and other variables related to parents’ views and characteristics. Finally, the study explores potential reasons that could spur parents to leave KDLPs. Research Design: This quantitative study used survey data collected from a sample of over 450 parents of students in seven KDLPs at the elementary level in Southern California. This study employed multilevel modeling, accounting for the nested data structure of respondents within schools. The parental evaluation variable was explored by multilevel ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with a cubed form of program evaluation value as the dependent variable to explore parents’ evaluation. For examining parents’ program commitment plans, multilevel logistic regression analysis was employed. To examine the difference between Korean and non-Korean parents in potential reasons for leaving the program, this study used the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. Conclusions/Recommendations: The results show that parental evaluation of KDLPs is positively linked with satisfaction in bilingualism, biliteracy, academic rigor, and sociocultural competence variables, with satisfaction in the target language (Korean) and academic rigor having the most significant impact. The study also reveals that parents’ likelihood of enrolling their child in a secondary KDLP is influenced by the length of their child’s enrollment, satisfaction with academic rigor, and integration among children. Interestingly, program evaluation does not significantly affect enrollment decisions. The integration issue that children did not get along with students of different races and cultures was the most influential reason for leaving the KDLPs for both Korean and non-Korean parents. Non-Korean parents also cited challenges with target language instruction as a potential reason for leaving the program. In summary, the results reveal the complex nature of parental perceptions and highlight the values that parents prioritize when assessing the programs. These insights have important implications for future research on KDLPs and DLBE programs more broadly, in terms of both advancing theoretical discussions and informing empirical investigations. By shedding light on the complexities of parental evaluations, this study also proposes the need for a distinct ideological framework in Asian language programs to better understand individual experiences and promote equity and justice in those programs.

“Research shows”: Authoritative discourse in dual language bilingual education across two school districts

In this article, we synthesize ethnographic data from two studies in US school districts that were implementing dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in order to remediate the standardized test scores of students from Spanish‐speaking families. While educators in both districts commonly cited “the research” to justify DLBE implementation, our ethnographic exploration of local research discourse highlights some ideological contradictions within DLBE that are often obscured by advocacy imperatives.

Dual Language Bilingual Education as a Pathway to Racial Integration? A Place-Based Analysis of Policy Enactment

ABSTRACT Across the United States, cities like St. Louis may be perceived as predominantly Black/White and monolingual. In such places, there are often few state resources and expertise driving the new growth of dual language bilingual education (DLBE)—that is, policies and programs that aim to develop students’ bilingualism and biculturalism from an early age. Moreover, research rarely explores how DLBE programs develop within particular racial and political contexts, despite their goals to integrate diverse youth. This study focuses on the city of St. Louis to examine how DLBE policies are enacted within particular localities, especially for children from racially and linguistically minoritized backgrounds. Framed by theories of policy enactment, this analysis is part of three multiyear partnerships focused on language education in St. Louis and two school districts in similar state contexts. We found that DLBE enactment in each school system was shaped by community histories, changing demographics, and local education policies focused on racial desegregation and school choice. While each space created racially integrated schools, their enactment was shrouded by Whiteness, especially the history of magnet schools and (White) parental choice as essential for schools’ development. We conclude that place-based research and communal partnerships must carefully consider the unique factors shaping education reform, to recognize for and by whom new programs are truly created and to work toward more socially just, transformative educational contexts.

Teacher beliefs about multilingual learners: how language ideologies shape teachers’ hypothetical policymaking

ABSTRACT Teachers’ language ideologies shape their classroom language policy-making, which in turn shapes students’ opportunities to learn. Attention to language ideologies is therefore critical for teacher educators who seek to support pre- and in-service teachers in becoming pro-multilingual policymakers. This mixed methods, survey-based study explores the language ideologies and hypothetical policy-making of 134 pre- and in-service teachers at a large public university in Arizona. It employs decision tree models to examine connections between participants’ demographics, their language ideologies, and their hypothetical policymaking around Spanish-English dual-language bilingual education (DLBE). Findings show intersections between current and future educators’: (a) contextualized experiences, (b) ability to discuss DLBE accurately (without misunderstandings), and (c) ability to engage concretely with details of hypothetical policy making around DLBE. The study offers a unique vantage point from which to consider how pre- and in-service teacher education can inform teachers’ accurate understandings of DLBE/multilingualism, language ideological stances, and stances toward linguistic diversity.

Making “Small Waves of Change”: Dual Language and General Education Teacher Transformation through Instructional Coaching

AbstractThis multisite qualitative case study explores ways in which instructional coaching focused on English language development (content) and teachers' individual beliefs (process) can help general education and dual language bilingual education elementary teachers work within and through perceived institutional barriers to improve their language and literacy instruction for designated English language learners (ELLs). In practice, much literacy coaching in schools is often finite and fidelity‐oriented yet coaching grounded in constructivism empowers and emboldens teachers to become agents of change. Using the Vygotsky Space theoretical framework, we draw on multiple data sources generated during classroom observations, sessions with an instructional coach, and postprogram interviews to examine how 12 teachers moved through the stages of appropriation, transformation, publication, and conventionalization over the course of a 2‐year period. Results show that teachers exhibited meaningful shifts in their beliefs and teaching practices for ELLs during their coaching experience, but that sharing and internalizing those changes are protracted processes. We also identified two additional phases in the Vygotsky Space cycle: prepublication, where teachers expressed desires and plans to share new ideas, and scale‐up, where teachers began to reach individuals and institutions beyond their initial context.

Students’ attitudinal development in a dual language bilingual education program from Grade 1 to Grade 5

ABSTRACT Measures of 31 Latinx students’ attitudes in a Grade 5 Spanish dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program were compared with those of the same students four years prior. Twenty-one mainstream English students comprised a comparison group for the same time period. Some statistically significant changes occurred for students in DLBE related to loss of enthusiasm toward Spanish, but this loss was attenuated for ELLs; similar changes occurred for mainstream English students, with a few exceptions. Measures related to multiculturalism increased marginally for students in both programs. Implications are discussed regarding equitable spaces to nurture the sociocultural competence of bilingual students.