Teachers as street-level bureaucrats: Navigating language ideologies and restrictive language environments

ABSTRACT

This critical literature review employs a novel combination of theoretical perspectives to examine the ways teachers navigate restrictive language policy. Specifically, we examine the documented effects of California’s Proposition 227 on pre-service and in-service teachers’ language ideologies and classroom practices. In our investigation, we explored the link between restrictive language policy and language ideologies by addressing an overarching question: How are language ideologies related to restrictive language policy? We also sought to answer the questions: How did teachers’ language ideologies impact the implementation of Proposition 227? And, how did Proposition 227 affect teachers’ language ideologies and practices? We discuss our findings and how pre-service and in-service teachers, as street-level bureaucrats, possess agency to resist harmful language policies in restrictive language environments. Finally, we conclude with implications for teacher education, highlighting the role teacher educators play in helping to foster educational equity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grace Lee

Grace Lee is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Houston. She conducts research in the Child Language Ability Lab which centers on narrative assessment and code-switching in school-age speakers who are bidialectal. Her research interests lie at the intersection of language, power and equity. Grace’s current research looks at eye-gaze pattern profiles in bidialectal speakers as well as teachers’ perceptions of African American English narrative language.

Mikel Cole

Mikel Cole is Associate Professor and Bilingual/ESL Program Director in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Houston. He studies multilingual learners and emergent bilingual students in K–12 settings and is particularly interested in the development of teaching methods and practices that utilize linguistic and cultural strengths in the classroom. Mikel engages in the preparation of teachers to provide equitable and effective instruction for these students as well as the research that explores the intersections of language policy with classroom instruction.