Discourses Surrounding Latinx Students and Families among Literacy Educators

ABSTRACT

The literacy faculty at a regional, comprehensive university in the southeastern U.S. explored the perceptions of students in their undergraduate and graduate literacy programs—as well as students in contiguous, supported programs—regarding the achievement gaps between Latinx and bi/multilingual students and their White, English-dominant peers. They asked participating pre-service and in-service educators (N = 60) to write a brief narrative explaining why, in their opinion, the reading scores of Latinx students and bi/multilingual learners were significantly lower than their English-dominant peers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading for Georgia in 2015 and 2017. The researchers analyzed the participants’ responses to determine the prevalence of asset- and deficit-oriented perspectives among pre-service and in-service educators in their literacy education programs and courses. Qualitative analysis of responses revealed that both asset- and deficit-based discourse was evidenced, though deficit-oriented perspectives were more prevalent. While attempting to advocate for Latinx and bi/multilingual students, most respondents, especially pre-service and early career educators, likely inadvertently, explained the achievement gaps using a deficit orientation. The researchers suggest considerations for systemic change and improvement in their literacy education courses and programs based on these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Latina/o
• Latinx
• bi/multilingual learners
• asset-based discourse
• deficit-based discourse
• teacher preparation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.