Reframing dual language education in the U.S.

In the past decade alone, the proportion of multilingual children in U.S. schools has risen from 11% to 23% of the entire K-12 student body (Ramirez and Faltis 2020). This demographic change has had an enormous impact on schools where an increasing number of students are still developing language and literacy skills in various languages, while at the same time learning how to speak, read, and write in English. The Office of English Language Acquisition (2015) reports that with the increase of diversity in the student population, bilingualism has also burgeoned in K-12 schools. Many linguistically and culturally minoritized students in K-12 educational contexts continue to be confined in instructional language models that exclude the full use of their linguistic and cultural resources; these inequities are persistent even in dual language classrooms (Lindholm-Leary 2016; Ramírez 2016).

Those who serve in the frontline (teachers) can ultimately influence the academic trajectories of youth in the public school system. Due to the lack of quality training and preparation of teachers working with multilingual youth, teachers’ instructional and pedagogical understandings of the needs in this vastly expanding population of students bring a classroom which will continue to perpetuate deficit views of students; thus, leading to reproduction of pedagogical deficit model practices that impact the academic attainment of linguistically diverse learners. Further, the lack of knowledge about diverse dual language learners and lack of experience comprehending the intersectionality of culture, family and community with the academic success of dual language students will have a lasting and irreversible impact on dual language populations (Cervantes-Soon 2014; de Jong 2013). A review of studies (García 2010; Henderson 2018; Sánchez, García, and Solorza 2018) associated with dual language students contend that the academic achievement of multilingual students is predicated on the development of caring relationships between students and their teachers, counselors and other school agents. That said, today all dual language youth are too often confined to classrooms in which teachers cannot or will not cross-cultural or linguistic boundaries to affirm identities or implement modified strategies that promote academic or personal success. Culturally and linguistically diverse students are more likely to attend schools with less qualified teachers. Moreover, schools with a high concentration of multilingual learners and or newcomer youth are more likely to employ teachers with provisional, emergency or temporary certification than that of schools with low language learner enrollments (Ramírez 2016).

This particular volume focused on examining new ideas and perspectives shaping this field. This particular edition explored the manner in which dual language teachers, educators, administrators, and community members engaged in classroom settings with culturally and linguistically diverse students populations. Further, this issue highlights diverse perspectives in the field of multilingual education in urban school contexts.

Dual language education through a critical lens

The authors in this special issue each examined their particular educational context through a critical lens. Further, authors interrogated structural and programmatic factors that have historically shaped the language education of linguistically diverse student in K-12 classroom settings. In addition, scholars chronicled the way in which dual language teachers co-create language space for students in restrictive language education settings.

In this volume, a broad conversation on how content area teaching intersects with dual language education illustrated in the volume presented. Authors articulate the way in which dual language teachers examine curricula through a critical dual language lens.

Language policies influencing the dual language education in K-12 classroom settings are also a particular theme that is presented by contributing authors. Since language polices in various U.S. states are distinct, authors shed light on how language policies are shaping the instructional language model in particular school districts informing their studies.

This special issue

The special edition is organized into two sections. The first section focuses on dual language teacher preparation and pedagogy. The second section looks at the intersection of dual language education, language policy, and social justice.

In ‘Ciencias Bilingües: How Dual Language Teachers Cultivate Equity in Dual Language Classroom’, Melissa A. Navarro Martell documented how K-8 critically conscious, dual language, science teachers (CCDLSTs) working with bilingual learners (BLs) practiced their critical consciousness via the four tenets of dual language education: ideological clarity, pedagogical perspective and clarity, access for all, and equitable spaces (IPAE). The research is guided by and informed by the fourth tenet and research question: How do CCDLSTs create equitable spaces in science learning environments? Previous research offers limited information on how dual language, science teachers practice their critical consciousness. Given the era of Common Core State Standards and the number of BLs left with underprepared teachers, this study advances an understanding of what CCDLSTs are doing in classrooms to draw upon the assets of BLs while implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). A phenomenological qualitative design was used to gather interview and observational data on how six CCDLSTs working in Southern California public schools employed a critically conscious pedagogy in a Spanish/English dual language setting while creating access to science content with equity at the core. Findings include research-based examples of the instructional processes CCDLSTs used in their classrooms to create equity while teaching science in dual language classrooms.

Armando Garza in, ‘At the Intersection of Culture, Bilingualism, and Mathematics: Breaking Language Norms in a Seventh-Grade Dual-Language Classroom for Biliteracy Development’, presents an ethnographic case of a seventh-grade DLE mathematics classroom, and examined how the members of this mathematics community used their bilingual abilities in a flexible way; which in turn, influence the development of mathematics biliteracies. Drawing from a larger ethnographic project, this study showed how the members of a bilingual mathematics community of practice break language norms, which prevail in DLE classrooms, to promote mathematics biliteracies. Findings suggest that using a ‘translanguaging’ approach in DLE classrooms is an effective way for teaching and learning mathematics with a biliteracy approach. Some implications for schools, teachers, and teacher educators are discussed.

Next, in ‘Translanguaging in a Secondary Social Studies Classroom: Creating Language Spaces with Bilingual Youth’, Ramírez and Taylor present a qualitative study that investigated the ways in which one secondary social studies teacher engaged bilingual youth through translanguaging and citizenship education. The authors employed a translanguaging framework to document the ways in which a ninth-grade bilingual teacher created language spaces with students. This study demonstrated the creative manner in which one social studies teacher used students’ full linguistic repertoire to shape classroom instruction and advance conversations about community empowerment, civic life, social studies, and Latinx leadership.

In the second section of this volume, María Capdevila-Gutiérrez, Eduardo Muñoz-Muñoz, Fernando Rodríguez-Valls, and Jordi Solsona-Puig in, ‘The time is now! Preparing Middle and High School Teachers for Dual Immersion Programs (Spanish-English) in California: A readying examination of current practices, needs, and potentialities’ reflects on current language education experiences both from the teacher preparation perspective and from daily teaching and learning in DI classrooms. From the intersection of their positionalities and lived experiences, the authors conceptualize the next steps in the preparation of future Dual Immersion (Spanish–English) secondary teachers. In doing so, they outlined specific skills middle and high school DI teachers must have in order to build effective practices around three key areas for Dual Immersion instruction: Bilingualism and Biliteracy, Student Achievement, and Socio-Cultural Competence. The authors argue that in order to guarantee the success and high quality of DI programs in middle and high school, Teacher Preparation Programs and School Districts should work together now developing a comprehensive and intentional preparation and support for middle and high school DI teachers and administrators working in these school sites.

In ‘From compliance to resistance: Administrator perspectives on implementing structured English immersion and dual language bilingual education programs’, Evelyn Baca presents a qualitative case study that explored the perspectives of school administrators on implementing structured English immersion (SEI) and dual-language bilingual education (DLBE) programs that served emergent BLs at one urban Arizona elementary school. Using a sociocultural policy perspective, the findings from a series of interviews examined the ways the participating administrators navigated and implemented restrictive language policies, while simultaneously providing pathways to DLBE opportunities for emergent BLs. The data underscored that there was ongoing tension between compliance and resistance to state-mandated policies. In addition, there were differences in how the administrators positioned emergent BLs as a good or bad fit for the DLBE program at the focal school site. The results and discussion underscore both the continued challenges of SEI policy in Arizona and the role of educational leaders in fostering spaces for biliteracy development.

Next, in ‘Recruiting and Preparing the Next Generation of Bilingual Teachers: Exploring the Potential of California’s Mini-Corps Program’, Margarita Jiménez-Silva, Nadeen Ruiz, and Samantha Smith examine the role of California Mini Corp had within the context of multilingual teacher preparation. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) Does the California Mini-Corps (CMC) program serve as a potential pool for today’s bilingual programs? (2) If so, what cultural community wealth do tutors bring to teaching? And (3) What support do tutors identify as critical in a teacher education credential program? The study examined how CMC tutors can address the critical teacher shortage and identify the assets that graduates of the program bring to teacher education programs. We also explore the needed supports identified by the tutors as critical to their success in the bilingual credential program.

To re-examine the role parents have dual language education, Jongyeon Ee in ‘Are Parents Satisfied with Integrated Classrooms?: Exploring Integration in Dual Language Programs’, presents a study that explores the integration in a two-way dual language immersion (DLI) context. Specifically, the present study examined parents of students in Korean–English DLI programs with the intent to understand the extent of their satisfaction with their child’s ability to get along with children of different cultures and languages. This study also examines parental views on integration among parents themselves. Using the survey data collected from over 450 parents in seven elementary schools in southern California, this quantitative study investigated to what degree the variables of integration among children and among parents are associated with other parental demographic characteristics and parental experiences in their child’s DLI program. Based on the findings, this study argues that integration in DLI must be a school-wide commitment and not simply a program’s goal. Moreover, to achieve integration in DLI, all stakeholders of the program need to be considered, including students, educators, and families of students in the school. This study also highlights the need to diversify discussions regarding DLI programs in terms of target languages, program types, and school locations.

In ‘Grassoots Resistance and Activism to One Size Fits All’, Juan Freire, Garret Delavan, and Verónica Valdez explore language policies impacting diverse language communities. Using thematic narrative analysis, the authors looked at the only two dual language schools in the U.S. state of Utah with a 90:10 language allocation. Findings show that (a) the two charter schools were pressured in multiple ways to conform to the state’s gentrification policy and (b) the schools and their Latina/o communities resisted the policy and associated pressures on behalf of their students through forms of grassroots language activism and bottom-up resistance. Although these actions ultimately resulted in the official revision of the state’s DL policy to be inclusive of multiple language allocation models, the schools had to continue their activism to benefit from the policy change as the state then moved to a separate-but-equal policy approach that continued the privileging of the 50:50 model. Implications for scholars and policymakers are discussed.

Lastly, in ‘Teaching Arabic to Youth and Children in Central Ohio: Between Love and Indictment’, Youmna Deiri presents a qualitative study that underscored the tensions faced when teaching Arabic. This study draws on translingual interviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 with seven Arabic bilingual teachers in Central Ohio, United States. The conceptual framework centers on raciolinguistic perspective and decolonial love pedagogies. The interview questions focused on: teachers’ pedagogical practices and challenges and opportunities (educational, social, and political) that they face while teaching Arabic. Findings assert that the teachers had a deep understanding of the impact of raciolinguistic ideologies and perspective on teaching Arabic and highlighted the implicit and explicit sociopolitical constraints that limit their students’ ability to use Arabic in contexts beyond the home environment. The findings also suggested that the bilingual Arabic teachers wrote themselves and their students differently from the raciolinguistic perspective imposed on them by focusing on decolonial love pedagogies. The implications require more intimate inquiry in the light of Orientalist and neoliberal politics of bilingual education in U.S. that pertain to Arabic education.

Summary

We hope the articles that have been included in this special issue will encourage continued conversations and scholarship regarding the intersectionality of dual language education, language policy, and social justice in K-12 diverse language classroom settings. Taken together, these articles contribute to a more robust and critical understanding of how dual language students experience education in the United States. This understanding can help prepare teachers to work with an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse population, and it can enrich and add important nuance to current scholarly discussions associated with multilingual education.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pablo C. Ramírez

Dr. Pablo C. Ramı́rez is Professor and Chair of the Teacher Education Department at CSU Dominguez Hills. His scholarship and research is associated with teacher preparation and critical multilingual education in K-12. Dr. Ramı́ rez's research attempts to understand how bi/multilingual teachers and leaders enact critical bicultural pedagogies to create linguistic space and advocate for students. He believe that teachers and educators must be advocates for language preservation in K-12 schools and communities.