Teachers’ translanguaging practices and “safe spaces” for adolescent newcomers: Toward alternative visions

ABSTRACT

This study investigated structural features of a newcomer program housed within a comprehensive high school and language practices among newcomer students and their teachers. Findings indicate efforts to provide newcomer students with “safe spaces,” opportunities for language and literacy development in English and Spanish, and access to rigorous content. Structural features of the program paired with one teacher’s translanguaging practices, however, resulted in the prioritization of safe spaces, conceptualized as a physically separate classroom that sought to minimize language anxiety. Ultimately, by interpreting translanguaging as a way to avoid discomfort rather than to leverage newcomers’ dynamic bilingualism, this particular conceptualization of safe space afforded limited opportunities for the development of English language and literacy practices. Findings include implications for the design of newcomer programs and teacher preparation.

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my appreciation to George Bunch and Lucinda Pease-Alvarez for invaluable insight on earlier versions of this article and to anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback. I am also grateful to the students and teachers who generously welcomed me into their classrooms.

Notes

1. The term “English Learner” refers to the official designation of a student as in need of additional services to participate in the regular school program based on federal requirements.

2. Proposition 58, The Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education Act, repealed Proposition 227 in 2016. The repeal of English-only legislation has created new possibilities for bilingual instructional models for adolescent newcomers. At the time of data collection, however, Proposition 227 was still in effect.

3. All names of schools and participants are pseudonyms.

4. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides federal financial assistance to local control agencies (LEA) and schools serving large numbers or a high concentration of low-income students.

5. According to the 2014–2015 SARC, this award emphasized Garden Grove’s continuing efforts to support students designated as English learners.

6. While a detailed discussion of approaches to English language and literacy instruction is beyond the scope of this article, it is worth noting that there did not appear to be attention to genres or literacy practices specific to the various disciplines within any of the ELD classes I observed, nor did ELD teachers discuss students’ English language development in those terms.

7. “@” signals laughter, and “?” signals rising intonation.

8. For example, in her seminal study of code-switching, Poplack excluded from the definition of “skilled code switching” instances of switching that consisted of repetition of the preceding or following segment (1980, p. 601).