Bilingual Review/Revista Bilingüe

Answerability in Dual-Language Bilingual Education

Dan Heiman — 2024-08-16

Protecting, Learning, and Connecting

Jasmine Alvarado — 2024-08-16

Educational research often presents hegemonic structures, narratives, and labels as necessary precursors for discussing the lived experiences of multiply-minoritized families in schools. Indeed, it is essential to be attuned to the malleable, historical, and punishing social and material mechanisms of multiple matrices of oppression that inform families’ schooling and educational experiences. At the same time, this critical attunement can also be displayed through forms of expression that center the lived experiences of families as foundations for inquiring, studying, and reimagining dominant ways of knowing and being in the world. As part of these efforts, this article employs portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) to describe how one family—Flor, Melanie, and Samuel—challenges and reimagines forms of being, relating, and learning connected to dual language bilingual education and family-U.S. school relations. Following Lawrence-Lightfoot’s (2005) comparison of portraiture’s aesthetic wholeness to that of a tapestry, this portrait weaves field notes, transcripts, and memos from 2019 to 2022 to describe focal moments and interactions with Flor, Samuel, and Melanie. In the portrait, Flor, Samuel, and Melanie critiqued adult-centered family participation structures in school events and bounded forms of communication and interaction placed upon children during the school day. At the same time, this family reconfigured the purpose and relational dynamics within and outside the dual language bilingual program. Overall, Flor, Samuel, and Melanie show how possible worlds are already here because they have been born out of necessity among groups of people to survive. Their portrait demands that researchers and educational leaders become attuned to the possibilities for better living, caring, and relating with one another that have not been historically supported or cultivated but that can now act as portals for reimagining the purpose and nature of education as part of COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts.

Accountability Through Vulnerability

Rachel Bhansari — 2024-08-16

In this article, I analyze discussions of emotions arising in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms and relate the process of “embracing discomfort” to identity and power. I utilize data gathered in a single semi-structured interview within a critical ethnography with collaborative elements. In this interview, my collaborators and I named our emotions and utilized diagrams, colors, and multiple forms of expression to explore them. I include myself as a participant analyzing my contributions. In the study, I demonstrate that discussing emotion served a variety of purposes for individuals of differing identities.

From the Field to the Cancha

María Cioè-Peña — 2024-08-16

This paper, bringing together perspectives from education and medicine, foregrounds how gatekeeping practices within (language) education counter the missions of bilingual education at large and dual language bilingual education while contributing to the promotion of systemic oppression. Drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualizations and through unpacked personal and broader structural experiences, we explicate how the field of language education contains systemic gatekeeping via limiting bilingual program access based on disability status or perceived linguistic deficiencies. Through socialization and schooling practices, marginalized individuals internalize and reproduce gatekeeping despite seeking greater access. We propose shifting towards “goalkeeping,” emphasizing cross-linguistic coalition-building and collective responsibility. Integrating theories of critical consciousness and identity safety, we surface reasons why (language) educators focused on critical consciousness want the particularly attentive gatekeeping practices in order to create more just educational spaces.

El antagonismo entre la filantropía educativa de riesgo y el control comunitario

Andrew Hurie — 2024-08-16

Este artículo utiliza como fuentes de investigación entrevistas de historia oral y trabajo de archivo para historizar el desarrollo del programa de “escuelas pequeñas” y sus relaciones con la educación bilingüe y el lenguaje dual (dual language bilingual education, o DLBE por sus siglas en inglés) en Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EE.UU. Guiado por Tony Báez, un renombrado educador bilingüe y activista social, planteo que el programa de las escuelas pequeñas impulsado por la Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation en los años 2000, representa la injerencia de las políticas de privatización y la filantropía de riesgo (venture philanthropy) como barreras al control comunitario. Sin embargo, estas historias del pasado también reflejan la voluntad, la resistencia y las tensiones dentro de los proyectos liderados por Latinxs que posicionan la DLBE como parte de la autodeterminación colectiva. Argumento que las colectividades bilingües (Latinxs y no-Latinxs) fortificaron y expandieron los programas existentes de educación bilingüe en Milwaukee, mientras que los intereses hegemónicos trabajaron sutilmente para promover la privatización y la escolarización sólo en inglés. Este artículo aporta un análisis sobre los efectos de la filantropía de riesgo en la DLBE, y resalta una perspectiva comunitaria que ofrece otras posibilidades para la educación bilingüe que el antagonismo de la filantropía.

Coalition-Building in TWBE

Sofia Chaparro — 2024-08-16

This article explores the potential for coalition building in integrated two-way bilingual education (TWBE) programs. I begin with an ethnographic poem as a point of departure. The poem is based on the relationship between two kindergarten girls who were participants in my study; I envision what one might say to the other based on observations, field notes, and the analysis of interactions between them over their first year as classmates. Drawing from the literature on integration and cross-cultural friendships within and outside the TWBE literature, I explore tensions and possibilities in TWBE settings, and provide ethnographic examples of activism, allyship, and empowerment in integrated TWBE contexts as a way to build coalition-spaces for social justice.

“We Need to Revisit the ‘Whys’ all the Time”

Kathryn Henderson — 2024-08-16

In this article, I re-visit pláticas with members of a pre-K through 8th grade school academy to explore the community “Whys” behind Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE). This article aims to capture and describe these “Whys” first from a padre de familia, second from the Assistant Principal, third from una maestra de tercer grado, y al último, I share my researcher “Why” and my ongoing process to embody researcher action and community answerability. The purpose of these “Whys” is to be a source of inspiration for reflection and action in DLBE. The article sheds light on the personal, educational, and cultural dimensions of the “Whys” behind DLBE. It serves as a valuable resource for educators, researchers, and policymakers interested in understanding the holistic impact of DLBE on individuals and communities.

Navigator, the “American” Bilingual Bridger

G. Sue Kasun — 2024-08-16

Embracing Answerability in Dual Language Bilingual Education Research

Claudia Cervantes-Soon — 2024-08-16