Abstract:Abstract:The paper presents a frame analysis of Massachusetts state policy regarding the education of multilingual learners and their teachers through the lens of critical race t heory (CRT). My analysis suggests that even though current policy in Massachusetts is framed in terms of the overarching goals of educational quality and equality, in reality it substantively sanctions inequitable practices. This paper demonstrates that racism and linguicism towards multilingual learners are legally sanctioned in Mass… Show more
“…For example, many content teachers express a lack of willingness to accept responsibility for teaching multilingual learners (Pawan, 2008;Walker, Shafer, & Liams, 2004;Yoon, 2008). Schools often create policies and programs that limit the opportunities for multilingual student and family engagement (Viesca, 2013). Society itself is susceptible to political and social movements that are nativist, anti-immigrant, and overtly racist (e.g., the rise in White nationalism in the United States, Trump's election, Brexit in the UK, the election of a far-right political party in Germany called AfD).…”
Section: Overview Of Issues and Approachesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…A persistent obstacle to the adoption of pluralist perspectives is that multilingualism is closely linked to negative perceptions around race, class, culture, ability, and heteronormativity (Flores & Rosa, 2015;Viesca, 2013). Such perceptions are intersectional, meaning that perceptions around one aspect of identity (e.g., race) can impact perceptions around another (e.g., language), and thus deeply influence the opportunities multilingual students have across their educational lifespans.…”
Section: Overview Of Issues and Approachesmentioning
It is well-documented that content teachers (e.g., math, science, social studies, etc.) have not been adequately prepared to address the increasing number of multilingual students in their classes (Freeman & Freeman, 2014; Lucas, 2011). While many teacher education programs strive to prepare teachers during initial licensure programs (e.g.
“…For example, many content teachers express a lack of willingness to accept responsibility for teaching multilingual learners (Pawan, 2008;Walker, Shafer, & Liams, 2004;Yoon, 2008). Schools often create policies and programs that limit the opportunities for multilingual student and family engagement (Viesca, 2013). Society itself is susceptible to political and social movements that are nativist, anti-immigrant, and overtly racist (e.g., the rise in White nationalism in the United States, Trump's election, Brexit in the UK, the election of a far-right political party in Germany called AfD).…”
Section: Overview Of Issues and Approachesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…A persistent obstacle to the adoption of pluralist perspectives is that multilingualism is closely linked to negative perceptions around race, class, culture, ability, and heteronormativity (Flores & Rosa, 2015;Viesca, 2013). Such perceptions are intersectional, meaning that perceptions around one aspect of identity (e.g., race) can impact perceptions around another (e.g., language), and thus deeply influence the opportunities multilingual students have across their educational lifespans.…”
Section: Overview Of Issues and Approachesmentioning
It is well-documented that content teachers (e.g., math, science, social studies, etc.) have not been adequately prepared to address the increasing number of multilingual students in their classes (Freeman & Freeman, 2014; Lucas, 2011). While many teacher education programs strive to prepare teachers during initial licensure programs (e.g.
“…In supporting emergent bilinguals' competence needs, adopting an incremental perspective of intelligence (Dweck, 2000), Ms. Austin used carefully and intentionally calibrated goal setting and by tracking and celebrating the students' improved fluency and state-wide assessment scores. However, based on narrowly defined literacy (Gutiérrez et al, 2009), her practices were not sensitive to their bilingualism, and aimed to support students' successful assimilation into the dominant U.S. cultural context, a goal that is questionable from a perspective of equity and diversity (Viesca, 2013). In comparison, for Ms. Daniel, improved scores on the state reading assessment were less of a focus.…”
Section: Motivating and Engaging The Positioned Emergent Bilingualsmentioning
Highlights • Teachers' motivational practices related to their positioning of emergent bilinguals. • Teachers' historical and current resources partly supported their different positioning. • Teachers need to reflect critically on positioning processes in the classroom. • A holistic approach is needed in teacher education as situated in sociocultural contexts.
“…Currently, deficit discourse is subtly entangled in accountability and testing policies, which often ignore systemic inequalities, yet expect an equalization of educational outcomes (Darling-Hammond, 2007;Leonardo, 2007;Love, 2004). In the area of language policy, laws in several U.S. states frame English language learners as exclusively deficient in English, rather than as students who speak another language (Viesca, 2013), prompting the promulgation of narrow, simplified curriculum (Gutiérrez et al, 2009). 3 In conjunction with deficit discourse, discursive strategies can help to uphold inequity.…”
Section: Discourses and Discursive Strategies Used To Maintain Or Jusmentioning
Policy insiders across party lines increasingly acknowledge educational “gaps,” yet they talk about this inequity in very different ways. Though some critique disparities through a structural lens, others use deficit discourse, blaming families of color and working-class families for educational outcomes. This study examines how state policy insiders explain educational inequity, shedding light on the complex relationship between language and the maintenance of systemic racism and classism in education. Drawing upon a unique data set of interviews with 50 policy insiders in one state in the United States, we found three main discourses used to explain inequity in education, each of which cited a different cause: 1) structural inequity, 2) perceived deficits of families and communities, and 3) teachers unions and teacher seniority. Policy insiders used often-veiled discursive strategies to advance their discourses. For instance, those that used deficit discourse: 1) asserted that those most negatively impacted by inequity cause inequity; 2) strengthened deficit discourse by blending it with one or both of the other two discourses; and 3) made inequity appear natural through the use of several substrategies, including obscuring the identity of those harmed by inequity. These strategies allowed some policy insiders to strengthen deficit discourse, divert attention from structural issues, and characterize themselves positively while advancing racist and classist ideas. These findings have compelling implications in terms of possibilities for policy changes supportive of educational equity.
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