Social Justice and Equity: Transformative Pedagogy for Emergent Bilinguals

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Bilingual Education Teacher Professional Development and Practices

Abstract

This paper reports the preliminary findings of a grounded theoretical study that aimed to discover how fourth grade emergent bilinguals understood issues of social justice and equity when studying slavery in Texas, a social studies topic associated with the regular curricula. The transformative pedagogical approach implemented in the study included Freire’s (1970) notion of conscientizacao or consciousness-raising and the construct of empathy. The instructional approach resulted in students’ embodiment of social justice and equity when they drew explicit connections between these social issues and their own life. The implications of adding complexity to the curricula is that while content knowledge is advanced, emergent bilinguals can discover the possibilities of change through agency.

Author

• Mary Esther Huerta, Texas State University - San Marcos