Interrupting the Silence of Latina/o Children in Dual Language Education: Voices From the New Latina/o South

• In Event: 49.053 - Critical Conversations in Dual Language Education

Abstract

This study unpacks the causes of self-silencing of Latino children’s language, participation and voice in a newly Latinized state in the U.S. South, offering insights to interrupt this silence from teachers and Latin@ immigrant parents’ perspectives. The study draws on ethnographic research at a school with a dual-language immersion program to reveal how the unique context of immigrant families’ everyday life merges with the hidden curriculum of a socially stratified school resulting in Latin@ student silence despite the school’s noble goals of bilingualism and equity. It also posits that dual language education remains promising in promoting Latino students’ bilingualism and voice, but only when critical pedagogy practices and immigrant families’ cultural and epistemological resources are seriously incorporated into the classroom.

Author

• Claudia G. Cervantes-Soon, The University of Texas at Austin