Dare We Release Imposed Linguistic Labels? Performativity in Label-Free Linguistic Spaces

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-11 - Dare the School Alone Work Toward Social Justice? (Re)Imagining Community-Based Spaces as Sites for Critical Education

Abstract

Objectives:
The purpose of this presentation is to question the ways in which academic settings stigmatize young people, primarily “L2 English learners” (Lam, 2000), through linguistic labeling. The presenter will elaborate upon ways in which schools and communities can begin to collaboratively problematize the nature of linguistic labels to (re)imagine and restore socially-just linguistic perceptions of students.The presenter will offer his conceptual findings on the potential of “Label-Free Linguistic Spaces,” in which so-called “ELL” students can determine their own linguistic performativity as opposed to ascribing to institutional labels that are imposed onto them.

Perspectives or Theoretical Framework:
Combining Judith Bulter’s (1993; 2007) notion of performativity and Michel Foucault’s (2000) conception of the state’s sovereign power, the presenter will provide a theoretical framework outlining the impact of imposing labels onto students and their communities from the early twentieth century to the present.

Methods, Techniques, or Modes of Inquiry:
A conceptual qualitative theoretical framework.

Data sources, Evidences, or Objects, or Materials:
The presenter utilizes existing qualitative literature which evaluates the lived experiences of young people in schools and communities and the impact linguistic labels have on their experiences.

Results/Substantiated Conclusions or Warrants for Arguments/Points of View:
Language acquisition scholars and teachers have attempted to reduce stigmatization in academic settings by proposing more culturally relevant labels -- from ESL to ESOL, and from ELLs to emergent bilinguals (August, Shanahan, & Escamilla, 2006; Escamilla, 2006; Hawkins, 2010). However, these attempts cannot dissolve linguistic stratification because they potentially perpetuate the imposed identity of “ELL” beyond academic spaces and into community-based settings. When institutions impose labels onto students they also impose presumptions about their identities and abilities. In this way, institutional labeling can eclipse students’ own attempts at self-identification (Lee, 2005; Tharpe & Yamauchi, 1994). At the macro level, the state exercises its sovereign power (Focault, 2000) through ELL labeling (Butler, 2007) and high-stakes testing; while at the micro level, both practitioners and students are often forced to participate in “othering” students based on linguistic difference. Because labels have the potential to create a power dynamic, “Label-Free Linguistic Spaces,” situated within community-based settings provide an opportunity to move away from labeling, and to provide implications for critical education.

Scientific or Scholarly Significance:
It is worthwhile to see how labeling affects multilingual students both in school and their communities. Such an inquiry may provide opportunities to dissolve such linguistic labels and their citational practices. By examining the performativity of “ELL” students in multiple spaces, the presenter offers important scholarly inquiries concerning the role of emergent bilingual students in spaces beyond traditional academic settings.

Author

• Douglas Lloyd Adams, University of Wisconsin - Madison