Language Education Policies: Embracing Mexicano in Schools

• In Event: 66.032 - Challenging Colonial Legacies in Education: Reclaiming Indigenous Culture, Language, and Heritage in the Americas

Abstract

The first paper, “Language Education Policies: Embracing Mexicano in Schools” examines the micro and macro language educational policies in Mexico, and more specifically the integration of heritage language teaching in the area of teacher preparation. Coatepec de los Costales, located in Guerrero, Mexico is an Indigenous community in which at one time, Nahuatl was the primary language often referred to as Mexicano (Messing, 2009). Over the last 50 years there has been a pronounced language shift from Nahuatl to the national language of Spanish. The members of the older generations remain as key holders of the language while the youth are not not growing up speaking Mexicano. This recurring theme of language shift appears in several case studies (Lee, 2009; Messing, 2009). Coatepec has a population of roughly 1,500 members. There are two primary schools in Coatepec, one located in Masapa (east side of the zócalo) and the other in Guayapa (west side of the zócalo). Masapa has a total of 87 students and seven teachers and Guayapa 52 students and two teachers. There are also two preschools; one that is considered a “bilingual” school in which Nahuatl is taught to students.
The ethnographic study uses a conceptual framework that takes a critical sociocultural approach in examining language policies and practices to gain a better understanding of teacher ideologies, management, and practice (Spolsky, 2004) as they relate to heritage language revitalization of Mexicano. I further examined how these interacted in the schools with Indigenous children and parents in relation to their teacher preparation. Guiding questions included: How can schools maintain students’ Indigenous language and knowledges through teacher preparation training and parent and community involvement? Can schools save Indigenous languages? an issue Hornberger (2008) explores in her edited volume titled with this question. I further explore this question and suggest how schools can help bridge the gap between language and culture in education and teacher preparation programming. Specifically, I looked at the teacher-parent, teacher-student, and teacher-community interactions in Indigenous schools and schooling processes. I used a combination of observations, archival analysis, and in-depth interviews. A significant overarching finding was that there is a distinct gap in teacher knowledge of students’ language and culture and their ability to adequately meet the needs of Indigenous students. Teachers were not adequately nor appropriately prepared to serve students in Indigenous communities. At the same time, teachers showed an interest in learning about the students’ community, but they did not get the support from the school administrators. The paper concludes with implications for and suggestions to bridge the gap between home and school that strongly point out the critical role of policy makers in setting changes to better serve the Indigenous communities. Teachers’ language ideologies also play a critical role in language preservation as well as culture preservation. The paper will contribute to the greater field of educational language policies and Indigenous rights.

Author

• Rosalva Mojica Lagunas, Arizona State University - Tempe