"They Give You a Lot of Work": Neoliberalism and Emergent Bilingual Literacy Experiences

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Positioning Language, Identity, and Content in the Classroom

Abstract

This paper details the ways that neoliberal school culture mediated the academic literacy experiences of emergent bilinguals, also known as English learners, at two elementary schools, as revealed through their narratives. Exploring the instructional lives of emergent bilinguals, this study identifies the themes that participants’ narratives brought to light of learning as list of mundane tasks to be completed, students’ uptake of teacher assessment language, and a general school discourse of competitiveness and standardization. Additionally, participants addressed these elements by compartmentalizing their school and home literate identities. Findings from this study reveal the ways that neoliberalism in education may play out at the classroom level, thus directly impacting the instructional lives of elementary emergent bilingual students.

Author

• Pamela J. Hickey, Towson University