Adolescent African English Learners' Perceptions of Educational Opportunity

• In Event: 54.077 - Educating Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners: New Approaches to Achieving Educational Justice

Abstract

This paper presentation focuses on how ten adolescent multilingual English Learners (ELs) from the Congo connect different linguistic assets, and life experiences to new language development and educational opportunity. Data are drawn from a year-long qualitative study that examines the additional language and literacy learning experiences of these students. The conceptual framework guiding this study is grounded in sociocultural theories of language and identity (Vygotsky, 1978), and the notions of translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014) and raciolinguistic identities (Flores & Rosa, 2015). As will be shown, data-driven conceptualizations of how students perceive of educational opportunity drew heavily on their racialized identities within a predominantly White, African American and Latino immigrant student body. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Liv Thorstensson Davila, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

• Lan Quach Kolano, University of North Carolina - Charlotte