A Look Into the Theory and Praxis of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Paris and Alim (2014) ask the question, “What if, indeed, the goal of teaching and learning with youth of color was not ultimately to see how closely students could perform White middle-class norms but to explore, honor, and extend, and, at times, problematize their heritage and community practices?” This question pushes educational researchers and practitioners to expand the pedagogical possibilities of schooling by centering the heritage and community practices (Paris, 2012) of marginalized youth of color and respond to the “pluralist present and future” of the nation (Paris & Alim, 2014). This paper takes a look at 1) the formation of the theory behind CSP as it pushes forward Gloria Ladson-Billings’ foundational work on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (1995) and, 2) through ethnography, helps fill in some of the unknowns about the praxis of CSPs in bilingual classrooms.

As CSP currently stands, issues of language in linguistically diverse classrooms have not been sufficiently studied. However, schools that employ CSPs in language settings provide an opportunity to study how they are conceptualized and practiced by educators. This study employs various qualitative research methods to investigate the ways in which a small Latino-run charter high school in California uses CSPs to produce biliterate/bilingual college ready students. Because of its explicit school-wide commitment to implementing CSPs, this site offers a unique research opportunity to help fill in some of the unknowns of CSP research and praxis, specifically that of fostering bilingualism with careful attention the challenges that accompany Heritage Language Education (Beaudrie & Fairclough, 2012) and the curricularization of language (Valdés, 2015).

This study investigates how CSPs can respond to the linguistic needs of Latino students from a community where Spanish and English are both used. In this work, I explore how such pedagogical alternatives can serve as a model for success in an attempt to ameliorate the current disadvantageous situation of Latino education in the U.S. To do so requires a deep understanding of the linguistic components of CSPs as theorized by Paris and Alim (2017). I will present my findings on how educators, in this setting, conceptualize the theoretical components of CSP and, what they look like in practice. The work provides insight into the particular aspects of CSPs that address language, including: 1) pluralism in linguistically diverse classrooms; 2) the fluid and ever-changing nature of language (language is not static); and, 3) how youth reshape cultural practices and identities.

Author

• Courtney Peña, Stanford University