Translingual Science Learning in Engineering Education: Language Policing and Language Hegemony That Reinforced Linguistic Boundaries

• In Event: Translanguaging and Disciplinary Literacies: Exploring and Leveraging Translanguaging Across Disciplinary Contexts

Abstract

Objectives. This paper addresses language socialization in learning settings involving multilingual youth of color. Due to the changes in demographic trends in the United States, the number of multilingual students has increased in the nation’s schools (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). With the implementation of new frameworks for science education, such as the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS), all children in elementary and secondary classrooms are expected to learn about engineering. These frameworks rarely consider the linguistic and cultural assets that students bring into the STEM classroom. Rather, multilingual students are one-sidedly framed as in need of language-intensive practices to develop their English language and scientific literacy.
Similarly, previous scholarship on multilingual populations in the United States often assumes a homogenous experience in learning settings, especially in science education, while omitting the complexity and various epistemologies within these communities (Fox & Rivera-Salgado, 2004; S. Lee, 2015; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Stephen, 2007).

Methods and data. What would happen if we created linguistic inclusive environments for learning engineering in school? Drawing on the conceptual and methodological approaches at the intersection of science education and applied linguistics research, this study aims to contribute empirical data to this question in the multilingual science classrooms. The events described in this manuscript took place during a bilingual summer program with a focus on engineering at a private university in California during the summer of 2017. Video and audio data were collected during the program and analyzed using a taxonomical analysis of language use (Brown & Spang, 2007).

Theoretical framework. This study draws on insights from scholarship on applied linguistics and science education. From the former, this paper integrates perspectives on translanguaging (García, 2009, 2017; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015; Poza, 2016). This paper also integrates science education research focused on culturally and linguistically diverse populations (Brown, Reveles, & Kelly, 2005; Lee, 2005; Licona, 2015; Lee & Fradd, 1996; Fang, 2005). Both of these perspectives help us understand how multilinguals deploy their linguistic resources when inclusive environments for language use are created in the context of science and engineering.

Results and significance. Three major themes emerged from the data. First, participants perceived that (1) linguistic interactions construct complex dynamics of power, and (2) linguistic resources reflect the power of named languages as shown in research by Martínez (2013). Participants also (3) construct and maneuver language into positions of dominance and subordination.
The question proposed above sought an account of students’ language practices in learning environments in Spanish-only, English-only and translanguaging. The finding: students know borders. They also police their language interactions. Even after we created linguistic fluid spaces, where students could speak in ways they felt more comfortable, social constraints around language prevailed in students’ minds. This study unpacks the intricacy of language value by showing the way pedagogical conditions provide or withdraw affordances for linguistic transactions in specialized learning environments. The results of this study provide a glimpse into the role of language boundaries in students’ negotiation of their linguistic resources in engineering and science.

Authors

• Greses Perez, Tufts University

• Karla Lomeli, Santa Clara University

• Alexander Mejia, Stanford University