"Eu sei, I Know": Balancing Literacies and Immigrant Experience in a Portuguese-English Dual-Language Program

• In Event: Language, Identity, and Power: Literacies of Resistance Across Spaces

Abstract

As recent research has revealed how English literacies can be disproportionately privileged in dual-language spaces, this study documents specific discourses by which privileging occurs and teachers’ responses. Drawing on ethnographic and interview methods, this study explores the implications of dual-language programs on Brazilian K-1 students’ bilingual/biliterate identities. Data analysis reveals specific ways that the English language and speakers were privileged, including Portuguese teachers’ fear of isolating English-dominant children, the emphasis on these students’ needs during Portuguese lessons, and pressure from U.S. parents. Concurrently, English language teachers report structural challenges that impede relationship building with language-minoritized emergent bilinguals. In this milieu, the children themselves take on novel roles as brokers of cultural and linguistic knowledge, redistributing opportunities for language development.

Authors

• Gabrielle Oliveira, Harvard University

• Mariana Lima Becker, Boston College

• Chris K. Chang-Bacon, University of Virginia