Gentrification and Bilingualism: Considering the Relationship Between Neighborhood Demographic Change and Dual-Language Programs

• In Event: What's in a Name? Notions of L2 Instruction Across Languages

Abstract

Research shows that bilingual education (BE) is academically beneficial for all students, regardless of their linguistic background, and leads to superior academic outcomes for English Learners (ELs), compared to English-only programs (e.g., Genesee et al., 2005; Lindholm-Leary & Howard, 2008; Rolstad et al., 2005). The inclusion of native English speakers (NEs) in BE through Dual Language (DL) programs increases opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and advocacy for BE, but also raises concerns about institutionalized linguistic power inequities negatively influencing ELs’ educational experiences (Flores & García, 2017; Freire et al., 2017; Palmer, 2009). Research describes trends of devaluation, reinvestment, and displacement in DL programming, which closely intersects with defining features of gentrification (Valdez et al., 2016).

However, most, if not all, extant research that explores the gentrification of DL programs does so through qualitative data. Building on the aforementioned qualitative research that evidence a metaphorical gentrification of DL programs, as well as research that establishes a relationship between neighborhood gentrification and schools (e.g., Davis & Oakley, 2013; Pearman & Swain, 2017; Smith & Higley, 2012), this quantitative study explores the statistical relationship between neighborhood gentrification and DL programs. Specifically, this study centers on a multiple regression analysis informed by a theoretical framework of Interest Convergence (Bell, 1980) and Racial Capitalism (Leong, 2013) that foregrounds asymmetrical motivations for bilingualism--that is, the unequal and inequitable ways that bilingualism is socially valuated, particularly in the United States context, based on the speaker’s heritage and English proficiency (both perceived and actual). Using novel, nation-wide data on DL programs in conjunction with NCES’ Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Universe Survey, Common Core of Data Local Education Agency (School District) Finance Survey (F-33), and Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates data; US Census data; and Geolytics' Neighborhood Change Database, this study evaluates how strongly neighborhood gentrification correlates with having a dual language program, change in district spending per student, and Native English Speaker (NE) to English Learner (EL) enrollment ratio.

This symposium presentation will discuss the construction of the model as well as implications of the statistical outcomes, particularly as they pertain to new ways that teachers, administrators, and policymakers should consider the interplay between neighborhood demographic change and ideologies related to language, L2 acquisition, and linguistic identity, as well as how this dynamic impacts programmatic choices, enrollment, and equitable access to programmatic offerings.

Author

• Abigail Do, Vanderbilt University