Black Liberation in Bilingual Education: A Case for Black Freedom Dreaming (Poster 8)

• In Event: Case Studies of Critically Conscious Practice in Dual-Language Bilingual Education Schools, Classrooms, and Communities

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose
On the heels of a changing linguistic landscape within U.S. contexts, classrooms have also experienced shifting environments with the increased demand for dual language bilingual education (DLBE). Although DLBE program goals appear to advocate for linguistically minoritized children, the linguistic and academic needs of Black American children are not always centered (Valdés, 2018). This poster presents a hypothetical case study that explores what it looks like to have pedagogical practices and strategies that c center Blackness beyond supposed linguistic boundaries in multilingual contexts.

Perspectives
This hypothetical case study is grounded in freedom dreaming (Love, 2019) that provides space for teachers to reimagine multilingual spaces that encourage linguistic liberation for Black children. From this perspective, teachers can recognize Black children’s full humanity, including their languages and literacies that are often not supported in sanctioned curriculum practices in DLBE classrooms. This case provides several examples of how bilingual teachers can recreate a multilingual ecology that places Black languages, identities, voices, and experiences at the center.

Methods/Data Sources
Based in a Midwestern Spanish/English dual language bilingual education program that primarily serves Black and Latinx children, this hypothetical case study collectively uses data from two qualitative case studies, as well as the childhood memories, past teaching and student experiences, in addition to dreams from the co-authors as current teacher educators. Using these elements, classroom vignettes were co-constructed that featured Jewell (pseudonym), a 9-year-old Black American in the DLBE program. In this poster session, Jewell recounts the memories and radical dreams of instances where her bilingual education teachers positioned her language and literacy practices as useful tools in the classroom.

Findings
In this study, we present how Jewell shares snapshots at various grade levels where she experienced ‘Black liberation’ in the bilingual classroom. These vignettes also demonstrated how Jewell and her elementary DLBE teachers enacted critical consciousness by the co-creation of spaces where she experienced Black liberation by going beyond linguistic boundaries and encouraging Black freedom dreaming (Kelley, 2002). For example, Jewell recalled how her kindergarten dual language teacher read I Love My Hair to the class and invited Jewell’s grandmother and the community hairdresser to show the class how hairbraiding was significant to her family using Black Language as a resource. Another example included Jewell and her fifth-grade teacher, collaboratively sharing a sample thematic unit that features Black joy and Black Language in multimodal examples and practices through oral storytelling, writing, art, and other literacy activities that encourage Black freedom dreaming beyond the supposed linguistic boundaries of bilingual contexts.

Scholarly Significance
This poster has implications for bilingual educators practicing critically conscious pedagogies that prioritizes Black languages and literacies in multilingual spaces. Much has been written about how Black children and their languages are often not highlighted within DLBE spaces, and this poster demonstrates concrete examples of how Black languages can be positioned as valuable with Black freedom dreaming. Further, this study highlights the importance of continuing to reimagine multilingual classrooms in light of linguistic liberation for Black children.

Authors

• Brittany Frieson, University of North Texas
  Presenting Author

• Vivian Elizabeth Presiado, Illinois State University
  Presenting Author