A Critical Discourse Analysis of Language Access Policies in Schools

• In Event: Navigating Equity in Language and Immigration Policy

Abstract

The rights of language minoritized parents-- up to a quarter of all parents in U.S. schools-- are = negotiated in interpreted conversations with educators, thus interpreting is school policy with consequential equity implications. In this critical discursive analysis, we examine interpreting and translation as educational policy using Machin's (2013) framework. We employ critical analysis of qualitative interviews with school stakeholders in an Urban Mid-Atlantic and Urban Midwest school district. Our analysis shows how policy actors in schools approach interpretation policy by addressing how they evaluate interpretation, as well as what they omit and substitute in their perspectives of interpreted communications with families. We share both theoretical and practical implications towards greater justice in educational policy for communication with language minoritized families.

Authors

• Crissa Stephens, Georgetown University

• Trish Morita-Mullaney, Purdue University