A Literature Review of Raciolinguistics in Dual-Language Bilingual Education: A Call for Conceptualizing Racialization

• In Event: Dual Language Bilingual Education: Trends, Policy, Pedagogy, and Future Directions

Abstract

Objective: Present a review of empirical research on dual-language bilingual education (DLBE) that uses a raciolinguistic lens. The questions guiding the review are: How is a raciolinguistics lens being used by scholars researching DLBE? How is DLBE research that draws from raciolinguistics contributing to understanding the racialization of groups?
I discuss the trends across the included studies (a majority focus on language/linguistic inquiries; who benefits from DLBE) and offer possible future research inquiries.
Framework: I present the reviewed articles by highlighting how education researchers utilize and understand a raciolinguistic lens in their study.
Flores and Rosa (2015) coined raciolinguistic ideologies to theorize about seeing the speaker’s racialized group (e.g., Latina) as an important factor of how the listener (e.g., a teacher) evaluates the speaker’s language appropriateness. Since their introduction of the term, Rosa and Flores (2017) have extended the concept of raciolinguistic ideologies to theorize about the oppressive societal ideas that relate to language and race.
Racialization refers to the process of socially constructing racialized groups by delineating their boundaries compared to other racialized groups (thus, is different from racial discrimination or racial identity development).
Method: I searched six databases (EBSCO, JSTOR, Project Muse, SAGE, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley) with the keywords "raciolinguistic" AND "dual language" OR "two way" for peer-reviewed articles of empirical research. The literature review sought to include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, and U.S.-focused and international work; however, the 16 articles that met the inclusion criteria are U.S. based, and all qualitative-based studies (except one).
For my analysis, I read all the articles in their entirety, but I concentrated my analytic notes on how each article’s theoretical-framework section describes a raciolinguistics lens and on how authors attended to racialization (or described “race”). I also noted how authors used raciolinguistics, where relevant/explicit, to inform their research study and discuss their findings and conclusions.
Results: I organized the 16 articles into three groups (however, some articles overlap with another group[s]). The first group (n=9) presents studies that centered on linguistic research, language ideologies, and/or general issues about DLBE. The articles in the second group (n=4) centered on questions about accessibility. The third group (n=3) describes studies that also or primarily theorized about racial ideologies.
I argue that research employing a raciolinguistic lens would do well to define or conceptualize “race,” including viewing Latinx (the focus group of nine of the studies) as a racialized group, not solely an ethnic category. I share implications for research and possible future research directions.
Significance: With the emergence of a raciolinguistic lens, a literature review focused on how scholars are using and understanding this lens helps the field notice trends and possible directions for future research. The reviewed studies highlight the need for practitioners and youth to learn about raciolinguistic ideologies. Scholars suggested that learning about such ideologies would help develop the critical consciousness needed to challenge oppressive practices and ideologies. Teacher education programs and practitioner professional development should consider how to help teachers and youth learn about these ideologies.

Author

• Laura Chavez-Moreno, University of California - Los Angeles