Serving Whose Interests, Using Whose Labor? Looking Across Two Nondominant Dual Language Programs in Massachusetts

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Perspectives on Dual Language Bilingual Education Research (Table 7)

Abstract

In this presentation, we examine the driving forces that motivate the launch and influence the implementation of two nondominant dual language programs in the state of Massachusetts. Merging two ethnographic studies, we draw on the principle of interest convergence (Bell, 1980) and scholarship on the intersections of neoliberalism and bilingual education (Flores, 2019) to analyze multiple sources of data including semi-structured interviews with school staff members, observation field notes, and public-facing documents. Our analyses revealed unique challenges and key constraints across the focal programs. This presentation contributes to our scholarly understanding of the rationales for and realities within these understudied dual language programs and calls for more attention to their specificities in bilingual education research.

Authors

• Alisha Nguyen, Lesley University

• Mariana Lima Becker, University of Georgia