Navigating Monolingual Language Ideologies: Educators’ Objections to Linguistically Sustaining Pedagogies in the Classroom

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Negotiating Language Ideologies in Linguistically Diverse Settings: Global Perspectives (Table 14)

Abstract

We examine tensions between linguistic pluralism and linguistic normativity in educators’ written Linguistic Autobiographies by analyzing “Yes, BUT” objections that frame monolingualism and idealized forms of English as necessary, despite rhetorically embracing linguistic diversity. We consider these “Yes, BUT” constructions as common barriers in teacher education by reframing them as evidence of the contextual difficulties educators encounter in schools, acknowledging rather than dismissing these tensions. We illuminate how examining language ideologies offer insights for undoing complacency in a longstanding tension between seemingly mutually exclusive positions of linguistic pluralism and linguistic normativity. We argue that addressing these “Yes, BUT” objections in educators’ narratives is key to the disruption of raciolinguistic language ideologies in educational settings and beyond.

Authors

• Kate T. Anderson, Arizona State University

• Chris K. Chang-Bacon, University of Virginia

• Maria Guzman Antelo, Rhode Island College