Navigating Monolingual Language Ideologies: Educators’ Objections to Linguistically Sustaining Pedagogies in the Classroom
Sat, April 13, 3:05 to 4:35pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Floor: Level 200, Exhibit Hall BAbstract
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.