Latin American Dual Language Bilingual Educators in the Midwestern United States: Critically Conscious Work in Action!

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Reimagining Multilingual Education Through an Asset-Based Orientation (Table 40)

Abstract

Latin American English Learners face a long history of oppression in the U.S. (Sibley & Brabeck, 2017). Recognizing that Latin American educators play an important role in disrupting oppression (Castro & Calzada, 2021), we explored how 25 Latin American bilingual educators enact critical consciousness in the Midwest towards raciolinguistic justice for ELs and immigrant families. Developing four webinars on critical consciousness in DLBE (Authors, 2019), we recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed their discussions following critical constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014). We found that these educators experienced marginalization when children, and teaching in their DLBE programs, felt isolated and unsupported. In turn, these educators empathized with ELs, committed to disrupt oppression, and encouraged their white peers to work towards raciolinguistic justice.

Authors

• Sophia Piral Lee, University of Missouri

• Lisa M. Dorner, University of Missouri

• Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes, University of Minnesota

• P. Zitlali Morales, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Trish Morita-Mullaney, Purdue University

• Liliana Rodriguez, Minneapolis Public Schools

• Doris Villarreal, Ohio University