Radical Transformation of the Power-Language Dynamic in the K–6 classroom: A Mixed-Method Study of Elementary School Teachers in the United States

• In Event: Interweaving Intersectional Biographical Vignettes Into Qualitative Research as Reflexivity Tools

Abstract

1. Everyone’s first words begin a lifelong relationship with language. The language you first learn connects you to your family and community and allows you to share information, thoughts, and feelings. It is your home language. The purpose of this study is to examine wholistically through the sequential explanatory research design how elementary teachers support the use of home languages in the classroom setting. Clark (2000) stated, “History shows that linguistic oppression is traumatic to children. Children will only continue to use two languages if they perceive it as being valuable. As children go through school, they lose much of their ability in the native language” (Clark, 2000, p. 183).
2. The theoretical framework begins with Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2000), where he stated that a “neutral educational process” does not exist. That education brings either integration and conformity or the “practice of freedom” in which men and women critically and creatively learn to deal with reality and transform their own worlds (pg. 34). The theoretical framework ends with Bandura (1977) and his study of teacher self-efficacy that teachers who can successfully execute the behavior required to produce certain outcomes (Bandura, 1997, p.3) (McCrath-Smith, 2021).
3. This research study uses the explanatory sequential design research method framework from Fetters, Curry, & Creswell (2013). The sequential explanatory method began with a quantitative 12 question survey using a 5-point Likert scale rating that was sent to teachers across five states with higher percentages of students speaking languages other than English, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, and Texas. Following the analysis of the survey results, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with educators who volunteered for further study. Those interviews were analyzed and coded for themes. This paper focuses on the qualitative analysis and the intersectional biographic vignettes written for substantiating the researcher positionality and reflexivity.
4. The initial data from the quantitative survey is promising. The final population size was n=31. The tests of normality with skewness and kurtosis for each of the survey items were judged as normal according to Kline (2000) that the absolute value of skewness is less than three and the absolute value of kurtosis is less than ten (Kline, 2000). The quantitative data analysis is complete and the qualitative data have been collected from the participants. Findings with a focus on my intersectional biographic vignettes will be shared at the workshop.
5. Adding my scholarly work and discussion to support the ever-expanding library of research that supports the need in elementary education to protect our children, their cultures, and their languages, to make radical transformation of the power language dynamic in the elementary classroom, teachers become the focus of this study. Understanding the way teachers support children who speak languages that are not White Mainstream English (WME), the language of schools is necessary to enact radical change from the ground up. My research, together with my intersectional biographical vignettes enriched the overall quality of the study, particularly for the qualitative analysis section.

Author

• Jennifer M. Ono, Kirkwood School District