Navigating Linguistic Constraints: Examining Students’ Language-Based Agency in Bilingual Tutoring Settings

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Empowering Bi-/Multilingual Learners: Cognitive, Pedagogical, and Social Dimensions in Diverse Educational Contexts (Table 1)

Abstract

This study examines how middle school bilingual learners exercise their language-based agency in relation to their beliefs in the context of a bilingual tutoring program. It focuses on the sociocultural contexts of tutor-tutees interactions, their positionalities and the instructional strategies used by the tutors. We draw on data from ethnographic observations and video recordings of tutoring sessions and semi-structured interviews of both tutors and tutees at the culmination of the tutoring program. Our analyses suggest that dominant English monolingual ideologies often constrain participants’ use of their full linguistic repertoires. However, tutor positionality and dispositions significantly impacted linguistic choices and encouraged broader language use. These findings underscore the importance of creating inclusive educational environments that challenge monolingual norms and promote linguistic justice.

Authors

• Maria Guzman Antelo, Rhode Island College

• Christopher Hu, University of Alabama

• Chris K. Chang-Bacon, University of Virginia

• Nina R. Schoonover, University of Virginia