Reframing Assets: Language Learning, Postsecondary Transition, and Multilingual Students With Disabilities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Family, Finances, and Future Planning: Navigating Disability Support and Transition in a Changing World (Table 11)

Abstract

Many secondary students receiving both special education and English learner services face systemic obstacles to postsecondary education and careers. We purposefully selected and analyzed a single case exemplifying student agency in forming asset-based learner and linguistic identities. Interview data illustrated the student’s self-determination and language learning motivation in pursuit of education and career goals. We employed intersectional research methods to understand how the student navigated barriers in pursuit of postsecondary dreams. Implications engage with the AERA annual meeting theme aimed at research as repair. We reframe students’ learner and linguistic identities as assets and drivers of transition planning. Practice implications include increasing students’ critical examination of labels and teachers’ use of intersectional identities (disability, immigration, and multilingual) in postsecondary preparation.

Authors

• Audrey A. Trainor, New York University

• Lindsay Romano, New York University