Breaking the Silence: Centering a Black Teacher’s Experiences in a Dual Language Bilingual Education Program

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Bi-/Multilingual Teacher Education: Critical Consciousness, Ideology, and Race (Table 1)

Abstract

While Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs aim to address educational inequities and promote sociocultural competence and critical consciousness, research has overlooked the role of race, particularly in the experiences of Black educators. Our study addresses this gap by centering the narrative of a Black teacher in a DLBE program, employing the lenses of Positioning Theory (Harré & Davies, 1990; Harré et al., 2009) and Black Critical Theory (Dumas & ross, 2016). We investigate how personal, professional, and institutional positioning shapes a Black teacher’s experience in a DLBE program. Our findings reveal significant tensions among different levels of positioning within the intersections of race, language, and power contributing to the growing body of literature on Black teachers in language education.

Authors

• Evelyn Nkooyooyo, University of Maryland

• Astrid Sierra, Metropolitan State University of Denver

• Amanda D. Cataneo, University of Maryland

• Melinda E. Martin-Beltran, University of Maryland