From Sociocultural Competence to Transculturing as a Goal of Dual Language Bilingual Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:45 pm - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Identities, Communities and Voices in DLBE

Abstract

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) scholars have questioned how and whether the concept of sociocultural competence as a goal of DLBE adequately captures minoritized students’ needs. This conceptual paper reviews research examining sociocultural competence, offers six reasons to retire this term, provides a review of various related terms, and proposes a conceptual shift from socioculturing to transculturing as one of the goals of DLBE. Simply put, we define transculturing as the learning process of cultures acknowledging power dynamics and how cultures interact, merge, and influence each other at different levels. Lastly, this study provides a conceptualization and different levels of transculturing in understanding and meeting the goal of transculturing in the different types of DLBE serving all students.

Authors

• Juan A. Freire, Brigham Young University

• Jongyeon Joy Ee, Loyola Marymount University

• Zhongfeng Tian, Rutgers University - Newark