Reclaiming Language Histories for Justice: Preparing Latinx Educators for Secondary Dual Language Bilingual Education

• In Event: Creando Senderos en Comunidad: Working Towards Lifelong Language Learning with Latine Communities

Abstract

This study examines how the language learning experiences and ideological development of Latinx middle school teachers shape their pedagogical practices in secondary Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs. In an era marked by increasing sociopolitical polarization, attacks on multilingual education, and widening educational inequities, this research underscores the urgent need to reimagine secondary DLBE as a transformative space where language justice, biliteracy development, and culturally sustaining pedagogy can thrive. Despite the growth of DLBE programs nationally, secondary implementation often lags in both research and practice, leaving Latinx educators without the critical professional learning necessary to resist subtractive schooling models that marginalize minoritized languages and identities. This study responds to that gap by centering the experiences of those who have both endured linguistic oppression and are actively working to dismantle it in their classrooms.
The research is grounded in Xicana Feminist theory (Anzaldúa, 1987; Delgado Bernal, 1998), Critical Language Awareness (Fairclough, 1992), and Freirean critical consciousness (Freire, 1970), placing the voices of Latinx educators at the heart of the inquiry. These frameworks illuminate how language, race, and power intersect to shape individual life trajectories and educational structures. By positioning teachers as knowledge producers through humanizing methodologies—such as testimonio (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Prieto & Villenas, 2012), plática (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016), and Critical Action Research (CAR) (Carr & Kemmis, 2003)—this study highlights the transformative possibilities for bilingual education in secondary contexts where such work is urgently needed.
The three-phase qualitative design engaged eight Latinx secondary DLBE teachers from Illinois who reflected on their PK–16 language learning trajectories through sociolinguistic autobiographies and in-depth testimonios. Participants shared powerful narratives of linguistic terrorism (Anzaldúa, 1987) and subtractive schooling (Valenzuela, 1999) that shaped their views on language, identity, and academic success. A collective plática provided space for participants to co-construct knowledge, build solidarity, and critically examine internalized language ideologies. In the third phase, a CAR process supported teachers in collaboratively redesigning unit plans across content areas—Math, Science, Social Studies, and Art—to integrate disciplinary biliteracies, translanguaging pedagogies (García & Wei, 2015; Palmer et al., 2014), and critical consciousness into instruction.
Findings reveal how internalized deficit ideologies, shaped by years of linguistic devaluation and systemic racism, continue to influence DLBE teaching practices, often resulting in rigid language separation or reduced attention to Spanish language development. However, through collaborative inquiry and professional reflection, participants reclaimed their linguistic identities, deepened their understanding of Critical Language Awareness, and reimagined their classrooms as spaces of affirmation, belonging, and multilingual empowerment. The CAR process emerged as both restorative and transformative, offering teachers a pathway to ideological clarity and pedagogical growth.
This study contributes to growing scholarship on equity-oriented teacher preparation (Gay, 2018; Paris & Alim, 2017), restorative justice in education, and humanizing research methodologies. It offers actionable insights for rethinking how secondary DLBE educators are prepared, supported, and sustained, underscoring the transformative power of reflective, justice-driven pedagogy in creating more equitable and thriving bilingual education spaces.

Author

• Massiel Zaragoza, University of Illinois at Chicago