Creating Critical Language Educators through Cariño via the Higher Education Classroom

• In Event: Unforgetting our Language Inheritance: Imagining Multilingual Teacher Education Futures in the Midwest

Abstract

Much has been written about supportive and engaging curriculum and pedagogy for Latine students K-12, resulting in higher academic outcomes (Cabrera, et al., 2014). For example, there have been movements towards Ethnic Studies approaches in states and large cities, particularly on the West Coast of the country. While not all Latine students are multilingual as individuals, the communities where they live and come from are largely multilingual and have strong linguistic heritage to draw from. This presentation reviews some of that scholarship, paying particular attention to how it translates to the context of higher education, in order to prepare racially and linguistically diverse undergraduates to become critical language educators in the Midwest.

Some of the perspectives that scholars have undertaken to discuss supportive practices for racially and linguistically diverse students beyond ethnic studies approaches include pedagogies de cariño (Curry, 2016; Nieto, 2000; Nuñez et al., 2023), translanguaging approaches (García, Seltzer & Witt, 2018), and critical language awareness (Fairclough, 1992; García, 2017). One of the significant pedagogical considerations we undertake in our teacher education program, in order to decenter the whiteness that is almost inherent in teacher preparation (Sleeter, 2001) is to build reflective language practices. Many of our students come with linguistic insecurity regarding their multilingual skills, abilities, and experiences, due to notions that their linguistic assets (beyond English) are unrelated to school success (Palmer, 2011; Varghese & Snyder, 2018). Some have faced scrutiny about their Spanish proficiency, particularly for professional use (Briceño et al., 2018; Ek & Domínguez Chávez, 2015). Most Spanish-speaking students have also dealt with a lack of opportunity to develop a professional register for the Spanish classroom (Aquíno-Sterling & Rodríguez-Valls, 2016; Caldas, 2021), due to no fault of their own. And for all undergraduate students, there is often a lack of understanding related to language and power (Caldas & Heiman, 2021).

This paper will discuss the provision of a foundational course in the teacher preparation program that delves into topics related to language and power and the history of the fight for acknowledgement of our shared multilingual history in the US. The course is offered in the Spanish language, with space for translanguaging in English, for undergraduates who would like to build/re-build their linguistic confidence through the practice of engagement in academic content that is personally relevant with peer and professor support. But the course also delves into language varieties that are often undervalued, such as Black Language and Spanish dialects from rural communities. By examining some of the material artifacts created by the students throughout the semester-long course, including sociolinguistic autobiographies, interviews with multilingual individuals, and Chicago neighborhood collaborative presentations, some shifts in language ideologies are evidenced, as well as moves towards seeing the linguistic assets of students and communities.

Pedagogical practices that support the interrogation of past schooling experiences with language allow pre-service teachers to become more critical and reflective educators, better prepared to support their own future students by leveraging their linguistic, cultural, and community assets in support of their own learning and development.

Author

• P. Zitlali Morales, University of Illinois at Chicago