Access to linguistic inclusion? A critical discourse analysis of Oregon’s HB 2056

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 11:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Discourse Analysis Across Language Education Contexts: Examining Textbooks, Policy, and Colonial Narratives

Abstract

In 2021, Oregon’s HB 2056, known as Access to Linguistic Inclusion (ALI), replaced the state’s high school graduation requirement of “English” with “language arts,” which it defined more broadly as “reading, writing and other communications in any language.” While this new policy has far-reaching potential to support equitable transformation, particularly for multilingual EL-classified students, there is significant variety in how the law is being interpreted and enacted. This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2015) to explore how and to what extent ALI’s development and implementation at the state level has been shaped by (counter)hegemonic discourses of education, equity, and language. Findings illuminate the ideological tensions between the educational goals of democratic equality and social mobility in ALI’s policy trajectory.

Author

• Jaclyn B. Bovee, Oregon State University