Flexibility as language allocation policy in bilingual education: Equity for all or for some?

• In Event: (Re)shaping Multilingual Learners’ Schooling: Educators as Translators of Language Policy

Abstract

Objectives

This paper draws from a greater qualitative study aimed at understanding language policy appropriation at the teacher and administrator levels in a bilingual school in Florida. I argue that flexibility as language allocation policy, that is, where teachers have the choice to decide the language(s) of instruction in their classroom instead of enforcing an official language allocation policy, defaults to an English-dominant environment for non-newcomer emergent bilinguals.

Theoretical framework

I drew from Hornberger and Johnson’s (2007) language policy framework represented as layers of a language policy onion (Ricento & Hornberger, 1996) to understand language policy appropriation within and across staff in a school. This framework allows us to see the role that power plays in language policy appropriation (Creese & Martin, 2003; Hornberger et al., 2018; Johnson & Johnson, 2015). The framework centers agency as playing a role in policy appropriation and/or resistance.

Methods

As part of a larger study using ethnographic methods to examine the processes of language policy within the school and discourse and ideologies of educators, the present study employed classroom observations and interviews with two administrators and three fifth-grade teachers at Zamora Elementary. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, then triangulated with field notes data from classroom observations for analysis.

Data sources

I followed a semi-structured interview protocol for the five educators that addressed questions about the history of language policy at Zamora, as well as their ideologies towards language policy. I conducted and video-recorded classroom observations in the Fall of 2023 for an average of 18 hours per classroom, where I took field notes on language use by teachers and students.

Results

Bilingual instruction at Zamora looked different at the time of study compared to the time of the school’s founding more than 20 years earlier; however, the official language allocation policy (60% English 40% Spanish) stayed the same. Participants called the first few years of Zamora it’s “hey day” due to strong fidelity to the model. Over the years, increasing accountability requirements and resource scarcity led administrators to allow flexibility for teachers in their language of instruction. This ‘flexibility’ resulted in an English-dominant curriculum and classroom environment for non-newcomer students, suggesting that, in bilingual programs, flexibility as language policy defaults to English-dominant classrooms.

Scholarly significance

In the wake of the era of accountability, schools and school districts with a history of bilingual education, especially those with a large multilingual and immigrant population, are left to decide on whether to continue bilingual instruction or abandon their bilingual and biliteracy goals (de Jong, Gort, & Cobb, 2005; Hornberger & Johnson, 2007; Johnson, 2010; Menken & Solorza, 2014; Bernstein et al., 2021). While flexibility as language policy seems to be an option for programs under pressure of accountability that allows the continuation of instruction in the partner language, the hegemonic nature of English in the US does not allow programs with flexible policies to serve all students equitably. Educators must be adequately knowledgeable of the benefits of bilingual education to have agency in appropriating language policy.

Author

• Daniel Garzon, California State University - Los Angeles