Whose Bilingualism Counts? Latina Teachers, Border Crossings, and Language Ideologies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Preparing Teachers to Revisit and Respond to the Linguistic Landscape

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how whiteness and monoglossic ideologies shape two Latina English teachers’ understandings of bilingualism, teacher legitimacy, and their beliefs about multilingual learners, who often reflect their younger selves. Using portraiture, we trace Sofia and Valeria’s transnational educational trajectories through the borderlands of Texas and Arizona. Both experienced linguistic insecurity, educational marginalization, and pressures to conform to dominant norms of language and belonging. Grounded in borderlands theory and critical qualitative research, this study explores how their past experiences inform their pedagogical commitments and identities as bilingual educators. Findings reveal how borderland crossings shape complex negotiations of self, language, and profession, highlighting the need to reframe who is seen as a legitimate language teacher within U.S. schooling systems.

Authors

• Tipsuda Chaomuangkhong, Arizona State University

• Cory Alan Buckband, Arizona State University