La Trenza Curricular: Spanish Language Arts as Decolonial Praxis in Dual Language Secondary Education

• In Event: Educating for Sovereignty: A K-12 Recovery Framework for Indigenous and Latinx Students

Abstract

This study draws from a qualitative dissertation that examines the linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical identities of Spanish Language Arts (SpanLA) teachers in high school dual language programs in New Mexico. Utilizing critical narrative inquiry and guided by the theoretical lens of figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998), the study explores how SpanLA educators construct curriculum as a reflection of their bilingual identities, cultural histories, and community-rooted practices. The findings present SpanLA classrooms as spaces of resistance, linguistic affirmation, and decolonial curriculum development.

The study introduces la trenza, a conceptual model describing how SpanLA teachers braid three interwoven strands into their pedagogical practice: (1) language-culture, (2) pedagogy as an act of conciencia crítica, and (3) self-identity. Rather than relying on externally mandated or standardized frameworks, these teachers draw from local histories, ancestral knowledge, personal artifacts, and student-teacher experiences to design curriculum that reflects the sociocultural and linguistic landscapes of their communities. Curriculum in these classrooms is constructed through oral traditions, Spanglish expression, and teacher-created materials that affirm the cultural and linguistic realities of bilingual youth.

This research is situated within the policy context of Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico (2018), which found that the state failed to provide equitable, culturally responsive education to Native American, Latinx, English learner, and low-income students. The curricular practices documented in this study offer direct responses to that systemic neglect, as SpanLA educators develop instruction that affirms student identity, supports biliteracy development, and reclaims Spanish as a legitimate language of academic knowledge. Their pedagogical labor exemplifies the kind of transformative curricular work demanded by the Yazzie/Martinez decision.

This paper covers the places and praxis of curriculum by focusing on SpanLA classrooms as overlooked but vital curricular spaces shaped by land, migration, and linguistic hybridity. These classrooms are places where curriculum is not delivered but lived, emerging through the stories, literacies, and cultural knowledge of both teachers and students. The study contributes to curriculum studies by centering how bilingual educators develop curriculum grounded in local ecologies and sociopolitical realities.

Decoloniality arise in the findings demonstrating how SpanLA teachers challenge raciolinguistic ideologies (Flores & Rosa, 2015), resist assimilationist curricular norms, and design instruction that centers student agency and cultural sustainability. Their work echoes calls for bilingual education that is rooted in community knowledge, ideological clarity, and pedagogical justice (Alfaro & Bartolomé, 2017; Chávez-Moreno, 2021b).

Through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, language maps, and artifact analysis, the study documents how teachers navigate institutional invisibility while enacting curriculum that nourishes bilingualism, identity, and consciousness. SpanLA teachers emerge as curriculum theorists and cultural workers whose practices contribute to educational equity, offering critical insights for curriculum design, teacher education, and bilingual program development.

Author

• Mishelle Jurado, University of New Mexico