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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium examines how educational policies shape the schooling experiences of multilingual students designated as English learners (ELs). Focusing on school-level implementation, presenters explore how educators act as “street-level bureaucrats” who interpret and enact policy. Drawing from critical language policy, raciolinguistics, and implementation theory, the papers analyze the development, negotiation, and impact of policies such as dual language programming, graduation requirements, and EL service waivers. Together, these studies illuminate how educators and students reshape policy in practice, with attention to language, power, and equity. The session responds to this year’s theme by challenging deficit-oriented histories and imagining more just educational futures where multilingual learners’ agency and linguistic assets are centered.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Bilingual Education Research

Chairs

• Janette Dalila Avelar, University of Oregon

• Jaclyn B. Bovee, Oregon State University

Papers

• Beyond Compliance: Educators as Policy Interpreters in the Waiving of English Learner Services - Janette Dalila Avelar, University of Oregon

• (Re)negotiating language credits: A critical policy analysis of Oregon’s Access to Linguistic Inclusion law - Jaclyn B. Bovee, Oregon State University

• Flexibility as language allocation policy in bilingual education: Equity for all or for some? - Daniel Garzon, California State University - Los Angeles

Session Organizer

• Janette Dalila Avelar, University of Oregon

Discussant

• Ester J. de Jong, University of Colorado - Denver