Scaling Bi/multilingualism Through Dual-Language Education: A Multi-Sited Study of Diverse Learners' Views

• In Event: Linguistic Repertoires and Practices Across Program Models and Languages

Abstract

This ethnographic study, conducted in two Mandarin-English dual language schools, investigates how students from diverse social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds perceive and navigate bi/multilingualism through dual language education (DLE). Drawing on scalar analysis of video-recorded student interviews, this study documented diverse students’ navigation of heterogeneous linguistic resources beyond the “two” in DLE. It rejects the essentialization and labeling of DL learners and their learning into homogenous groups. Findings reveal that bi/multilingualism is perceived by students as scaled resources to navigate multiple scales of language use and the patterns among students with different social and linguistic backgrounds. DLE is taken up agentively as a scaling practice to gain legitimacy in the English-dominant U.S. society versus in the neoliberal multilingual globalized world.

Author

• Bingjie Zheng, University of Central Arkansas