Transborder Clinical Practice as an Alternative to "Study Abroad": Designing and Analyzing a Binational Experience for Bilingual Teacher Candidates

• In Event: Exploring Possibilities of Alternative Study Abroad Programming: International Project Design and Implementation for Educational Equity

Abstract

Objectives
This paper reports on the design and impact of an alternative “study abroad” binational experience for bilingual teacher candidates in teacher education programs across the Cali-Baja region. More specifically, this paper highlights the transborder clinical practice experience of bilingual teacher candidates and bilingual teacher educators from one California university and three Baja California universities along the US-Mexico border. Participation in this transborder experience involved school visits, conference participation, as well as teaching in a school in Baja California. Authors will share themes from the study that illustrate how individuals that participated in the transborder clinical practice reflected on the interactions and activities that informed their understanding of the binational context. These themes also highlight the challenges and/ or tensions experienced by bilingual teacher candidates as they learned about policy and practice, and teaching and learning on both sides of the border.

Theoretical Framework
Building from a multiple year binational teacher education project, this initiative focuses on planning learning opportunities that integrate the sociopolitical, sociocultural, sociolinguistic, and socioemotional dimensions of binational education (Alfaro & Gándara, 2021). These dimensions are interconnected but highlight unique aspects of living and learning on two sides of a highly politicized and policed border.

Methodology & Data Sources
Using ethnographic field methods, we document the work of a group of binational teacher educators as they developed and implemented a binational experience and transborder visits over 18 months. We draw on ethnography as a way to trace how interactions among group members evolve over time across a range of activities and spaces (Shore & Wright, 1997). Specifically, we utilized ethnographic observations during collaborative team meetings and transborder school visits. The data sources primarily utilized for this paper include 1) survey responses from teacher candidates from Fall 2018 pertaining to baseline understandings of sociocultural, sociopolitical, sociolinguistic, and socioemotional dimensions of binational education, the U.S. and Mexican education systems, and cross-cultural knowledge; 2) course assignment reflections written in response to the four dimensions of binational education and a transborder visit; and 3) four teacher educators’ field notes and reflections. Data were analyzed using a deductive coding approach (Saldaña, 2015).

Findings & Scholarly Significance
Through the implementation of a transborder clinical practice, this paper reports findings on the impact of a binational experience on teacher candidates’ understanding and pedagogical skills that will support them in better serving binational students. In addition to amplifying teacher candidates’ voices as they negotiate the four contextual dimensions of binational education, the paper highlights the following themes as central to this binational experience: 1) immigration policy and the permeability of the border, 2) bilingual program structure and valuing of bilingualism, 3) development of language, content, and culture, and 4) holistic humanization of the student. This study provides insight on how “study abroad” experiences can be reimagined within teacher education programs to include clinical practice and to prepare teacher candidates to more equitably serve students on both sides of the border.

Authors

• Veronica Gonzalez, California State University - Los Angeles

• Alberto Esquinca, San Diego State University

• Sarina Ayala-Cortez, Escuela Normal Fronteriza Tijuana