Dual Language and Special Education: An Interface of Conflicting Ideologies, Policies, and Practices

• In Event: Dual Language Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Drawing upon data from an ethnographic case study, this presentation illuminates how ideological and material conditions coalesce in a dual language school to constrain ELLs with special needs’ access to bilingual and academic support. Specifically, the school implemented policies that both ignored the bilingual development of ELLs with special needs and misappropriated effective dual language and special education program models. The findings highlight the importance of challenging educators’ beliefs and concomitant policies that render bilingualism as an unreasonable, insignificant aim for ELLs with special needs.

Author

• Sara E.N. Kangas, University of Pennsylvania