44.047 - Explorations of Bilingualism and Biliteracy as a Resource Across School, College, and Career: Challenges and Opportunities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session draws on qualitative studies and interpretive analyses to explore how young students, adolescents, college students, and teachers employ their Spanish-English bilingualism and biliteracy as resources for learning, meaning making, and mobility across institutional contexts. The qualitative and interpretive studies examine the participation of elementary-aged students in bilingual programs, adolescents making post-secondary transitions, college students’ participation in heritage language courses, and bilingual teachers’ identities. The four distinct papers demonstrate the specific policies, programs, practices, ideologies, and identities that these individuals disrupt, resist, and transform new possibilities and outcomes for themselves. This session is highly relevant for researchers and practitioners who seek to realize the promise of educational equity for language minority students.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Bilingual Education Research

Chair

• Mariana Pacheco, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• Young Emergent Bilinguals' Classroom Participation: Access to Language and Learning Opportunities - Mariana Pacheco, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Bilingual Identities in the Borderlands: Bilingualism and Mestiza Consciousness on the Path to College - Colleen Hamilton, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• (Dis)Connections: Students' Perceptions of Their Sociolinguistic Needs in Spanish Heritage Language Classrooms - Jason A. Kemp, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Bi/multilingual Teachers' Professional Holistic Lives: Enacting Inquiry-Based, Equity-Oriented Identities Across School Contexts - Patricia E. Venegas-Weber, Seattle University

Discussant

• Jamy Stillman, University of Colorado - Boulder