Examining Linguistically and Culturally Sustaining Policies and Opportunities for Refugee-Background Students in U.S. Schools

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eleven
  In Roundtable Session: Language Perspectives (Table 2)

Abstract

Our study explores how Minnesota schools with the highest number of refugee-background students offer educational opportunities that sustain their heritage/community linguistic and cultural practices by examining their school websites. We examined the discourses found on these websites to identify how they represent their refugee-background students. Our findings indicate that linguistically and culturally sustaining educational opportunities are largely limited or absent for refugee-background students. The discourses based on the equity/heritage framework were lacking when promoting their schools. Thus, we argue for more linguistically and culturally sustaining educational policies and opportunities to be incorporated at schools and that discourses embedded in school websites must be driven by equity/heritage framework to disrupt educational injustice that perpetuates marginalization of refugee-background students.

Authors

• Koeun Park, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Veronica E. Valdez, University of Utah
  Presenting Author