“The Class Begins to Act Sped”: Monoglossic Ideologies, Racism, and Ableism in Dual Language Bilingual Education

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on Racial Equity for Multilinguals (Table 21)

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives
This paper focuses on how monoglossic and raciolinguistic ideologies intertwine with ableism to perpetuate the pathologization of racialized students regardless of classification of English Learner (EL). Using insights from disability studies in education and Crip Linguistics, we offer more comprehensive insights about ableism and multilingualism through classroom discourse.
We draw from a variety of frameworks that address the intersections of race, language, and/or disability, including a Critical Disabilities Raciolinguistic (CDR) perspective (Cioè-Peña, 2021) and Crip Linguistics (Henner & Robinson, 2021, 2023). Both frameworks challenge normative perceptions of language use, especially as they pertain to speech production and racialization. Crip Linguistics in particular highlights a more expansive definition of ableism, which Lewis (2022) argues is a system that assigns the value to people and communities around constructs of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. Importantly, Lewis also argues that one does not have to be classified as disabled to experience ableism. We put these disability-centered frameworks in conversation with raciolinguistics and monoglossic ideologies. Monoglossic ideologies treat monolingualism as a norm and conceptualize language as distinct and separate entities from one another, rather than as a social practice (Flores & Schissel, 2014). This paper focuses on how monoglossic and raciolinguistic ideologies ultimately converge to pathologize the language practices of students of color, leading to the construction of pathologizing categories of learners. Flores et al. (2015) argue that idealized monolingualism serves as a way for the schooling system to reify white monolingualism as an ideal.

Methods and Data Sources
This paper draws from a year-long ethnographic study at an inclusive bilingual charter school in a racially and socioeconomically segregated community in a large Northeastern U.S. city. The focal participants were members of the fourth-grade team, which included five teachers: bilingual, Spanish, English, special education, and English as a Second Language. Methods included participant observation approximately three full days a week in the 2018-2019 academic year, formal and informal interviews with the teachers and four administrators, and document collection throughout the year.

Results and Significance
We explore the case of one student, Isaiah (pseudonym), a fourth grader at the time who was not designated as an EL nor was he labeled as disabled. By examining teacher discourse around language proficiency and use, we demonstrate how monoglossic ideologies are embedded within educational structures, i.e., dichotomization of language through L1/L2 designations; descriptions of language proficiency through standardized testing and institutional categorizations; and descriptions of language abilities tied to class and race/ethnicity. This will include an exploration of the ideological underpinnings of both formal and informal institutionally mediated categories of learners (e.g., “sped”, “EL at home”).
Ableism must be considered as part of how monoglossic and raciolinguistic ideologies mediate the construction of deviant categories of language users in schools. We offer practical implications for educators and/or researchers to develop ideological clarity for our own practices in considering how we frame questions and problems in education, and how we can act towards linguistic and disability justice (Authors, 2022).

Authors

• Jennifer Phuong, Swarthmore College

• Ari Chinchilla, University of Pennsylvania