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Virtual Exhibit Hall
Crossing borders in high school: The inclusion and exclusion of transfronterizxs’ languages and literacies
Fri, May 24, 12:30 to 2:00pm, TBAAbstract
This presentation compares two different programs for emergent bilingual and bilingual high school students on the U.S.-Mexico border and students’ experiences with language learning in these programs. Drawing on data from two ethnographic studies and on borderlands theory (Anzaldúa, 1987/2012; Rosaldo, 1993; Spener & Staudt, 1998; Tabuenca, 1997; Vila, 2003), we examine the inclusion and exclusion of students’ languages and literacies, and, in particular, their expertise as transfronterizxs and as crossers of various borders within school, as well. Placed in English-only instruction with an emphasis on state standardized test preparation, emergent bilingual students in one high school found few opportunities to draw on their border-crossing language and literacy expertise--expertise that was demonstrated in an afterschool photo class. We examine the different borders imposed on students through state standardized tests and transfronterizx students’ navigation of these constructed borders. In the other high school, a dual language program purposefully included bilingual students’ language and cultures in academic work but drew a distinction between students “already bilingual” and a large number of newcomer transfronterizx students still officially classified as English language learners, excluding the latter from participation. In response to this programmatic border and barrier, a dual language teacher developed a new class section specifically for these newcomers, officially outside the program but using dual language instruction. We examine the expertise of the teacher as a crosser of programmatic and policy borders and the expertise of the students as crossers of both national borders and various borders erected in school.