What does it mean to be bilingual? Most people would answer this question with some variant of the ability to use two languages. However, if you step foot into the typical American public school you might think it means lack of ability in any language. In my many years of work with schools I have come across a plethora of terms that are used to describe bilingual students in the process of learning English. At best these terms ignore the emergent bilingualism of these students (e.g. “limited English proficient” or “English Language Learners”). At worse they position their bilingualism as a barrier to their learning (e.g. “non-nons” and “semilingual”). In addition, I have never come across terms to describe bilingual students who are English proficient. Their bilingualism becomes invisible as they are simply classified at best as “English proficient students” or at worst as “monolingual English speakers.” To be bilingual in many US classrooms is to be deficient.This deficit view of bilingual students stands in sharp contrast to the richness of their translanguaging practices that have been observed by researchers who work in bilingual communities. In contrast to the deficit views cited above, we have observed bilingual students who from a young age are able to seamlessly serve as language brokers for their parents. We have observed bilingual students who thrive on developing sophisticated bilingual jokes. We have observed that in bilingual communities people are not sorted into the dichotomy of “English Language Learners” or “English Language Proficient.” Instead, their bilingualism exists on complex continua that require bilingual students to engage in complex negotiations with their interlocutors to determine their preferred language.
Unfortunately, despite this wealth of research illustrating the many strengths of bilingual students, the deficit view of bilingualism has continued with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The only explicit mention of bilingual students in the official documents created by CCSS developers is a two and a half page document indicating that “English Language Learners” require more support to meet the standards. In this document these students are positioned as lacking English rather than as emergent bilinguals with rich linguistic repertoires that include languages other than English. As has historically been the case there is no explicit mention of the many bilingual students who are English proficient, the implicit assumption being that their bilingualism is irrelevant to their learning.
In this post I seek to challenge this deficit framing by arguing that bilingualism should be the starting point in developing CCSS-aligned curricula to meet the needs of bilingual students. I have posted elsewhere general principles that can be used to center bilingualism in pedagogical approaches for emergent bilinguals. Here I seek to broaden the conversation to include all bilingual students with a specific focus on the fourth principle: draw on literature and other rhetorical models that use translanguaging. To illustrate this principle I will provide a brief overview of a unit plan for early elementary school that I developed in collaboration with Elaine Allard and Holly Link that positions translanguaging as a rhetorical model for engaging with CCSS-aligned close reading strategies that entail carefully analyzing the specific language used by authors in constructing texts.
This unit begins from the premise that the most effective way to support emergent bilinguals in developing the skills necessary for close reading is to build on their already existing rich linguistic repertoire. With this in mind, this model unit is centered on Abuela, a bilingual picture book that is meant to tap into and validate the bilingual home language practices of these students. Yet, it is designed for much more than this. It is also designed to provide students with a foundation in the type of close reading that they will be expected to do on their own in late elementary school and beyond. This foundation is developed both through explicit modeling by the teacher and opportunities for students to think like a bilingual writer as they create their own bilingual stories.
The intended duration of the unit plan is one week. The unit develops as follows:
- Day One is intended to introduce students to Abuela. It is structured the way that a typical read-aloud is structured including before reading activities designed to build background knowledge, during reading activities designed to model effective reading comprehension strategies and after reading activities designed to extend understanding in ways that lay the groundwork for the subsequent lessons in the unit.
- Day Two is intended to both model a close reading of Abuela for students and model for them how to use insights from this close reading to write their own bilingual stories. The major goal of this lesson is to begin the process of getting students to think like a bilingual author and become aware of the ways that bilingual authors can use Spanish in dialogue as a way to develop their characters.
- Day Three is intended to continue to engage in a close reading of Abuela. The major goal of this lesson is to continue the process of getting students to think like a bilingual author and become aware of the ways that bilingual authors can use context clues to help non-Spanish speaking readers understand the story.
- Day Four is intended to be a culminating reading of Abuela where students engage in Reader’s Theater in order to have a final opportunity to experience the bilingualism of the text while also working to further develop their fluency skills in both English and Spanish.
- Day Five is intended to be an “Open Day” to allow teachers to make adjustments to the unit plan in ways that best fit the needs of their students.
This unit plan is not intended to be a panacea for addressing the disconnection between the language resources of bilingual students and CCSS-aligned literacy instruction. To truly address this disconnection would require systemic transformation coupled with rigorous professional development that is designed to support teachers in reconceptualizing their understandings of bilingualism. Instead, this unit plan is intended to serve as a model for the possibilities that open when we truly embrace the linguistic resources that bilingual students bring to school.
References
Flores, N., Kleyn, T. and Menken, K. (2015). Looking holistically in a climate of partiality: Identities of students labeled ‘long-term English language learners.’ Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. 14, 113-132.
García, O. & Li Wei (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hornberger, N. (2003) (ed). Continua of biliteracy: An ecological framework for educational policy, research and practice in multilingual settings. Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Martínez, R. & Morales, P. (2014). ¿Puras groserías?: Rethinking the role of profanity and graphic humor in Latin@ students’ wordplay. Anthropology & Education, 45, 337-354.
Orellana, M. (2009). Translating childhoods: Immigrant youth, language, and culture. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Author Biography
Dr. Flores has a Ph.D. in Urban Education from the CUNY Graduate Center. His research combines critical applied linguistics and critical social theory to analyze the historical and comtemporary role of language education policy in reproducing relations of power.
Dr. Flores has collaborated on several studies related to the education of Latino emergent bilingual students in US schools. He also served as project director for the CUNY-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals, a New York State Education Department funded initiative that seeks to improve the educational outcomes of emergent bilingual students through an intensive seminar series for school leaders combined with on-site support by CUNY faculty.
He currently serves as the principal investigator of the Philadelphia Bilingual Education Project (PBEP) that seeks to examine the historical and contemporary cultural politics of bilingual education in the School District of Philadelphia and to provide professional development support to bilingual teachers throughout the district.