Language Policy and Practice in Almost-Bilingual Classrooms

Abstract

This study explores language policies in “almost-bilingual” classrooms, in which most but not all students share a home language. Teachers who are bilingual face a dilemma in these settings. Should they draw on shared linguistic expertise to benefit the majority while excluding a few, or should they forego significant benefits for most in the interest of equity? This qualitative study examines the classroom language policies and practices of one English-as-a second-language (ESL) teacher at a majority-Latino high school. Drawing on field notes, interviews, and systematic teacher reflection, the authors identify a collection of multilingual practices across ESL and sheltered content courses: translated texts, “translanguaging from the students up,” and concurrent translation. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of these policies for Spanish speakers and “singletons”—students with no same-language peers—to offer pedagogical and policy insights for meeting the diverse and sometimes-conflicting needs of students in multilingual classrooms.

Cite this

Elaine C. Allard, Sarah Apt, Isabel Sacks (2019). Language Policy and Practice in Almost-Bilingual Classrooms. International Multilingual Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2018.1563425

@article{c2019language,
  title  = {Language Policy and Practice in Almost-Bilingual Classrooms},
  author = {Allard, Elaine C. and Apt, Sarah and Sacks, Isabel},
  year   = {2019},
  journal = {International Multilingual Research Journal},
  doi    = {10.1080/19313152.2018.1563425}
}

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References