‘I found comfort in Spanglish:’ translanguaging and the linguistic experiences of bilingual teacher candidates in rural California

Abstract

A new bilingual/plurilingual education renaissance in California was ushered in with the passage of state Proposition 58 in 2016. Program planners, however, have struggled to meet the need for bilingual/plurilingual teachers within a linguistic context ravaged by two decades of restrictive policies. This restrictionism has resulted in an entire generation of would-be bilingual teacher candidates growing up without formal academic support for bilingualism and biliteracy in their k-12 education. Although plurilingualism has been stymied in formal spaces, emerging research on translanguaging indicates that ‘bilinguals’ by definition creatively language within their various social and political milieu such that syntheses or hybrid forms of language emerge that reflect their full linguistic repertoire. This study examines the linguistic experiences of those who have overcome the odds to pursue their bilingual teacher certification. Through analysis of participant case studies of Latinx candidates studying for their bilingual teacher certification in California’s southern San Joaquín Valley, we find translanguaging to be a critical tool of identity expression, interethnic solidarity, and plurilingual/bilingual sustenance within a decidedly conservative and subtractive sociocultural and sociolinguistic context. We discuss the implications of these findings for the centering of translanguaging in bilingual teacher education and the cultivation of future bilingual/plurilingual educators in California.

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