Copyright by Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes 2016

Copyright

by

Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes

2016

The Dissertation Committee for Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation:

Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher: Drama-Based Interventions for Future Story-Making

Committee:

Deborah Palmer, Supervisor

Christian Faltis

Noah De Lissovoy

Luis Urrieta

Omi Osun Joni L. Jones

Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher: Drama-Based Interventions for Future Story-Making

by

Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes, BA; M.Ed.

Dissertation

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of

The University of Texas at Austin

in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin May 2016

Dedication

Para toda mi familia, la de sangre y la escogida

v

Acknowledgements

First of all, thanks to my parents, Flora y Máximo, for being the best examples of

resilience, stubbornness, hard work, and curiosity. I really got la mejor educación con los

mejores maestros. A mis hermanos Raffo y Jaime; all those EFL classes you helped my

mom pay took me way further and higher than my wildest dreams. This work could not

have been possible without the support of Christian Belden. I couldn’t have finished this

work without you reading, editing, and proofreading each of these pages.

Infinitas gracias to Deborah Palmer; I just have no words to describe everything

you have taught me just by your example. Thanks for your genuine care during the times

you became my voice when mine was silenced. I hope we continue nuestros mutuos e

incontables favores after we begin our journeys lejos de la frontera. Thanks very much to

all my people at CSE. Thanks to Doug Foley, who was the first one who believed in me

and the potential of this study, and gently point me in the right direction. To Luis Urrieta

and Noah De Lissovoy for welcoming me into your program and nurturing me since the

very beginning. To mis camaradas José García, Esther Diaz, Ganiva Reyes, Brenda

Rubio, and Racheal Rothrock for the tertulias, coffee shops, conference organizing and

hellraising. Special thanks to Olmo Fregoso for being part of the pilot study that began

this journey; all my admiration for you, colega. Muchísimas gracias to Dan Heiman, my

generous collaborator, co-author, and friend. Sí se puede Dan!

Many thanks to Christian Faltis, who, without knowing me, took a leap of faith

and jumped on board immediately. Thank you very much for your generosity and

friendship. I also want to thank Omi Jones, who patiently introduced me to a different

way to see, do, and fall in love with research. Thanks to Michelle Dahlenburg, Katherine

vi

Craft, and Olivia Jimenez from Conspire Theatre and all the women I had the chance to

meet at the Travis County Correctional Complex: again, thank you very much for the

educación that I got from y’all.

Muchas gracias a Juanito, Nancy, Manuel, Ruby, David, Josephine, Gladiola,

Adeli, Edith, David, Esmeralda, Denisse, Melissa, and Julia for sharing your stories with

me and allowing me to share it with others; my students and I were forever changed by

your valentía y ejemplo. Finally, my gratitude to all the participants of this study: I stand

in awe of your courage and your determination to become bilingual teachers and dare to

teach contra la corriente.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.

Me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto.

Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto,

Los dos materiales que forman mi canto,

Y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto

Y el canto de todos, que es mi propio canto.

(Violeta Parra)

vii

Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher: Drama-Based Interventions for Future Story-Making

Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Austin, 2016

Supervisor: Deborah Palmer

This doctoral project focuses on exploring how critical drama-based pedagogical

techniques in the development of future bilingual teachers can prepare them to become

leaders and advocates inside and outside the classroom. This research examines the use of

Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed techniques in the bilingual teacher preparation

classroom as future teachers reenact real life experiences of experienced Bilingual

teachers to examine social justice issues (Darder, 2012, Zeichner, 1996, Sleeter, 2008) as

a way to provide a stage for future bilingual teachers to develop their assertiveness and

stance in their practice. In this yearlong study, the participants—a cohort of pre-service

bilingual teachers—engage in the re-imagining of the oral narratives of experienced

bilingual teachers by physically reenacting their stories and providing alternative endings.

My research aims to study the outcomes of pedagogical practices for the preparation of

future Bilingual teachers that have the potential to empower themselves to not only think

critically about the issues that surround Bilingual education, but also motivates them to

engage in leadership and advocacy inside and outside the classroom. At the same time,

this research examines translanguaging practices among bilingual pre-service teachers

viii

and how such practices shape both their identities as bilingual beings and bilingual

professionals through reenactments. In order to complete this work I use a methodology

bricolage (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2005), which combines performance ethnography

(Madison, 2005), critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2001) and participatory action

research (Herr & Anderson, 2005).

ix

Table of Contents

List of Tables ........................................................................................................ xii

List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiii

List of Illustrations .............................................................................................. xiv

Introduction Off the Balcony …………………………………………………….1

Chapter One Review of Literature and Theoretical Framework ............................6Literature Review ............................................................................................6

Language Trajectories and Ideologies ...................................................9

AdvocacyinTeacherEducation……………………………………...14TheateroftheOppressed:FreireandBoal…………………………...21Research Questions ..............................................................................28

Theoretical Framework .................................................................................30 Bakhtin: Heteroglossia in the Identity Formation Process ..................31

Identity ........................................................................................32 Teacher Identity………………………………………………...34

Freire: Conscientization and Praxis .....................................................36 Conquergood: Dialogical Performance and Kinesis ............................40

Chapter Two Foundations and Roots ....................................................................43Transformative Paradigm: Ontology and Methodology ...............................43Axiology .......................................................................................................46 Positionality ..................................................................................................49 Methodology and Data Analysis ...................................................................53

Performance Ethnography ...................................................................53 Critical Discourse Analysis ..................................................................54 Participatory Action Research .............................................................56

Data Sources and Collection Procedures ......................................................57 Counterstorytelling through Performance ............................................58 Semistructured Conversations .............................................................61

x

Videorecording as a Method ................................................................62 Participants' Reflections .......................................................................63

Validity .........................................................................................................64 Data Analysis Procedures .............................................................................66 Chapter Organization ...................................................................................69

Chapter Three The Classroom as the Ethnographic Stage ....................................70 Setting the Stage ...........................................................................................70 The Protagonists ............................................................................................72 Trajectories:Schooling and Educación .........................................................74 Participants' Schooling .........................................................................76

Bilingual Schooling ....................................................................79 English-Only Schooling ..............................................................81 English-Only in Predominantly White Schools ..........................87 Spanish as a Foreign Language ...................................................88

Participants' Educación ........................................................................89 Driving Forces .....................................................................................97

The Script(s) ..................................................................................................99 Official Materials .................................................................................99 Counternarratives ...............................................................................103

Chapter Four Initial Confrontations: Adjusting Texts for Performance ............108 Shift in Legitimacy of Texts .......................................................................116 Shift in Medium of Communication ...........................................................118 Shift in Learning Focus ...............................................................................123 Shift in Language of Power ........................................................................129 Shift in Understanding Roles ......................................................................136 Adjustments and Realizations .....................................................................140

Chapter Five Emotions and the Monologue .......................................................145 Emotion: "El que se enoja, pierde" .............................................................145 Emotion: Stage Paralysis ............................................................................148 Owning the Game"El que se enoja, pierde" ................................................158

xi

Playing the Game ........................................................................................165 Rules of the Game ..............................................................................165 The Abercrombie Jacket or Engaging the Antagonist .......................171 The Language of the Game ................................................................182

Postscript to Chapter 5 ................................................................................193 Chapter Six Quiero Ser un Avocado ...................................................................196

Taking the Lead: Proposing New Casos .....................................................196 Speaking Educación ....................................................................................202 The Translanguaging Wars .........................................................................206 To Switch or not to Switch .........................................................................218 Witnessing: Quiero se un Avocado .............................................................227

Chapter Seven Conclusion ..................................................................................243 The Pedagogical is the Political ..................................................................255 Decolonizing Language in Bilingual Education .........................................259 The Body and Research ..............................................................................260

Appendix I Syllabus ............................................................................................262

Appendix II Vignettes…………………………………………………………..271

Appendix III Defense Script……………………………………………………275

Bibliography ........................................................................................................280

xii

List of Tables

Table 2.1:Modifiedactionresearchvaliditycriteria .........................................64

Table 2.2:Dataanalysis, collection and analysis procedures ...............................68

Table 3.1: Participants' self-identification, national origin and language

policies at school…… ……………………………………………….76

Table 3.2: Readings assignments……………………………………………….100

Table 5.1: Language comparison among session 2-4 and 5-8…..……………...183

xiii

List of Figures

Figure 1.1:The Onion Model ..................................................................................7

Figure 1.2:Theoreticalframework .....................................................................30

Figure 3.1: Participants' Schooling Breakdown………………………………….79

Figure 4.1:Language practices during reenactments: sessions 2-4 .....................133

Figure 5.1:Languagesandturn-takingduringreenactments:sessions5-8 ..182

Figure 5.2: Language comparison among session 5, 7 and 8…………………...184

Figure 5.3: Language comparison between vignettes b and d, session 7……….187

xiv

List of Illustrations

Illustration 4.1:One of the class-generated posters in favor of bilingualism ......109

Illustration 4.2:Oneoftheclass-generated posters against bilingualism ..........110

Illustration 4.3: Fidgting……………………………………………………….. 119

Illustration 4.4: Antoinette hiding behind the desk while Ana Maria speaks…...119

Illustration 4.5: Ganiva using stool as a prop …………….…………………......121

Illustration 4.6: Antoinette using a backpack as a prop…………………….…...121

Illustration 5.1: Student-led coaching time……………………………………...165

Illustration 6.1: Jenny utilized the ruler as a pop to scold Enrique……………...230

Illustration 6.2: Zully and Enrique look at Patricia as she introduces the

conflict………………………………………………………...232

Illustration 6.3: Sarita's experience as an observer shapes her performance……234

Illustration 6.4: Actresses and spectactors………………………………………235

Illustration 6.5: Imagined meeting with administrators, teachers and parents…..236

Illustration6.6:Guadalupeshowingresearchtoproveherpoint……………….238

1

Introduction

Off the Balcony

Since “education is a political enterprise” (Williamson, 2005, p. 141), it is

important to consider the foundational political and ideological forces that have shaped

education in the US since its inception. Adam (1988) and Apple (2006), while discussing

different stages of public education, have similar views on the values that have

disenfranchised, assimilated, invisibilized, discriminated, commodified, gentrified,

segregated and shamed minority groups in the United States. Adam’s notion of capitalism

and Apple’s neoliberalism as an ideological force in education demonstrate that

minorities were only regarded as biologically relevant for their bodies and productivity,

without humanity, without value, solely in the name of profit.

Another force informing education in the U.S. is founded in the

republican/neoconservative ideologies that bleed into US schooling. Americanness—

which included values such as industry, individualism, success, private property,

nationalism, among others—was the civilizing assimilation force that ignored and

belittled different cosmologies, worldviews, histories and languages. The ideologies

aforementioned are reproduced through the creation of policies that perpetuate such

ideologies. In the educational arena, for, example, in order to sustain and foster

Americanness, educational programs are created in order to homogenize the population,

violating their right of difference. For instance, the erasure of a linguistic identity is more

2

obvious in the policies and practices aimed to teach English to linguistically-diverse

populations. According to Gounari and Macedo (2009), language has become the last

bastion of “discrimination with impunity” (p. 37).

Ricento (2000) points out that institutional, state, national and even supranational

language ideologies inform both official and tacit language policy making, thus,

influencing language practices and ideologies at the individual level. Bourdieu (1977)

claims language ideology is perpetuated by ‘language habitus,’ which is a set of socially

constructed dispositions towards languages, invisible and tacit because its daily

performance remains uncontested. Unveiling this construction means understanding the

way ideology shapes the way people use languages, the acceptable forms, and even

understanding language economic and cultural power in that ‘language is worth what

those who speak it are worth’ (p. 652). US hegemonic ideology towards the language

rights of immigrants and minority language speakers have put forward “politics of

erasure” (McLaren & Jaramillo, 2007) as a xenophobic act that is aimed at not only

depriving speakers of their first languages, but also breaking the link between language to

identity and culture. This dehumanizing ideology stops what Fishman (2001) calls

“continuity of being.” This “continuity of being” means that language is the linkage of

culture, cultural enactments and cultural transmission, without which a cultural

discontinuity might wreak havoc on the individual’s sense of stability and coping

mechanism in a new country. This impune discrimination (Gounari & Macedo, 2009) has

targeted millions of Latina/o children with the passing of language policies mostly

inclined toward expediency (short-term support), restriction, repression and nullity since

3

colonial times (Wiley, 2007). Even with the successful outcomes of court cases such as

Lau v. Nichols—fundamental for the official implementation of bilingual education in the

U.S.—the ideology behind this law was the use of the native language as a transitional

tool to learn the hegemonic language (English).

The dismantling of bilingual education—and even its renaming—the English-only

movement, anti-immigrant initiatives, and the poor funding and services for emergent

bilingual students in public schools speak to a set of ideologies that see minority

languages as a commodity at best, and as a liability and danger at its worst (Pimentel,

2011). Arguing that most top-down and bottom-up language policies put in place in the

U.S. are aimed at “teaching English” (Gounari & Macedo, 2009) leaves not only

linguistic imperialism uncontested, but also connects linguistic discrimination to a long

history of racism, xenophobia and classism against minority groups. After all “speaking

English, in and of itself, has not led to an improved quality of life for the majority of

Latino, African American, and Native American people (Darder, 2011, p. 200).

As a teacher educator and researcher interested in the formation of future

bilingual teachers, I am involved in a collective engagement and shared repertoire as I am

a direct participant of the culture within the bilingual teacher preparation program. The

issues aforementioned are inherent to education—in particular to bilingual education.

These issues are part of the everyday reality of bilingual teachers across the United

States. Therefore, it is an ethical responsibility for me to not only denounce systematic

discrimination, classism and patriarchy as a researcher but to use my own research as a

tool—not as an end in itself—that allows me to serve as a critical “secretary,” (Apple,

4

2011) for the community I belong to, taking notes of their issues and helping to give

shape alternatives. A critical educator/researcher goes beyond research and understands

his or her commitment needs to extend both academia and the community they belong,

refusing to witness inequalities and refuses to watch “from the balcony” as Bakthin (in

Apple, 2011, p. 230) argues. My quest to obtain a more politically clear educational

philosophy (Bartolome, 1994) encourages me to look for ways to do research “against the

grain" (Cochran-Smith, 2009) and try to disrupt traditional societal discourses that inform

what teaching, teachers and students should or should not be (Marsh, 2003, Sleeter, 2008)

or do; likewise research and researchers. I turn to James Petras (in McLaren, 2006) to

remember the kind of intellectual I strive to be:

The stoic, who is “repulsed by the predatory pillage of the empire but… choose to

form small cadres of academics in order to debate theory in much isolation as

possible…The cynic, who does not deny the inequality but “condemn both the

victims of predatory capitalism and victimizers as equally afflicted with

consumerism…The pessimist, who uses (social movement) defeats as “a pretext

for adopting a pragmatic accommodation with the status quo…The critical

intellectual, who “creates a type of indignation that appeals very much to the

educated classes without asking them to sacrifice too much [or] the irreverent

intellectual, who “works together with intellectuals and activists involved in

popular struggles and… avoid divided loyalties”? (p. 128)

This study examines the engagement of bilingual preservice teachers with the

counterstories of seasoned bilingual teachers that speak of their struggles as bilingual

5

beings and teachers in issues related to social inequalities through performance that

reflect the extent of their linguistic repertoire. I explore the way the participants reflect on

their role as bilingual teachers as they rehearse their responses in the face of such social

inequalities and how the participants make sense of these experiences. Specifically, I

examine the use of Theater of the Oppressed techniques in the bilingual teacher

preparation classroom as a tool for the rehearsal of pressing issues that affect bilingual

teachers as a means to co-construct advocate teacher identities utilizing the least

prestigious languages as language of instruction and interaction. This study responds to

the following research questions:

1. How do preservice bilingual teachers make sense of their future roles as bilingual

teachers by performing of counterstories of actual bilingual teachers?

2. In what ways (if any) do preservice bilingual teachers discourses and languages

practices shift as they participate in the performance of local counterstories of the

experiences of seasoned bilingual teachers?

3. In what ways (or not) did the performance of local counterstories through Forum

Theater facilitate the development of an emergent identity as teacher-advocates

among future bilingual teachers?

Since the languages used in this study varied, I placed the translations of, and short

sentences/phrases immediately after the text, small paragraphs as footnotes, and longer

chunks as endnotes. Likewise, the written reflections, products, and responses expressed

by the participants in Spanish were left unedited and verbatim to depict faithfully their

language practices.

6

Chapter One

Review of Literature And Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this chapter is to locate the present study within the body of

research on Bilingual education, bilingualism, activism and Theater of the Oppressed. I

divide this review of literature into five sections: a brief introduction, language(s)

trajectories of the Bilingual teacher, advocacy in teacher education and Theater of the

Oppressed and Paulo Freire. I discuss previous research conducted in each area, followed

by a discussion on the way my research agenda plans to contribute to the scholarship on

bilingual teacher preparation programs and the guiding research questions. Finally, I

provide an examination of the theoretical framework.

LITERATURE REVIEW

One of the goals of teacher preparation programs is to make sure prospective

teachers are prepared to transition from their training to “real” life smoothly, trying to

bridge the gap between theory and practice (Allen, 2009). While some programs are

concerned to prepare future teachers to address issues of multiculturalism, English

Language Learners (Coady, Harper & de Jong, 2011), and respond to inequalities in

schools (Athanases & de Oliveira, 2008, Dantas-Whitney & Dugan, 2009) most have a

competency orientation to measure effectiveness (Korthagen, Loughran & Russell, 2006;

7

Dantas-Whitney & Dugan, 2009, Allen, 2009). While this orientation is crucial in the

preparation of future teachers, Korthagen (2004) argues that a relying solely on

competency little attention has been devoted to interventions that aimed at the levels of

professional identity and mission. In his Onion Model, Korthagen identifies five layers of

teaching professional learning that need to be explored to prepare effective and well-

rounded teachers.

Figure 1.1 The Onion model: a model of levels of change. Taken from Korthagen, 2004, p. 80.

Korthagen argues that the three outer layers have been the principal focus in

teacher préparation classrooms. The three first layers (environment, behavior and

competencies) have been the main focus of teacher preparation programs, as they refer to

8

learning about the class, students and school culture (environment), subject matter

knowledge, management, and teaching skills (competencies), and professional attitudes

(behaviors). In general, these three layers shape what teachers believe to be effective.

Teacher preparation programs understand the future teachers need to be conscious and

reflexive about what they know and its practical application in the classroom by

exploring their beliefs about effective teaching.

However, the two inner layers—identity and mission—have hardly been

explored. These two layers respond to two “becoming aware of the meaning of our own

existence in the world, and the role we see for ourselves in relation to our fellow man”

(Korthagen & Vasalos, 2005). Even though these two layers belong to a private realm are

more difficult to explore, these are the areas where potential transformational and long-

lasting changes might occur. One way to move to these deeper layers to explore the

identity and the mission of future bilingual teachers is a socio-cultural-historical approach

to bilingual education (Athanases & Oliveira, 2008; Athanases & Martin, 2006; Ricento,

2005; Menchaca 2011). In order to refocus the approach to foster an identity and a

mission in the highly political arena of bilingual education, it is crucial to connect the

language trajectories of future bilingual teachers with local and national ideologies

towards minoritized language practices; and to foster political and ideological clarity

(Sanchez & Ek, 2008, Bartolome & Balderrama, 2001) in the issues surrounding

bilingual education to respond to the need for teacher advocates. I will elaborate more in

the following sections.

9

Language(s) Trajectories and Ideologies

“No individual, social, cultural, or ethnic groups can start the struggle for self-

affirmation without the use of their native language. “

—Paulo Freire (1998, p. 86)

For bilingual preservice teachers whose own schooling did not support their home

languages (Guerrero, 2003a, 2003b), developing Spanish proficiency becomes a

conflicted journey. On one hand, future bilingual teachers see the value of instruction in

Spanish—including lectures, readings, writing assignments, assessment (Rodriguez,

2007). Rodriguez argues that preservice bilingual teachers he interviewed believed in the

pivotal role of Spanish proficiency development for the improvement of their ability to

teach and talk about teaching in Spanish, thus, becoming better teachers. On the other

hand, perceptions of inferiority regarding language performance (Said-Mohand, 2005;

Sutterby, Ayala, Murillo, 2005), coupled with limited class offerings of instruction in

Spanish in bilingual teacher preparation programs (Sutterby et al, 2005) contribute to the

feelings of inadequacy prospective teachers face when they are required to be

academically proficient in Spanish to teach. Moreover, because speakers of Spanish as a

minoritized language experience language loss due to the years of monolingual schooling

and messages (Hasson, 2006), many internalize the deficit dominant views toward their

own language, culture, and literacy practices (Howard, 2006) and may interfere in the

formation of their identity as bilingual teachers. Hornberger (2004) challenges teacher

10

instruction to facilitate biliteracy and empower students to draw from all their linguistic

resources, especially the marginalized ones.

There are a few examples of studies that link language ideology and professional

development of (future) bilingual teachers. For instance, Perez, Bustos Flores & Strecker

(2003) explore language and power dynamics in bilingual teacher preparation to

understand the importance of cultural references, language dominance and influence to

make sense of the future bilingual teacher’s experience. While this study included social

interactions in the data analysis, the teacher educator was not taken into account in spite

of their influential role in the classroom as the linguistic and professional developer of

future teachers. Varghese (2006) included the bilingual teacher educator in her analysis

of the teacher educator-pre and in-service teacher interactions during professional

development sessions. The author showed the incongruence between how teachers learn

and the instruction in teacher education settings. Moreover, this study unveiled the

conflictive nature of identity and the role of the power differential between the two sets

of actors.

A case study conducted by Guerrero & Guerrero (2013) with bilingual pre-service

teachers and language development supports Guerrero’s previous findings (2003a,

2003b) on the Spanish language deprivation throughout K-16 of pre-service teachers

living in Southwest US. The authors concluded that a “benevolent colonization” exists in

a bilingual teacher preparation program in which their coursework poorly supported

students’ need to acquire “academic language” in Spanish. Moreover, this study

challenges the willingness of Bilingual teacher educators to provide more concrete

11

measures to help pre-service teachers improve their language skills with the excuse they

do not teach languages in spite of teaching the long history of cultural and linguistic

deprivation of the Latino/Mexican American population in the US. Guerrero & Guerrero

note the incongruence of Bilingual teacher educators language ideologies: having a

critical awareness of bilingualism, imparting this knowledge effectively, and advocating

bilingualism—in their classroom and in their scholarship—but principally in English.

Finally, the authors advocate for the awareness of the contradictory discourses in the

bilingual teacher preparation program and the need for a transdisciplinary vision that

combines bilingualism, heritage language learning/teaching, applied linguistics with a

focus on education and a willingness to have open conversations and reconciliations.

In a comparative study on bilingual practice of two bilingual teachers, Cahnmann

& Varghese (2005) argue that the use of the minoritized language is connected to context

and the positionality of the individual; “bilingual language practices are influenced by the

social context in which they occur, and the ways in which social variables (i.e. gender,

class, culture, race, ethnicity, and power) intersect to shape inequalities” (62). This

explains the notions of whose bilingualism is worth cultivating. Regarding the context,

Cahnmann & Varghese point out that monolingualism is the norm in learning institutions,

which could hinder the development of other languages, affect the self-image of the

speaker of those languages, while facilitating assimilation and language loss. The authors

also connect the differing views on the goal of bilingualism—transitional, compensatory,

maintenance—as an urgent point to address, especially in the teacher preparation

classroom in order to understand the different positions that potentially affect views of

12

future bilingual teachers about the role of Spanish in their professional development and

future practice. Finally, Cahnmann & Varghese’s study differs from Guerrero (2003a) in

the apparent disservice of certifying a bilingual teacher with poor Spanish proficiency.

The researchers examined how the awareness of her own language limitations growing

up in the U.S. pushed a Latina bilingual teacher to become a linguistic advocate. The

authors asked researchers interested in language development and ideology in the

bilingual preparation classroom to “reassess and redefine what is meant by “full

bilingual/biliterate proficiency” in settings where bilinguals often have unequal

capabilities in both languages, depending on the domain in which each language was

acquired and used” (Cahnmann & Varghese, 2005, p. 69).

The subtitle of this section mentions “languages” in plural as a way to counter a

dichotomous view of Bilingual education in the United States among individuals whose

dominant language is not English, especially among Mexican Americans or Latino/as:

the development of Spanish and English as separate entities. This linguistic in-

betweenness is commonly and pejoratively called Pocho language or Espanglish. In her

ethnographic study, Zentella (1997, 2005) uses the linguistic term “code-switching” to

examine the linguistic wealth of a “Nuyorican” community in the USA—Puerto Ricans

in New York. After observing this community for around twelve years, Zentella divided

code-switching in this particular community in three categories: switching that covers up

linguistic gaps or crutching; switching for realigning, and finally switching for control.

Zentella also points out that while crutching is regularly regarded as the main reason why

bilingual—individuals switch from a language to another, the other two categories are

13

more dominant. This common belief may be the cause of the stigmatization of code-

switchers, especially in the United Stated due to its English-Only stance and the long

history of conflict with Mexico. García (2009) goes further and adopts the phrase

“translanguaging” as the way bilingual (or multilingual) individuals use their linguistic

repertoire—even by crossing language frontiers—in order to communicate and make

sense. Research has predominantly focused on the use of translanguaging practices in the

Bilingual elementary classroom for the development of first and second language (Mick,

2012; Creese & Blackledge, 2012).

There is a need for a shift from a monoglossic, deficit-oriented perspective of

language to a bilingual (or multilingual) approach in which students' approximations are

welcome. Practices that welcome scaffolding through the use of students’ language

toolkits, and the honoring of their conocimientos are crucial to develop stronger and

multifaceted language practices if we are invested in maintenance bilingualism.

Contributions like Soltero-Gonzalez, Escamilla & Hopewell’s model (2012) to analyze

writing among emergent bilinguals reflects the varied stages in language acquisition and

the interconnectedness of languages, crucial for the development of simultaneous

bilingualism. Their work shows the writing process among emergent bilinguals, valuing

the minoritized language as an asset. Cahnmann (2003) paraphrases Hamlet to narrate a

bilingual teacher’s dilemma “to correct or not to correct” emergent bilingual’s work at

elementary level. This study shows the complexities of walking a fine line to empower

students to be proud of their language practices while at the same time helping them to

expand their linguistic repertoire as part of their academic development in the middle of

14

messages that inform of the supremacy of English. Cahnmann suggests other survival

strategies to help students navigate through a system while keeping one’s voice in a

productive way: resistance through desistance and resistance through insistence.

However, translanguaging practices in the Bilingual teacher preparation program,

its influence on the development of Spanish proficiency and principally, its influence in

their future practice seem, thus far, to be an unexplored arena. Hornberger (2004)

challenges educators to empower Bilingual preservice teachers to make use of the least

privileged language practices to facilitate their language instruction.

Advocacy in Teacher Education

“We must dare so that we can continue to teach for a long time under conditions

that we know well: low salaries, lack of respect. We must dare so that we can

continue to do so even when it is so much more materially advantageous to stop

daring.”

—Donaldo Macedo & Paulo Freire (2005, p. xxv)

The National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE, 1992) outlined the

characteristics of an effective bilingual teacher; apart from having academic, cultural and

personal qualifications, proficiency is required in both English and Spanish that allows

for seamless instruction no matter the level of the students. Bilingual teachers are

required not only to master the content knowledge, good class management and

interpersonal skills, and self-direction, but also to be prepared to tackle questions of

15

equity in multicultural classes and advocate for the maintenance of heritage language

among English language learners; all of this in two languages. Being a bilingual teacher

means stepping into a controversial and disputed arena where teaching a language other

than English and cultivating students’ home culture may be seen as an attack on

American values, identity, citizenship and ideology (Fitts & Weisman, 2010, Ricento,

2005), thus plagued by varied obstacles in the same classrooms, at schools, in the

community, and at state and federal levels.

The history of bilingual education, especially the one directed to Latino

populations—specifically of Mexican descent—is intertwined with issues of

immigration, racism, linguicism and discrimination (Menchaca, 2011). Therefore,

bilingual educators have the responsibility to respond to the needs of their students of

Mexican American/Latino/a descent by acknowledging their cultures as additive

resources, provide access to opportunities historically denied and working towards

reversing the inequalities perpetuated by the dominant culture and ideology (Dubetz & de

Jong, 2011). Moreover, as Wiley & Wright (2004) point out, becoming a bilingual

teacher means preparing oneself to become an advocate in the classroom since this field

is not politically neutral. It is interesting to reread the NABE description of what

constitutes an effective bilingual teacher and see that advocacy has no place in spite of

the fact that—judging by the history of Bilingual education in the US—becoming an

advocate is indispensible.

Acknowledging that education is politically charged, Edelsky (1996) urges a

pedagogy in which a contestation to inequalities, oppression and a call for activism

16

should be in the forefront of education. Kincheloe & Steinberg (1997) urge educators to

gear education towards an “emancipatory commitment to social justice and the

egalitarian democracy that accompanies it” (p. 26), in contrast to “an emptiness to

pedagogies that attempt to understand the world without concurrently attempting to

change it” (p. 26). In preparation programs, the inclusion of Culturally Responsive

Pedagogy (CRP) aims to make sure prospective teachers are able to adapt instruction to

students’ strengths, legitimizing their cultural backgrounds and knowledges. According

to Mosley, Cary & Zoch (2010), using CRP is a complex task since it requires future

teachers to acquire extra sets of skills, knowledge and understanding. After analyzing

pre-service teachers engaging in CRP with ELLs, the authors noticed the multiple

interpretations of what it means to include culture in the classrooms, and they note that

more studies are needed to analyze the nature of such practices and the multicultural

theories on which they are based. However, being culturally responsive is not enough.

The authors claim that in order to be a culturally responsive educator, pre-service

teachers should understand their unconscious participation in the reproduction of

hegemony, and have a critical stance to reflect on their own and others’ practices,

materials, etc. (see also Sleeter & Grant, 2003).

Even though the aforementioned study (Mosley et al, 2010) was conducted in a

mainstream teacher preparation program, their research is relevant to future teachers in

the field of bilingual education for “the development and expression of the bicultural

voice” (Darder, 2011, p. 203) of the bilingual preservice teacher. Darder argues that

bilingual/bicultural students (in this case, future bilingual teachers) who have a strong

17

sense of cultural identity “display a greater critical understanding of social contexts and a

greater proficiency for giving voice to their experiences as bicultural human beings in the

United States” (p. 203). The students who show signs of cultural alienation need similar

preparation as proposed by Sleeter (2008) for mainstream teachers working with diverse

students. Zeichner (1996, p. 159) proposes the inclusion of:

development of clear ethnic and cultural self-identity, self-examination of

ethnocentrism; dynamics prejudice and racism, including implications for

teachers; dynamics of privilege and economic oppression, and how schools

contribute to these inequities; multicultural curriculum development; the promise

and potential dangers of learning styles; relationships between language, culture,

and learning; and culturally appropriate teaching and assessment. (In Sleeter,

2008, p. 566).

Darder (2012) would agree with Zeichner (1996) and Sleeter (2008) since she adds that

even for bilingual/bicultural future teachers who developed and express the bicultural

voice, it is necessary a reexamination of their socialization within a technocratic and

instrumental pedagogy that may have hindered the development of critical awareness or

conscientização (Freire, 1993).

This needed conscientização through a bilingual teacher preparation program

cannot be complete if it is not linked to praxis. An example of this is the study conducted

by Athanases & de Oliveira (2008) of the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program

in California. According to the authors, teachers who recently graduated from that

bilingual teaching program demonstrated themselves to be better equipped to be engaged

18

in advocacy in and outside classrooms, probably due to the larger issues that bilingual

education and teaching ELL students full time bring to the table. Working with minority

students who speak a language other than English presents a challenge for bilingual

teachers that require from them major involvement in educational change. Allen (2009),

states that teacher agency to produce change in classroom and school practices is

overshadowed by their need to emulate senior teachers whose pedagogical stance may or

may not be aligned with their teacher education training. Allen explains new teachers

were reluctant to utilize the resources provided during their preparation due to the doubts

on their effectiveness, and conformed to the instructional strategies dictated by their

supervising mentors. These novice teachers constantly relied on more experienced

teachers as an example of good practice to the extent that they discard the pedagogical

foundations obtained in their preparation program. Allen concluded that their incipient

identity as teachers is shaped by the socialization process at school, in which they take up

their new role emulating the one seen as a model. By doing this, new teachers become the

new transmitter of the same traditional roles and practices their teacher preparation

training aimed to change (Korthagen, Loughran & Russell, 2006), unable to exercise

agency.

In contrast to Allen (2009), Athanases & de Oliveira (2008) highlight the levels of

advocacy and transformational agency shown by new bilingual teachers in spite of

adverse circumstances. The authors provide a theoretical framework of what cultural

competence and equity advocacy means. This includes understanding the role of culture

in the classroom, students’ culture as a resource, fairness and sensitivity to different

19

cultures (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005, Ladson-Billings, 2001), making sure to reflect

on their own practice and question who benefits and who does not from it in and outside

the classrooms under the given socio-political context. Athanases & de Oliveria (2008)

define teacher advocacy as teacher’s engagement in acts as a critical examination of how

underserved minority students have been retained academically in order to work towards

students’ empowerment and the change of the conditions that put them at disadvantage.

Urrieta (2009) demonstrates that in difficult settings, teachers “play the game” in order to

navigate the system and at the same time, open spaces to become agents of change while

influencing transformation in and outside classrooms.

The most relevant finding in Athanases & de Oliveria (2008) is that it provides

guidelines on how to better prepare bilingual preservice teachers on their terms. This

finding aligns with Korthagen, et al (2006) who argue that taking into account the voices

of prospective teachers enrolled in teacher preparation programs, and how they perceive

the effectiveness of such programs, is a resource for the improvement of teacher

education programs and are important for their revitalization, while at the same time

addressing the challenge of becoming a bilingual teacher. Athanases & de Oliveira

(2008) reported that most of the effectiveness of this bilingual preparation program is

thanks to the use of a direct approach to addressing educational, linguistic and cultural

equity and how it is translated in the classroom in terms of pedagogy in the courses

design. This program also presented a coherent and integrated socio-cultural-historical

approach to Bilingual education and its history in the US. Other characteristics are:

- effective student teaching placements

20

- scaffolded apprenticeship

- qualified equity mentors, aligned with the advocacy-oriented nature of the

program.

Athanases & Martin (2006) provide a more specific account of the role of pedagogy

instilling advocacy among preservice teachers in a different version of the same

longitudinal study. The authors highlight the use of modeling in learning to be both

effective teachers and advocates for social justice. Some of the strategies used were the

enactments of pedagogical strategies geared towards teaching English Language Learners

(ELL) and pedagogical experiences in which they could emulate teachers. The authors

finish by stating the need for models and theories of effective teaching. However,

Bartolome (1994) cautions against the dangers of method fetish as this technical one-size-

fits-all approach to teaching does not require from teachers to examine their biases

towards children perceived “at risk” and leave educational institutions uncontested.

It is important to mention that the bilingual preparation programs researched by

Athanases & de Oliveira utilize a screening process for admittance, which ensure the

candidates had a diversity-oriented stance, personal experience similar to the population

served, and experience with underserved youth. In other words, candidates showed a

latent predisposition for advocacy, something that was further strengthened by the

instructors in charge of the program and the collaboration of like-minded classmates. In

agreement with this, Major and Perreault (2004) recommend a screening process that

localizes students incapable of being in charge of a culturally diverse class and

addressing the importance of dealing with multiculturalism and diversity critically during

21

core classes at university. Major and Perreault conclude that certifying such students

would certainly be detrimental and harmful for children and would avoid reaching the

goal of breaking off from a legacy of inequality and discrimination.

As shown in this section, previous research has studied the ways teacher

preparation programs have approached the question of advocacy, especially the ones

geared towards the preparation of bilingual teachers. Programs with an advocacy-

orientation based on a socio-cultural-historical perspective are more effective in forming

bilingual teacher advocates in the field especially if teacher educators engage in praxis

though their instruction and become pedagogical models.

Theater of the Oppressed: Freire and Boal

Maybe the theater in itself is not revolutionary, but these theatrical forms are

without a doubt a rehearsal for revolution

—Boal (2000, p. 155)

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains

—Rosa Luxemburg

In her Variations on a Blue Guitar, Greene (2001) advocates the use of arts in

education as a way to move students beyond the classes to spaces they have never

experienced before through the senses and feelings. Art, she adds “ makes a demand upon

the beholders—a demand that they change, look with new eyes, hear with new ears,

become something they have not been before,” (p. 44) highlighting its transformative

22

power. This is the case of performing art, which creates an alternative reality where

imagination, emotions are freed (Sanders, 2004). However, Zwerling (2008) argues that

becoming merely passive “beholders” creates an emotional and physical barrier between

the spectator and the actors and stage, thus limiting the spaces for letting out thoughts and

emotions. Therefore, beholding becomes monological since it is directed from the stage

to the spectators, who are constrained in their feelings and thoughts since they are

dictated and predetermined, with no space for change.

Greene’s “anything is possible” is better interpreted by Augusto Boal in his

Theater of the Oppressed (2000). Boal states that every human being is already an artist

since they are able to organize and transform their environment, which makes such

environment a stage where the interaction among artist/human beings take place (Boal,

2006). While in conventional theater the play is watched from the distance by spectators,

in Theater of the Oppressed they tear down the fourth wall and become “spect-actors”

since it is “obscene for a human being who is fully capable of doing to merely watch”

(Boal, 2000, p. 39). By breaking the fourth wall, Boal opens the possibility of the

democratization of the stage where figured worlds (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, Cain,

2003) can be imagined and rehearsed: a place for the spect-actors to recreate injustice and

oppression to then collectively imagining ways to rewrite the prescribed script in contrast

with reality. This “rehearsal for revolution”—as Boal calls it—provides the spect-actors

with a space where self-directed symbolization as an individual and collective act is

possible. According to Boal, the spect-actors who are part of this revolutionary rehearsal

are more likely to put it into practice in the real life (Boal, 1995). This pedagogical and

23

performative space also allows for mutual learning, self and collective reflection in a safe

environment where trust is a must.

Freire was influenced by Liberation Theology, which urged that the Catholic

Church focus on the poor and their communities in the late 60’s. Engaging the poor in the

untangling of their own oppression empowered them to be co-authors of their own

history by means of reflection action. Augusto Boal, a Brazilian actor and activist, was

engaged in playwriting and directing when he made the connection between poverty,

disempowerment and passivity by giving people a space—the stage—to discuss and

rehearse revolution by themselves. Zwerling (2008) summarizes how these three

components created a favorable atmosphere for social change in Brazil;

“Liberation theology asks “for whom is religion?” Paulo Freire asked “for whom

is education?” Augusto Boal was to ask “for whom is theater?” Each was to

answer with a preference for the poor and oppressed and against the exploiters.

Equally important, each hit upon a similar methodology for accomplishing their

work: the engagement of the oppressed as co-creators of their future through

dialogue, empowerment and active involvement” (p. 72)

At first, Boal engaged in agitprop theater as a countercultural way to disseminate

dissenting ideas until he realized the separation of the stage and the public and decided to

look for ways to create something that is for, by and of the public. Like Freire, Augusto

Boal was also in exile for years though still spreading his work abroad, evidence that

their legacy is both transgressive and a danger for the status quo: empower the oppressed

to challenge the formerly invisible oppressive structures, providing spaces for self and

24

collective authoring. Nevertheless, Theater of the Oppressed should not be regarded as a

prescribed method to achieve Freire’s praxis or consider it the panacea for lack of

conscientization at an individual and collective level, but one creative way to approach

the needs of the community engaged in it.

Theater of the Oppressed challenges and widens the notion of stage as it bleeds

into different arenas, such as education, politics, society. It also challenges the script

when unveiling power relations, hegemony and self-controlling mechanisms in every-day

acts, or habitus (Bourdieu, 1990). Habitus impedes and avoids the conflictive nature of

the questioning of the rules, let alone disobedience. This stagnation is contested by means

of theatrical techniques where the spect-actors are encouraged to externalize their

thoughts, emotions and attitudes to challenge the ‘cop in the head’ (Boal, 1995) and

create a variety of solutions while acknowledging that personal struggles stem from

larger societal and political issues (Osterlind, 2008) refusing to regard oneself as a victim

of fate. It also humanizes the antagonist, recognizing that they are also subjected to the

same ‘cop in the head,’ thus also capable of transformation (Brown, Gillespie, 1999).

Brown and Gillespie also argue that the restructuring of the script engages the spect-

actors in the exercising of their agencies individually and collectively against internal and

external constraints. Even when external oppressive conditions remain unaltered, Theater

of the Oppressed provides the tools for spect-actors to transform from within by

expanding their understanding of the oppressive power structures and encouraging refusal

to participate in them and act accordingly through utilizing the options rehearsed on stage

(Rymes, Cahnmann-Taylor, Souto-Manning, 2008). Therefore, it is important to

25

understand and concretize oppression at a micro level (the individual) to be able to work

on societal and political changes at the macro level (Engelstad, in Osterlind, 2008). This

concretizing turns the hidden/invisible into an object, thus enabling spect-actors to

analyze it and probably transform it.

Examples of Theater of the Oppressed as a transformative tool abound: it has

been taken to federal prisons (Kanter, 2007), with pre-service teachers and practitioners

(Rymes, et al, 2008, Scapp, 2006, Cockrell, Placier, Burgoyne, Welch, Cockrell, 2002),

among health-care educators (Scapp, 2006, Brown, Gillespie, 1997), after-school

programs (Zwerling, 2008), at schools (Schaedler, 2010, Osterlind, 2008, Sanders, 2004),

and even at university level with faculty and staff (Scapp, 2006, Brown, Gillespie, 1999).

Picher (2007) enumerates the ways Forum Theater, one of the branches of Theater of the

Oppressed, has been used in different organizations concerned with human right issues,

poor communities, prisons, street children, mental health advocates, unions, immigrant

rights’ movements against violence, classism, sexism, racism, discrimination around the

world. Examples of this is the Jana Sanskriti collective working with peasants in Calcutta

or the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB) in liaison with the Boal Center in

Rio de Janeiro (CTO-RIO) concerned with poverty, unemployment, addiction and HIV-

AIDS. Another collective using these two branches of Theater of the Oppressed is the

Make the Road by Walking (MRBW) in the US which is formed by mostly low income

Latino and African American communities to promote economic equality and make

direct democracy a way of life (Picher, 2007, p. 87).

26

This study concentrates on one of the most important Theater of the Oppressed

branches: Forum Theater. Schaedler (2010) describes the practicalities of Forum Theater

as a problem posed narrative improvised and performed by spect-actors on the stage and

the spect-actors outside the stage, who have the power to interrupt the play, replace the

oppressed character and offer a solution. The word spect-actors is a play on words that

gives the spectator a more active role in the improvisation. The spect-actors, are both the

ones who do the performance and the ones who are not on the stage but have the power to

interrupt the play, replace the oppressed character and offer a solution. Kanter (2007)

calls it “a space for democratic dialogue about national and international problems—

political oppression, poverty and violence” (p. 394). Forum Theater is a way to connect

spect-actors ideas and apply them in real situation, realizing the need for abandoning

rhetoric-based solutions due to their impracticality in real life, and the ineffectiveness of

individual action for permanent change (Brown, Gillespie, 1999). However, individual

action and collective action need to be intertwined, of course, avoiding the fatalistic “I

can’t do anything” and the illusory “yes, we can” (Osterlind, 2008).

Since all spect-actors are welcome to intervene on the stage, they are part of the

creation on stage, therefore the ones who choose to intervene do it in everybody’s name,

making the emotional discharge different from catharsis in what Boal calls

“dynamization” (Boal, 1995). Zweling (2008) describes Boal’s new interpretation of

catharsis as the blending of mimesis (imitation), kinesis (action/movement), and metaxis

(the interplay of the real and the imaginary). By the mimesis of the spect-actors’ real life

experiences and stories, the texts and bodies become kinetic in a liminal space where

27

traumatic experience is not too near to do harm again but at the same time near enough to

intervene, eliminate its power or alleviate the pain.

Boal was criticized for using his theatrical methods as therapeutic (Davis,

O’Sullivan, 2000, Osterling, 2008, Howard, 2004) especially when he developed the

Rainbow of Desire method and moved away from the social and the political to the

individual an personal without connections with the macro level. Forum Theater in

educational settings also has detractors. Cockrell, et al (2002) point out the controversies

of using Forum Theater in academic setting where grades were involved. Pre-service

teachers complained about the mandatory nature of this activity, seeing no value and

connection with their practicum experience and their teaching development. Others were

incapable of regarding themselves as oppressed—let alone as actors and actresses—thus

became resistant to participation, longed for more structured classes related to their

careers, and wished instructors stopped “sacrific(ing) precious time” (p. 44). The

researchers concluded that the lack of clarification of the purpose of the use Forum

Theater and its connection with the curriculum were detrimental in its application in

class. However, some student-teachers decided that while they could have learned this

“problem-solving technique,” some stated that the use of Forum Theater promoted

empathy as they were placed in an oppressive situation that recreated emotions and

actions they were not usually exposed to.

In this study, I used Forum Theater—or what I called Casos de la Vida Real,

which is modeled after it. I chose to call Forum Theater “Casos de la Vida Real” (“Real-

Life Cases”) as it was both catchy and reminded the students of a very famous Mexican

28

soapopera most of the students—especially the immigrant—recognized. Casos de la Vida

Real connected participants’ emergent conscientization with praxis in scenarios that they

might encounter as future teachers. In spite of not being theirs, the participants drew from

the life experiences of teachers who came from similar backgrounds in order to imagine

future stories and rehearse their future selves.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The goal of the present study is to explore the potential of using Theater of the

Oppressed in the Bilingual teacher preparation classroom. I examined the use of Forum

Theater utilizing real life experiences of experienced Bilingual teachers in the Bilingual

teacher preparation classroom as a way to provide a stage for future Bilingual teachers to

develop their assertiveness and stance as a way of rehearsal for their future practice.

4. How do preservice bilingual teachers make sense of their future roles as bilingual

teachers by performing of counterstories of actual bilingual teachers?

5. In what ways (if any) do preservice bilingual teachers discourses and languages

practices shift as they participate in the performance of local counterstories of the

experiences of seasoned bilingual teachers?

6. In what ways (or not) did the performance of local counterstories through Forum

Theater facilitate the development of an emergent identity as teacher-advocates

among future bilingual teachers?

My research focus is on exploring how critical drama-based pedagogical methods for the

formation of Bilingual teachers according to NABE (1992) can prepare future Bilingual

29

teachers to respond to the need for advocacy inside and outside the classroom. My

research intervened in the Bilingual teacher preparation class using Boal’s Theater of the

Oppressed (2006) techniques as a critical drama-based pedagogy to examine issues

described aforementioned by Darder (2012), Zeichner (1996) and Sleeter (2008). One

goal of this intervention is to understand the way future Bilingual teachers perceive the

influence of critical drama-based pedagogy in their conscientização (Freire, 1993), and

its perceived contribution to “the ongoing process of identity recovery, construction and

reconstruction” (Darder, 2011, p. 44) of bilingual/bicultural beings. My research might

potentially contribute to the scholarship of pedagogical practices for the preparation of

future Bilingual teachers to respond to the need for concrete examples of pedagogical

models that have the potential to empower them to think critically of the issues that

surround Bilingual education and to be motivated to engage in advocacy inside and

outside the classroom.

The second goal of my research was to understand bilingual future teachers’

perceptions of the development of their Spanish proficiency through the use of critical

drama-based pedagogy in a class designed to be in Spanish. While most of the research I

found focuses on the Spanish proficiency deficiencies of future Bilingual teachers and a

critique of K-16 schooling as culprit of language stagnation/loss; I failed to find examples

of how Bilingual teacher education programs tackle these issues in a concrete manner.

This study also aims to examine participants’ perceptions of language development

through the positive use of their linguistic repertoire. The examination of translanguaging

practices in the bilingual preservice class and how they shape their identities as bilingual

30

beings and teachers is a gap in research my study tries to look into not only to understand

bilingual preservice teachers’ linguistic trajectories but the place of translanguaging

practices in their future practice as bilingual teachers.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

I would like to draw the connections among heteroglossia as crucial for identity

formation, conscientization and praxis, and dialogical performance and kinesis in order to

theorize the way this study relates to the existing knowledge about the processes of self-

making of preservice Bilingual teachers as advocates when using minoritarian linguistic

practices. I take the challenge Bucholtz & Hall (2008) and Erickson (2004) pose for the

Figure 1.2 Theoretical Framework

31

enrichment of identity analysis by adding performativity, agency and salience to create a

thicker description while complicating the links between language, society and culture. I

will proceed to describe each of the concepts provided and the theories behind each of

them.

Bakhtin: Heteroglossia in the Identity Formation Process

In writing his dissertation on Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel (Bakhtin &

Iswolsky, 1984), Bakhtin started playing with the concept of carnaval as a space of

contestation against the monologue. Madison (2005) calls Bakhtin’s carnaval a liminal

space where norms that create uniformity and constrain other voices are suspended and

becomes “a space to defy the norms, invert the expected, embrace the playful, and form

new and different human connections" (p.175). During carnival, transgressive discourses

take over and challenge the official discourse to claim their right to share the space with

others, creating a dialogical tapestry. Bakhtin regarded the “all-powerful socio-

hierarchical relationships of noncarnival life” (Carlson, 1996 as cited in Madison, 2005,

p.175) the “consecration of inequality” (Bakhtin & Iswolsky, 1984, p. 10) due to its

normalization in the official sphere. This “noncarnival life,” Bakhtin argues, is

monological since it represents an authoritative discourse and demands total attention and

unwavering allegiance. His thoughts on the carnival and its subversive and democratic

nature were a springboard for the development of the concept of heteroglossia and its

dialogic nature.

32

Bakhtin’s heteroglossia speaks of people’s ability to have constant dialogues

through multiple and differing voices (languages, meanings, power relations) for

self/making. Bakhtin points out that there is no language and existence without dialogue

so he questions not only official languages, but also official discourses in that they

privilege the monologue, illusion that is charged with ideology in overt and covert ways.

Heteroglossia also speaks of the welcoming of multivocality as part of the social process

of becoming as the way to relate to others and the world. The internal voice—or

discourse—developed in relation to this multivocality is called internal persuasive

discourse, which is the “idea that utterances reproduce, subvert or create institutional

roles and identities through the discursive choice [individuals] make (Kramsch, 2003, p.

133). This internal persuasive discourse is in continuous dialogue with others and self in

a process that can invoke or reject both present and past identity saliencies, discourses

and subjectivities in either harmony or in conflict. Holland & Lave (2001) stated that

heteroglossia is crucial for identity formation since we are in a perpetual dialogism in

which we are constantly addressed. We subject ourselves or resist certain social practices,

registers, genres, expectations and constraints in the process of identity formation.

Identity

Definitions of identity abound in different fields that range from social

psychology, sociolinguistics, anthropology, and sociology, among others. With a

Meadian approach, Holland & Lachicotte (2007) define identity as “social and cultural

products through which a person identifies self-in-activity and learns, though the

33

mediation of cultural resources, to manage and organize him- or herself to act in the name

of an identity… formed in relation to collectively produced social identities (p. 13)”

According to the authors, this definition is complemented by a Vygotskyan notion of

cultural production through semiotic mediations to author “new selves and new cultural

worlds and try to realize them” (p. 14) as a way to describe the ever-evolving and

complex nature of identity development. Identity development distances itself from a

psychological or racial approach (Urrieta, 2009) and accommodates the fluidity,

multiplicity and frequent dissonance of identity formation (Norton, 2000, Della Porta &

Diani 2006; Calhoun, 1994).

Identity becomes further complicated if we refer to the identity development of

bilingual/bicultural individuals. In their comparative study on teacher professional

identity, Beijaard, Meijer & Verloop (2004) affirm that this emerging identity is formed

by sub-identities which need to be well balanced and in harmony, which in the

bilingual/bicultural individual becomes further complicated due to issues of ethnic

identification (Sheets, 1999), positionality (Urrieta, 2009), and the level of language

maintenance (Fishman, 2001). Sheets (1999) states that ethnic identification—

individually and collectively—has an important impact at the emotional, behavioral and

cognitive level. The author points out this identification develops within certain

categories; such as conscious acquisition of patterns; physical, cultural signs, power

relations and hierarchies; family patterns, SES, geographical contexts, relationships

between generations, among others. Urrieta (2009) describes these categories within the

Mexican American experience in the United States by not only providing examples of

34

exclusion and discrimination of Mexican Americans throughout history, but also the

positionality of Mexican Americans shaped by dominant discourses. He mentions the

“bad, gang member” stereotype, the invisibility of Mexican American/Chicano/Chicana

contributions and experiences in the curriculum, the essentializing and uncritical

portrayals of Mexican/Mexican Americanness posing as multicultural education and the

stigmatization of brown bodies, creating self-hate (p. 65). Identity is also intimately

connected with language, and language loss or shift can create a disconnection between

cultural practices passed down through linguistic practices and their family and

community ties; which promote a positive concept of self (Fishman, 2001).

Teacher identity

The bilingual teacher preparation program plays a vital role in professional

identity development in that it determines “how they are trained, how they view

themselves and what is envisioned for them” (Varghese, 2004). Korthagen (2004) argues

that professional development and the environment where this growth happens are

connected with the emergence of professional identity. Using Schepens, Aelterman &

Vlerick (2009) as a way to conceptualize teacher professional identity one can claim it is

a self-understanding process to elucidate “who am I as a teacher at this moment and who

do I want to become as a teacher” (p. 364). The bilingual teacher preparation classroom

becomes a space for the evolution of such identity while interacting and sharing

understandings with other participants (Lave & Wenger, 1991).

35

This learning environment is more than a place where cognitive processes take

place; it is also a space for developing emergent identities, for becoming. Lave & Wenger

propose situated learning to understand the process of identification, in which mentors—

or in this case, teacher educators—influence future teachers’ actions and speech as a

marker of belonging (Kirschner & Whitson, 1997). This identification within a

community of practice becomes clear through collective engagement and negotiation

through a shared repertoire (Wenger, 1998) and shared history. Galindo (1996) proposes

that in order to understand and help develop a teacher identity, one should bridge all

experiences—past, current and future—to understand the shaping of professional identity

as bilingual teachers. Like Galindo, Malkki, believes that conceptualizations of identity

and identity development help us understand past identity-making, and also the

implications in the individual’s future:

futures, like histories, are constrained and shaped by lived experience (…)

discourses of the past and discourses of the future feed off of each other; indeed,

they are often only different chapters of the same narrative story (Malkki, as cited

in Holland & Lave, 2001, p. 28).

The concept of heteroglossia and its connection to identity is crucial to this study

since it gives me the tools to understand the processes of identity formation of preservice

bilingual teachers as both bilingual teachers as advocates and as multilingual beings in

the middle of the polyphony and/or cacophony of the different levels of discourse that

shape such subjectivities.

36

Freire: Conscientization and Praxis In his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1993), Paulo Freire outlines the

humanizing ability to read the world dialogically with other silenced voices in order to

understand how mechanisms of oppression at the macro level affect their daily lives in

concrete and subliminal terms. With this, Freire proposes a space where multivocal

dialogue can be possible for pedagogical purposes in order to develop conscientização or

conscientization (Freire, 1973) through political lenses against banking methods (Freire,

1993) that confine people to ahistoricity, lack of compromise and contestation. Freire is

relevant in education because he calls educators to be cultural workers (Freire, 2005) and

engage in critical conversations to challenge “the traditional claims that the educational

system and institutions make towards objectivity, meritocracy, color-blindness, race

neutrality and equal opportunity” (Solorzano & Yosso, 2005, p. 70).

However, the most important lesson Freire communicated about conscientização

was not just naming the source and history of linguistic oppression, but also that the

oppressor is implanted deep within each of us (Lorde, 1997, p. 280). Moreover, teachers

need to see the ways we are “the oppressed,” but most importantly and often at the same

time we are “the oppressor.” This is pivotal for conscientização since everyone of us

needs to come into terms with the fact that we consciously or unconsciously reproduce

hegemony. As for language at schools, this means labeling bilingual students as language

deficient, which in turn means an overrepresentation in special education (Cummins,

1984) or “at risk groups”, the racialization of language (Bialystok, 2009; Pimentel, 2011),

the remedial and transitional nature of the majority of programs aimed to English

37

Language Learners (ELL) (de Jong, 2011), and the disproportion of materials and

services in English rather than in the language of students (Dubetz & de Jong, 2011).

Other issues in which teachers might be accomplices in language hegemony are:

the erasure of students’ funds of knowledge to inform pedagogy and curriculum (Moll,

1992), the discouragement of language use at home (Fillmore, 2000), the refusal to let

students use all their linguistic repertoire (Godley, Sweetland, Wheeler, Minnici &

Carpenter, 2006), and the refusal to acknowledge the vast body of research on second

language acquisition to better serve this population (Krashen, 1997; Thomas & Collier,

2002; Crawford, 1989). Through a Freirian critical pedagogy, bilingual teachers

(educators) are able not only to provide instances to connect issues of language rights to

socio-cultural-economic issues in a historical context, but also to examine their conscious

or unconscious role in the perpetuation of such oppressions. However, this

conscientização must not stop at the development of a sense of self-worth, its dialogical

nature, or just awareness. As Cho (2012) argues, the consciousness of our

oppressed/oppressor duality has to be paired with the knowledge we have in order to have

the power to change those conditions.

Freire also encourages people to take “critical ownership of their formation of

themselves” (2005) in order to be able to act upon the world in what he calls “praxis.”

(1993). Freire’s praxis—reflection and action—should not be conceived as the final

product, but as an ongoing process that moves from reproducing the official discourse,

through sense-making to intervention and change. For bilingual educators, this call for

praxis means participating from creative maladjustment (Kohl, 1994) to open activism

38

against monolingualism and blind assimilation, the reformulation of what it means to be

American, and a fight against the low achievement gap that leads to high drop-out rates,

unemployment and incarceration, thus, the further lumpenization of linguistically

minoritized students.

Pedagogically, Freiran praxis gives hope that “another classroom is possible”

(Armbruster-Sandoval, 2005) in spite of standardized testing, school mandates and

constraints. Counterstories of activism in bilingual classes provide evidence of the praxis

exercised by bilingual teachers. Dubetz and de Jong (2011) describe language choice as a

means for advocacy in which bilingual teachers took part in the design of coherent and

comprehensive bilingual programs that highlighted the importance of the primary

language and instruction. Some Bilingual teachers encourage translanguaging practices

(Garcia, 2009) as a way to resist monolingual ideology at school, thus validating home

practices and knowledges (Dubetz & de Jong 2011). For instance, the teacher studied in

Dubetz & de Jong called praxis the “element of resistance.” This resistance consisted of

translating content and texts for students where Spanish equivalent was non-existent and

teaching subject matter in Spanish. That participant also used a heritage language

approach instead of second language one and provided a dialectical space of co-

construction that included identity, knowledge (Shannon, 1995) and language.

Freire is pivotal in the education of future Bilingual teachers. Darder’s (2011)

speaks of the revitalization of Freire’s vision of a humanizing pedagogy as critical

bilingual pedagogy to fit the pedagogical practices of and for bilingual beings. She

explains that bilingual teachers (and teacher educators) can provide bilingual/bicultural

39

students with opportunities to

“(a) critically reflect upon collective and individual interactions with mainstream

institutions; (b) affirm the knowledge they possess, given their particular subject

position in U.S. society; (c) resist domination through explicitly challenging the

implicit mechanisms of cultural subordination that dehumanize, disempower, and

obstruct their democratic rights, and (d) enter into relationships of solidarity as

equal participants” (p. 203).

In practical ways, this could mean the use of dialogue instead of traditional lecturing, co-

construction of curriculum, relinquishing power in favor of students (hooks, 2010; Sweet,

1998), and providing opportunities to promote activism among students. However,

engaging in a critical (bilingual) pedagogy is not just a “feel good” set of practices,

methods and approaches, but a political commitment.

The concept of conscientization provides a lens that alerts of the dominant

ideologies that allows the identification of mainstream ideologies as superior while

maintaining a monolingual stance in the field to the detriment of the development of a

bilingual and bicultural identity among students whose first language is not English. As

Edelsky points out, by having a critical lens, bilingual education researchers

“simultaneously highlight possibilities while doing away with naïve beliefs that

educational practice alone can change social structure and unseat hegemonic ideology

(Edelsky, 1996, p. 2). Finally, Freire’s critical pedagogy calls for a disruption and

reformulation of oppressive practices in research, and a transformation of research as a

vehicle for a more democratic society (Denzin, 2006). Conquergood (1985) proposes that

40

researchers rid themselves of traditional performative stances to participants and instead

move towards a dialogical performance. This dialogical performance aligns with Freire’s

multivocality and Bakhtin’s dialogue in that they all challenge of ideologies and cultural

practices.

Conquergood: Dialogical Performance and Kinesis

Like Bakhtin, Conquergood places great importance in research about how human

subjects in the process of becoming as individuals relate to self, others and the social

world. However, he sees this identity process as the way in which individuals do culture

in a specific socio-cultural-political-economic context. Conquergood uses the Turner’s

concept of “homo performans” (Conquergood, 1991), which goes beyond the

reproduction of social and cultural practices as in a mirror but an agentic being who

produces them, especially in local spaces, which are “leaky (in) contingent construction,

and that global forces are taken up, struggled over, and refracted for site-specific

purposes” (Conquergood, 2002, p.145). Conquergood considers the body as the source of

experience and knowledge, and as such, it is mediated by the senses and closeness.

Conquergood moves away from scriptocentrism (Madison, 2005), which fails to

encompass the nuances and complexities of practices that do not pertain to the written

world. Instead, he focuses on embodied performance of everyday cultural practices and

narratives and their transmission, especially in sites of struggle and conflict in the

margins due to the creativity displayed (Conquergood, 1995). However, these

performances cannot be monologic. Conquergood proposes a dialogical performance that

41

embraces the cacophony or harmony of different voices—heteroglossia—in order to get

closer to the body, improvisation and entropy.

This dialogical performance does not stop in understanding the personal and the

interrelationships with others in the doing of culture and self-making--poiesis— but it is

engaged in cultural politics, questions of power and resistance (Madison, 2005). Dialogic

performance—as conceptualized by Conquergood—examines hegemony and social

reproduction that affect the individual and the collective and the embodied performance

of cultural production as site of resistance. One of the key concepts of dialogical

performance is the notion of kinesis. Kinesis goes beyond performance imitation or

performance sense-making and engages in performance as a radical intervention for the

possibility of change. Conquergood states that kinesis “unleashes centrifugal forces that

keep culture in motion, ideas in play, hierarchies unsettled, and academic disciplines alert

and on the edge (Conquergood, 1995, p. 139). These interventions relate to the concept of

heuristic development—spaces of authoring or becoming through improvisation—

developed by Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner & Cain (2003) as a way to understand how

individuals respond and make sense of the social world through dialogue. Conquergood

adds another layer to this critical examination by focusing on how the process of

becoming is enacted through the actual doing, during struggles and conflict; in other

words, through performance. However, becoming should not be conceived as the final

product, but, according to Conquerwood (in Madison, 2005)—is an ongoing process that

moves from reproducing the official discourse (mimesis), through sense-making (poiesis)

to intervention and change through performance (kinesis). Conquergood suggests a shift

42

from “spatialized products to temporal processes” (p. 184), emphasizing the examination

of human’s processes of self-making to the transformation of oppressive conditions.

The theoretical framework based on Bakhtin, Freire and Conquergood’s concepts

of heteroglossia in identity formation, conscientization and Praxis, and dialogical

performance and kinesis are central in my study since they are all connected to the

process of becoming from different angles. These perspectives combine the dialogic

interaction for the construction of the self (as bilingual/bicultural beings and bilingual

teachers) through dialogical pedagogy concerned with social justice and liberation

(activism and advocacy), which transcends rhetoric to move to the realm of body

(performance).

43

Chapter Two

Foundations and Roots

TRANSFORMATIVE PARADIGM: ONTOLOGY AND METHODOLOGY

A otros enseñaron secretos que a ti no; a otros dieron de verdad esa cosa llamada

educación. (El baile de los que sobran, by Los Prisioneros, 1986)

The struggle is inner: chicano, indio, American Indian, mojado, mexicano,

immigrant latino, anglo poor, working class anglo, populated by the same

people… Awareness of our situation must come before other changes, which in

turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the “real world” unless it

first happens in the images in our heads.” (Anzaldua, 1987, p. 87)

To reflect on what research paradigm my own work will fall into, I needed to

engage in self-reflexivity and ask myself what my beliefs are regarding the way I

perceive and understand reality. Wilson (2008) simply defines ontology, epistemology

and methodology for his children as “What is real?” “How do I know what is real?”

“How do I find more about this reality?” (p.33-34). The way I see my research, my

research interests are intimately linked to deeply rooted beliefs that shape who I am in

spite of the many changes I have gone through in my life. I have changed physically,

44

immigrated, grown intellectually, changed and left religions, gotten married, mourned

and rejoiced, but there are certain things that never change and I feel I need to articulate.

The quote I start this paper with is part of a very popular song by a Chilean anti-

Pinochet rock band I used to sing with my classmates in 1986 when I was still in

elementary school. Coming from a working class family where neither of my parents

finished high school (my mom barely finished the elementary level), this song articulated

what I felt at ten years old. I used to ask myself rhetorical questions such as: why do I

have to get up at 4 in the morning to make a line in order to buy stale powder milk, sugar,

rice? Why do I have to do my homework in the dark while I hear explosions and bullets

flying outside? Why can I only see my dad at night and he is always angry with us? Why

do others get International Baccalaureate in their schools? Why can’t my teachers even

try to hide they don’t care about us? Why are we 49 girls in one classroom? Why are my

sisters and I being schooled to stay at home and repeat my mom’s cycle? My questions

were full of outrage and rage, which sustained me and gave me the strength to resist the

destiny I was groomed to follow. That outrage and rage brought me here, to be ad portas

to start working on my dissertation. I was not supposed to make it this far. I do not

believe, however, I have better qualities, better skills, and more intelligence than any of

the classmates I used to sing El Baile de los que Sobran with. My outrage and rage

helped me find the cracks in the system that afforded me opportunities to take advantage

of them. Outrage and rage were my guiding forces, however, I also developed a growing

hope—which replaced negativity as I matured—when meeting people who had/have also

engaged in the tensions of the in-betweenness of outrage and hope.

45

This outrage and hope as the force pushing me forward is most attuned with the

transformative paradigm (Chilisa, 2012, Mertens, 2010, 2007). According to Mertens

(2010), this paradigm “directly addresses the politics in research by confronting social

oppression at whatever level it occurs” (p. 21) and makes an overt stand in favor of the

marginalized towards a mutual objective of social transformation. Chilisa (2012) argues

that the transformative paradigm is influenced greatly by a variety of philosophical

theories—Freirian, feminist, critical (race), postcolonial, decolonial—geared towards

transformation and emancipation in collectivity.

Ontologically, the transformative paradigm perceives a multiplicity of realities in

asymmetrical power relationships in that the visibility and legitimization of a version of

reality is detrimental for the reality of the other, and has historical social, political,

cultural and economic consequences. So answering Wilson (2008) question of “What is

real?” (p. 32) the transformative paradigm would indicate that, “which seems “real” may

instead be reified structures that are taken to be real because of historical situations”

(Mertens, 2010, p. 32). In my research, the reality that is reified as real is that Bilingual

education is a neutral field that trains teachers with an array of strategies that use

students’ first language and culture as initial tools in order to develop their English skills,

assimilate them into the American society and help them become a productive citizen. A

transformative paradigm sets out to understand the legitimization of this reality in relation

with the realities of the people who live it daily.

Epistemologically, the transformative paradigm, in order to find the way to “know

what is real” (Wilson, 2008, p. 32) is carried out through the legitimization and visibility

46

of the silenced realities in juxtaposition with the official reality for transformation and

justice. So knowledge is constructed and interpreted from the vantage point of the people

whose voices are marginalized. Chilisa (2012) mentions that this knowledge becomes

theory—this time from the voiceless—in what Moraga & Anzaldua (1981) call “theory in

the flesh” (p. 23), as a tool for empowerment (Anzaldúa, 1990). Applied to my research,

the examination of the field of Bilingual education through the eyes of actual Bilingual

teachers in the bilingual teacher preparation classroom provides a theory constructed

dialogically of what it means and what it takes to be a Bilingual teacher in relation to a

socio-cultural historical approach of Bilingual education in the United States as a

foundation for possible future action.

AXIOLOGY

Wilson (2008) refers to axiology as “what is ethical to do in order to gain

knowledge and what will this knowledge be used for?” (p. 34). Axiology is related to the

ethics behind the research, which should be in harmony with the researcher’s ontology,

epistemology. Since this research is an intervention with a community for their own

benefit then developing a sense of accountability towards oneself and the community

researched are fundamental parts of critical research. Since being critical is inextricable

and at the core of this sort of research, the first thing to be examined is the researcher.

According to Reinharz (In Chilisa, 2012) the researcher brings three selves even before

starting fieldwork and these need to be checked frequently. These selves are: research-

based self, the brought self—which, Reinharz argues, shapes the researcher’s worldviews

47

created in historical, cultural and social context—and the situational created selves—

which function through improvisations (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner & Cain, 2003).

Chilisa (2012) adds that this reflexivity is required in order to critically understand our

self “as knower, redeemer, colonizer, and transformational healer” (p. 174). Glassie

(Conquergood, 1985) goes further and proposes the questioning and examination of the

researcher’s culture in the same way the participants’ culture is.

Mertens (2009) proposes another way for researchers to be self-reflexive and be

held accountable in the socio-cultural-political context itself. Mertens uses the Johari

window, which is a box with four questions: “things I (don’t) know about myself and

“things others (don’t) know about me” for self-awareness. These quadrants could

potentially help the researcher to explore their open (comfort zone), hidden (self-

knowledge), blind (potential constraints) and unknown areas (unawareness). Examples of

questions are the following:

How do I use myself and my experience in my research? [open]

What are my motivations for not disclosing certain things? [hidden]

What am I likely to not perceive due to my own positional socialization? [blind]

What … puzzles intrigue me and call me for further exploration? [unknown] (p.

78-79)

Mertens is keen to point out that the blind and hidden areas are potentially

dangerous, as we engage in critical research. The unchecked/unmarked privileges,

prejudices and questions of power and positionality are issues that the researcher needs to

48

(re)examine every step of the way while doing research, and calls for self-exploration to

uncover motivations, fears and knowledge. Chilisa (2012) brings to the forefront the

following questions on the quest for self-awareness: “where do I stand with regard to the

researched? Am I still the colonizer? Who are the researched? Are the researched still

colonial subjects distinct from the colonizer because of their incapabilities, or are the

researched active agents capable of generating solutions to their social challenges?” (p.

236). One of the things I have examined to be my blind and hidden areas is how I relate

to others: my family, my peers, my communities, and people within the community I

would like to do research with. I think this examination is my own process of

“scarification” (Wilson, 2008) since I need to examine my own disconnections and

fragmentations in order to make sense of how I relate to others and how they relate to me.

Engaging in self-reflexivity pushes me to question and examine the coherence of my

research paradigm with the way I live and relate to others, while constantly checking the

way I relate to the participants in my research.

As part of the ethics in research, Wilson (2008) argues how relational

accountability influences the modes of gathering and interpreting information that

showcases the ways of knowing/being of the community. For, example, Wilson’s

indigenous research methodology welcomes non-invasive conversations, exempt of pre-

fabricated questions. This approach is attuned with a Chicana epistemology cultural

intuition (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002) founded in personal experiences—in the shape of

testimonios (Beverley, 2000; Cervantes-Soon, 2012), life histories (Geiger, 1986),

counter-storytelling (Delgado, 1989; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002), existing literature and

49

professional experience in the field. A self-reflexive researcher is committed to ensure

that the way she gathers data reflects and respects the way the participants (co)construct

and make sense of knowledge. Exercising self-reflexivity holds me accountable to do

critical research and reminds me of my own commitment to my oppositional stance to

dominant and colonial approaches to research: the researcher as objective observant, and

neo-colonizer participants as objects, selfishness and misrepresentation. Doing this kind

of research requires a moral commitment to other human beings, and the proximity and

intimacy created between the researcher and the researched engenders a sense of

reciprocity that needs to be honored.

POSITIONALITY

Part of being self-reflective is to be willing to face one’s subjectivities and

disclose one’s positionality as vital parts in research, but principally understand how

those subjectivities shape research (Jones, 2002) (site choice, data analysis, methodology,

tools, presentation, etc). Contextualizing positionality not only embraces vulnerability but

also responds to the need for transparency (Madison, 2005) and accountability, not

dodging the bullet of “being proven wrong” (Jones, 2006, p. 6). As Madison (2005)

posits, positionality differs from subjectivity since the former is created in dialogue and

relation to others.

Madison (2005) invites me to answer a simple question for starters; “Who am I?”

This takes me back to my discovery of both my unmarked “whiteness” as a Peruvian

professional educator in my country, and my “Brownness” a month after having arrived

50

in the United States as an international student. My struggles to reconfigure myself in a

new society as a transnational being and my quest to understand why I was positioned the

way I was afforded me with the motivation to educate myself about myself and

understand the reasons behind my imposed positionality as a Spanish speaking,

undocumented, uneducated and apparently very fertile Mexican woman in the US willing

to give birth to “anchor babies,” an expression that was unknown to me before migrating.

My work with the bilingual community in the United States and the strengthening

of my links to my country have shaped my most salient identities, which are in tune with

Third World feminism (Mohanty, 2003), and Peruvian neo-indigenism (Doxtater, 2005).

I consider myself a Mestiza scholar (Perez, 2005) and a Transnational/transborder

scholar. As a researcher, I need to dare to speak from “a very particular, race, class,

gender and sexual identity location” (Foley & Valenzuela, 2000, p. 218). Since I am in

the process of becoming a “transformative intellectual” (Giroux, 1992), I am engaged in

research involving transformative practices coupled with minority language development

aligned to the tenets of critical (bicultural) pedagogy in the preparation of future bilingual

teachers. This means: (1) educators as agents of change; (2) teachers as public

intellectuals; (3) inclusion of lived experiences; (4) dialogue; and (5) praxis (Cho, 2012).

My study of Theater of the Oppressed is a way to disrupt the status quo: working together

with my participants to challenge the formerly invisible oppressive structures, providing

spaces for self and collective authoring.

My positionality in my own research is a complex one: during my fieldwork I

juggled different roles: instructor, researcher, Theater of the Oppressed facilitator—

51

Joker. I was both insider due to my professional preparation as a teacher, and an outsider,

due to my roles as a teacher educator and educational researcher. Here I faced with power

differentials between the participants and myself since I had the power of evaluating and

grading their work. To attenuate the influence of my position of authority, I included a

clause in the consent form that states all signed consent forms would be sealed until the

final grades are posted. All the members of the classroom agreed to participate in the

study. My roles in the classroom were also further complicated as I used to be the

Spanish proficiency support coordinator of the Bilingual teacher preparation program

prior to the research. Part of my responsibility was to create language workshops and

tutorial sessions for future Bilingual teachers in order to develop their language skills in

Spanish. My position might have provided me with the credibility formed by my

educational expertise as a second language educator and affirmation as a Spanish

proficiency model for the students.

On the other hand, my own proficiency in Spanish may have been intimidating for

students; that again, positioned me as an authority that they may or may not resist due to

the long history of language marginalization/deprivation bilingual people in the US have

suffered. Since the class in which I conducted research was not a language class per se,

but involved the instructional content knowledge that happens to be in Spanish, the effect

of the researcher as a linguistic authority may have been reduced. Finally, my position as

a Latina educator may have had a positive impact on the students since they were

learning with a teacher who looked like them and might share similar experiences of what

it means to be a Latino/a in the U.S.

52

I adhere to the notion of relational accountability spelt by indigenous researcher

Wilson (2008), in which he states that what a researcher chooses to study should reflect

the needs of the community she belongs to. This aspect is intimately related to who the

participants are, how that influences the collaboration of each part involved in the

research and the accountability behind the representation of the participants as partners in

research (Jones, 2002). In this stage, self-reflexivity plays an important role, because

even if one is part of the community to be researched, the researcher needs to make sure

that trusting relationships have been established prior to fieldwork and that the goals of

the research is well-defined and agreed upon as relevant and beneficial by the researched

community, thus avoiding researcher-centric research projects (Chilisa, 2012, p. 294).

In order to prepare myself to do research with the future bilingual teacher

community, I have been working closely with this community since Spring 2011; first as

a teaching assistant, then as a co-instructor and as the Spanish proficiency support

coordinator. I am very acquainted with the bilingual teacher preparation program and I

have become visible in this community by participating publicly in extracurricular events

with them in organizations like Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO) and

have been requested to speak and conduct workshops for the benefit of this student-

managed organization. As I mentioned before, being the Spanish proficiency support

coordinator, has provided me a unique view of the students’ struggle with language, the

disconnection between theory and practice and their self-doubt, as well as their sense of

unity and the “echarle ganas” (I will do my best) attitude. Having conducted a pilot study

to refine research methods and tools has also been crucial in the mutual sense making of

53

the needs of the community and their positive responses to a critical bicultural pedagogy

approach (Darder, 2012) to teaching and learning. My relationship and proximity with the

future bilingual teacher community makes me accountable for the way I will portray

them, putting the research itself at their service to avoid misrepresentation but also

welcoming the complexities and challenges of the experience (Madison, 2005).

METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS

My preparation as an education researcher, my ontological, epistemological an

axiological stance towards a transformational paradigm, my identities, and my research

interest in the preparation of future Bilingual teacher have been pivotal in choosing the

methodology I used, which were regularly examined to address questions of power at

every stage of the research process. The methodology I utilized for this study was a

methodology bricolage (Kincheloe & McLaren (2005) that combined performance

ethnography (Madison, 2005), critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2001), and

participatory action research (Hall, 2005)

Performance Ethnography

Jones (2006) states that performance ethnography goes beyond theorizing culture

in order to understand the reality of the people immerse in such culture. Performance

ethnography engages subjects in the actual “doing of culture and democracy” (p.344)

and how such performance shape experience, meaning, culture, its production but most

importantly, its processes since it is constantly in the making. This methodology provides

54

a different lens that is centered in the body as source of knowledge addressing other

bodies; concrete bodies that cannot be invisibilized and demand address through the body

in which different experiences, meanings, cultures are inscribed creating a confrontation

that does not allow for a “retreat into privacy of our own limited self-serving thinking,

our stereotypes and biases” (p. 344).

The engagement of the participants of this study in the embodiment of the stories

of bilingual teachers in situations where they confront power differentials push them to

engage in dialogue with both the author of the story and their antagonist. This does not

mean these performance interventions are an attempt to trying someone else’s shoes

since, according to Andreotti (2011), individual cannot actually take off their own shoes

in order to try others’ as a reminder that “cultures are context-bound and all shoes are

‘coming from somewhere” (p. 224). Therefore, the focus of the interventions is actually

obtaining a better understanding of the different discourses that shape our own shoes, or

in this case, our own bodies. In describing Conquergood’s work, Madison (2007) extends

the centrality of the body in the performance ethnography even to the researcher, calling

him or her “co-performative witness” in that they live dialogically with the participants

within their spaces and their struggles at a certain point of their socio-cultural context.

Performance ethnography is then a political act since is it allows all “co-performative

witnesses” to participate as in history-making.

Critical Discourse Analysis

While performance ethnography provided me the tools to focus on the body as

55

means of communication, transmission of knowledge and site of transformation, critical

discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2001) will help me make the connections between

language and power relations and hegemony. This relationship is an important aspect of

the embodiment of the lived experience of seasoned bilingual teachers through Theater of

the Oppressed since the body and the thought processes articulated by language should

not create a binary in which researchers have to choose from (Conquergood, 1991).

Rogers & Mosley (2006) define critical discourse analysis (CDA henceforth) as

an interdisciplinary methodology that seeks to analyze, interpret and explain the

connections between texts and discursive and social practices (p. 472). The purpose of

CDA, in Fairclough’s words, is “'to systematically explore often opaque relationships of

causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b)

wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes; to investigate how such

practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power

and struggles over power' (Fairclough 1995, p. 132). Fairclough draws from Bahktin’s

concept of language as heteroglossia in that it is composed by both harmonious and

dissonant voices (discourses, genres, styles). Bakhtin (2008) placed attention on the

dependence of prior text or utterances in the shaping of new ones in that they are in

constant dialogue. Kristeva’s coinage of “intetextuality” from Bakhtin’s work (in

Fairclough, 2008) speaks of connection between texts and contexts, language and socio-

historical contexts and how both have the potential to be transformed dialogically.

CDA focuses on issues that affect the social lives of individuals, with the

difference that it is through the analysis of interactions and texts. Fairclough (2001)

56

emphasizes the critical edge of this transdisciplinary methodology and its commitment to

social change. An example of this is Cahnmann, Rymes & Souto-Manning’s critical

discourse analysis study (2005) on the way bilingual teachers made sense of their own

identification as bilingual beings and the way they accepted or resisted imposed identities

stemming from interaction from peers and from larger structures; for instance,

educational testing services, demographic information. The specific way I used the

critical discourse analysis approach as lens was during examination of verbal and non-

verbal conduct during fieldwork for focalized exchanges and during translanguaging

practices.

Participatory Action Research

The third part of this triadic methodology utilizes transformative participatory

action research (TPAR), which means the participants act as co-researchers that are

geared to transformation. Hall (2005) states that this kind of methodology was inspired

by Freire’s book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, ideas applied in action research initiatives

started in Tanzania in early 70’s. (1993). Hall (2005) includes the definition of

participatory action research (PAR) from the conversations after the PAR conference in

Cartagena, Colombia in 1977:

- Participatory research involved a whole range of powerless groups of people—

exploited, the poor, the oppressed, and the marginal.

- It involves the full and active participation of the community in the entire

research process

57

- The subject of the research originates in the community itself and the problem is

defined, analyzed and solved by the community

- The ultimate goal is the radical transformation of social reality and the

improvement of the lives of the people themselves. The beneficiaries of the

research are the members of the community.

- The process of participatory research can create a greater awareness in the

people of their own resources and mobilize them for self-reliant development.

- It is a more scientific method of research in that the participation of the

community in the research process facilitates a more accurate and authentic

analysis of social reality.

- The researcher is a committed participant and learner in the process of research,

i.e. a militant rather than a detached observer. (p. 12)

TPAR also provides this study the tools for validity based on Herr and Anderson (2005)

criteria (see Validity section in this chapter)

DATA SOURCES AND COLLECTION PROCEDURES

This study took place in the bilingual teacher preparation program at the

University of Texas at Austin. Specifically, one bilingual education class with students

pursuing bilingual teaching certification was the site of this research. I was the official

instructor of that class called Foundations of Bilingual Education during Fall 2014. This

was a required class for bilingual mayors to access the professional development

sequence (PDS) classes leading teaching certification. I recruited all of the 22 preservice

58

bilingual teachers enrolled. I had already worked with some of the participants of this

study the previous semester as I was a teaching assistant to a couple of classes they took

during Spring and Summer 2014 and in my role as the Spanish language proficiency

coordinator.

To avoid conflict of interest I used a third party for recruiting participants to

obtaining consent for video recording the sessions and audio recording of the

semistructured conversations. This third party obtained consent during the last day of

classes when I was not present and handed them to me after I submitted the final grades.

All the consent forms—for video recording class sessions and interviews—were written

in English.

For the data collection, I used counterstorytelling through performance,

videotaping as method, participants’ reflections, semistructured conversation as research

methods to gather data.

Counterstorytelling through Performance

Storytelling is an organic and holistic way to pass down information (Chilisa,

2012, Wilson, 2008), which defies the hegemony of the written word and highlights

orality, and the relationship between the teller and the listener. I will use

counterstorytelling through performance to explore the “what ifs.” Bell (2010) argues that

storytelling allows a deeper understanding and identification with the experiences,

worldviews, struggles and feelings of others in the middle of oppression. Bell asserts that

59

the goal of using storytelling is to unveil the cracks behind the official stories (stock

stories) to bring to light the ones that offer a different perspective, hence hidden because

they are a danger to the official version (concealed stories). The use of resistance stories

shows the narratives of people who challenged the stock stories and use their agency to

resist the reproductions of structural and institutional injustice. However, the goal for Bell

is to reach the emerging or transforming stories, which build on the previous three kinds

of stories, in order to imagine new stories geared to action. The use of performance added

another layer to counterstorytelling as an embodied imagining.

The participants engaged in the re-imagining of the oral narratives of experienced

bilingual teachers by physically reenacting them. These narratives were taken directly

from another study I had conducted interviewing experienced bilingual teachers who

obtained their master’s degree. I also used some of the narratives these graduates

published in the Pregúntale al Maestro (Ask a Teacher), a column in weekly Spanish

language newspaper Ahora Sí (www.statesman.com/s/ahora-si/) as part of their course

work. The chosen narratives showed conflictive situations around bilingual education

with parents, students, bilingual and mainstream colleagues and school administrators.

Here is an example of a narrative used in the study:

“Maestro, no podemos empezar el baile todavía, mi mamá no ha llegado”. Le dije

a Josefina que mirara con cuidado para ver si su mamá no estaba en las filas de

atrás. “No maestro, no la veo”, me respondió, “yo tampoco veo a mi mamá”, dijo

Ricardo. “¡Ni yo!”, dijo Julieta. Me di cuenta de que algo andaba mal. Pensé que

a los padres se les había olvidado la hora del programa, pero tantos ausentes me

60

pareció sospechoso. Habíamos practicado muchas tardes después de la escuela

para que el baile saliera perfecto y sus padres estuvieran orgullosos. Rápidamente

le pedí a la maestra que estaba a un lado del escenario que investigara la situación.

Unos minutos después regresó diciendo que muchos padres habían sido enviados

de regreso a sus casas por no tener una identificación que les permita pasar por el

sistema de seguridad nuevo de la escuela. Esa tarde mis estudiantes de 3º y 4º

grado bailaron y cantaron decepcionados, a sabiendas de que sus padres se habían

perdido la función. Cuando se término el programa del 5 de Mayo y los

estudiantes se fueron a casa, fuimos algunos maestros y yo a preguntar en la

oficina qué había pasado. La secretaria dijo que como se han establecido las

nuevas medidas de seguridad, a personas que no puedan mostrar identificación o

credencial de Texas no se les cede el paso. La indignación y tristeza que sufrimos,

tanto maestros como niños bilingües, fue muy grande y algo que jamás olvidaré1.

Utilizing the stories of such teachers to reenact provided the participants with a

contextualized, authorized and authentic scenario for reenactment. These stories could

1 Translation: “Mister C, we can’t start the dance yet, my mom hasn’t arrived.” I told Josefina to look carefully to see if she could spot her mom in the last rows. “No Mr. C, I can’t see her,” she answered. “I can’t see my mom either,” Ricardo said. “Neither do I!” said Julieta. I realized that something was wrong. I thought their parents had forgotten the time of the school show but when I noticed many parents were not there, I found it suspicious. We had rehearsed several afternoons after school to perfect the dance so that their parents were proud of them. Quickly, I asked a teacher who was near the stage to find out what happened. Some minutes later she came back saying their parents were sent away because they didn’t have an ID to let them due to the new school security system. That afternoon my 3rd and 4th grade students danced and sang while disappointed, knowing their parents missed the show. When the Cinco de Mayo show was over some teachers and I went to the office to asked what happened. The secretary told us that since they had just implemented the new security system, people without the right Texas ID wouldn’t be let it. My indignation and sadness among bilingual teachers and children were so great that I will never forget this”

61

potentially give the participants the opportunity to unveil issues of oppression in the field

of bilingual education and empower them to intervene by replacing the characters and

transforming the situation by empowering the characters subjected to oppression, or give

voice to potential allies as a way to concretize ideas through performance. Participants’

performance of other people’s stories could allow the examination of their own

socialization making internalized oppression visible and open to analysis and

transformation with the emotional safety of knowing they are playing someone else.

Storytelling and story-making cover Smith’s (1999) proposal for projects that involve, (1)

intervening, which is compatible with action research, (2) naming, spawn from Freire’s

(1993) admonition to name the word and the world; (3) story-telling, (4) revitalizing of

marginalized languages as cultural practice; and (5) envisioning by imagining a different

future. I used Norris’ (2009) suggestion of the oral narratives as vignettes based on a

specific topic to allow participants to focus on the issues presented and the parallels in

their lives.

Semistructured Conversations

Another method for data generation I used is the inclusion of semistructured

conversations (Alim, 2004) as substitute for interviews. This approach decenters the

researcher as the one who asks the questions and the interviewee answers them. This

semistructured conversation consists of providing a group of participants with a handout

to a list of topics the researcher finds relevant to the research prior to the meeting but it is

the prerogative of the participants to develop the ones they deem relevant to them. The

62

semistructured conversation fit in this research as I needed to be mindful that my

positionality as an authority figure could resurface, something I would like to minimize.

I conducted four semistructured interviews in the semester following semester after the

class. The semistructured interviews took approximately between and hour and thirty

minutes to two hours each and were audio-recorded. This method also served as a

member checks tool in the research.

Videorecording as Method

A great part of the data collection of my research was gathered through videos of

the classes. Video-recording was indispensable for my research since one of my goals

was to capture how students perform new possibilities to the challenges faced in the

bilingual education arena, the use of the body as the central site of information,

transmission and transformation (Medina, 2012), and the interactions of all participants—

including the researcher. As I mentioned before, the Foundations of Bilingual Education

class lasted three-hour each session offered once a week every semester. I used Theater

of the Oppressed techniques—which included tableaux, imagery, kinesthetic activities

and Forum Theater—as teaching method, all the sessions were video-recorded. I chose

the narratives of experienced teachers according to the topic suggested in the syllabus

provided by the Bilingual/bicultural education program.

As part of this method, I had a couple of cameras: one of them was a GoPro fixed

in a tripod facing the participants in order to capture a general picture of the atmosphere,

the connections between participants and the setting as a whole. The second was a

63

handheld camera that recorded the participants either during small group conversations or

in individual interventions in order to capture finer details, such as gestures, body

language and interventions as spectactors both as audience and as performers. For the

handheld video recorder, I recruited a fellow graduate researcher who was engaged in a

different kind of research with the same group of participants for mutual benefit: this

researcher would be able to gather data for his own research in my sessions and that

researcher was a sort of second pair of eyes who provided me with his own informal

reflections and impressions of the sessions

Participants’ Reflections

Apart from video-recording, I gathered reflections after each session, giving

freedom to express themselves in English, Spanish and/or codeswitching in order to help

them make sense of their experiences the way they feel most comfortable. I used

participants’ reflections in order to gain insight about the participants’ experiences and

perspectives “in relation to the wider social grouping or cultural setting to which that

individual belongs” (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) while maintaining self-representation,

and at the same time to examine how these elements shape their present as students and

their self-projection as future bilingual teachers.

These counterstorytelling though performance, semistructured conversation and

reflections provided information about the participants’ attitude towards social justice

issues, perceptions of themselves as advocates and language(s) use and development. I

64

also collected fieldnotes, pre and post self-reflection and artifacts created by the

participants for triangulation.

VALIDITY

Regarding validity, unlike the traditional internal and external validity and

trustworthiness of traditional qualitative research (Mertens, 2010, Chilisa, 2012), Lather

(1986) argues that questions of validity are borne out of the same paradigm research

tenets, introducing catalytic validity (p. 272), which by definition is very similar to

conscientização (Freire, 1993). I modify Herr & Anderson’s model of goals for action

research (2005, p. 55) to outline the validity or quality criteria to match my study (Table

2.1)

Research Goals Quality/validity criteria

1) The generation of new knowledge dialogic validity

2) The education of both researcher and participants catalytic validity

3) A sound and appropriate research methodology process validity

4) Results that are relevant to the local setting democratic validity

Table 2.1 Modified Action Research Validity Criteria Note. Source: Adapted from Herr & Anderson (2005, p. 55)

According to Herr & Anderson, dialogic validity comes in the form of peer

review; that is, inquiry that was done collaboratively with other researchers who could

65

provide alternative insights of the data. As explained above, a fellow graduate researcher

was not only present during the videorecording of the sessions, but also provided insight

of the performance from a different perspective. Catalytic validity refers to the dynamic

nature of research, which is fluid and in constant change due to the transformation of

understanding for both the research and the participants. Performing the narratives of

experienced bilingual teachers in order to rehearse different outcomes of a conflictive

situation is an invitation to the co-construction of knowledge that might change the

participants and researcher’s understandings. At the same time, the fluidity of this

meaning-making encourage reflexivity to monitor the changes, assumptions and

outcomes taken place that will guide the following steps in the research. This is also

connected to process validity, not only in terms of a strong research methodology, but

also in terms of triangulation of data and trustworthiness.

Democratic validity ensures that the outcomes of the research will be for the

benefit of the community research. My work as a Spanish proficiency support

coordinator, as a teaching assistant and as researcher has afforded me that opportunity to

work closely with this community and get acquainted with their needs. I do not want to

claim this study will be the panacea for preservice bilingual teachers in this institution,

but this study will provide a space where they might start the process to figure out their

own answers and start rehearsing their voices. This process is the goal of my study;

which is why I excluded outcome validity off Herr & Anderson’s model since, unlike

action research, there is not a conclusive action, an implementation or even solving any

problem.

66

DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES For the data analysis procedure, I used Carspecken’s five stages of critical

ethnography data analysis (in Hardcastle, Usher & Holmes, 2006; Jeffery, P., Whatman,

2007) to make sense of the data collected. The first stage was building a primary record

in which the researcher engages in writing a thick description of the research site and the

participants, preferably as monologically as possible in order to compare this initial data

with later stages in the research. Even though I had met them the previous semester and I

interacted with them as soon as we all stepped in the classroom, the goal of this first

stage—according to Carspecken—is not to avoid the Hawthorne effect, but to use the

data collected as a descriptor of how attitudes, discourses and understandings have

changed during the research. I analyzed memos; post session field notes, self-reflections

and peer reflections during this stage. The second stage was the preliminary

reconstructive analysis, which consisted of the creation of low and high level coding.

While the low-level coding are objective and descriptive with certain degree of

abstraction, the high-level coding builds on the low-level ones for deeper analysis and is

backed up with data collected. The analysis during this stage focused on the

videorecordings, participant reflections, performed counterstorytelling, artifacts and peer

reflections. The data was classified principally by date to preserve the integrity of the

sessions as a whole and analyze the products of the data collection separately within its

correspondent session. For instance, I created low and high level codes from the

participant reflections during session 2 and I related and clustered the themes that emerge

from the codes created within the same session.

67

During stage 3, the dialogical data generation, the high-level coding and member

checking occured by means of the semistructured conversations. In the fourth stage,

describing system relations, I analyzed and described the themes that emerged across the

previous stages across sessions in order to corroborate, merge, split themes and/or create

subthemes. Finally, during the fifth stage, I used system relations to explain the findings

of my research, in which I “explain the findings by linking them (or not) to sociological

theory that critically addresses the reproductive circuits of society” (Hardcastle, et al, p.

159, parenthesis mine). Since I did not know the names of the consenting participants

until after grading was finished, I was careful to link the codes created with pseudonyms

in case I needed to delete the data of (a) student(s) who would not give permission.

During the last day of classes my research assistant collected the consent forms of all the

members of the cohort.

To put this research in perspective, table 2.2 shows the research questions

regarding Casos de la Vida Real with the way the participants made sense of their future

roles as bilingual teachers, language and discourse shifts, and evidence (or not) of

emerging identities as teachers-advocates in connection with the research design. This

research design includes the methodology used (methodology bricolage), data collection,

and data analysis procedures.

68

Research Question Methodology Data Collection Data Analysis Procedures

Making sense of their future roles

Performance Ethnography

Critical

Discourse Analysis

Participatory

Action Research

- Counterstorytelling though performance

- Semistructures conversations

- Videorecording - Participant’

reflections - Pre & Post session

fieldnotes - Artifacts

- Peer reflections

Stage 1 Building a primary

records

Stage 2 Preliminary

Reconstructive Analysis

Low-level coding High-level coding

Stage 3: Dialogical Data Generation

Triangulation/member checks

(semistructured conversations)

Stage 4: Describing System Relations Themes generated

across sessions

State 5: Using System Relations to Explain

Findings

Discourse/Language shift

Performance Ethnography

Critical

Discourse Analysis

Participatory

Action Research

- Counterstorytelling though performance

- Semistructures conversations

- Videorecording - Participant’

reflections - Pre & Post session

fieldnotes - Artifacts

- Peer reflections Emergent Activism Performance

Ethnography

Critical Discourse Analysis

Participatory

Action Research

- Counterstorytelling though performance

- Semistructures conversations

- Videorecording - Participant’

reflections - Pre & Post session

fieldnotes - Artifacts

- Peer reflections

Table 2.2 Data Analysis, Collection & Procedures

CHAPTER ORGANIZATION

Due to the influence of action research in this study, the following chapters

describe the process the participants underwent throughout the semester instead of calling

69

them findings as this word denotes finality. In chapter 3, I will describe the research site,

the participants and the materials used in this research. In chapter 4 I will discuss the

process of adjustment the participants faced to the multiple texts and discourses provided

in this class, especially the inclusion of minoritized language practices as language of

instruction, the use of the body through Casos de la Vida Real, and the use of

counterstories as legitimate source of knowledge in the classroom. Chapter 5 will be

devoted to describe the emotional adjustments, the participant responses and strategies to

channel them. Likewise, I will examine the language adjustments during sessions 5 to 8

in order to juxtaposing them with their initial language adjustments shown in the previous

chapter. Chapter 6 will describe the level of ownership the participants displayed in

regards of the Casos de la Vida Real and stories reenacted. Like the previous chapter, I

will examine the participants’ views and usage of language in comparison with the

previous chapters. This chapter also includes the participants’ views of advocacy and

how they perceive this element as part of their future as bilingual teachers. Finally,

chapter 7 will contain my conclusions, relevance of the process observed,

recommendations, and future directions.

70

Chapter Three

The Classroom as the Ethnographic Stage/Space

SETTING THE STAGE

According to the US News & World Report, the teacher preparation program at

University of Texas at Austin ranks tenth overall of all universities and third

among public universities in the United States in 2014 (Us News & World Report.

2014).

The first thing you would notice as you enter this research site/classroom is the

scientific equipment stored in this classroom and how it contrasted with what was about

to happen, or at least, what I hoped would happen here. Microscopes, Petri dishes,

bookshelves filled with anthologies on physics and biology, posters displaying bones and

actual bones; a collection of rat skulls stuck and classified bone by bone on a long

counter played the ornamental part in this particular classroom. The tables, classically

arranged in rows and columns, were a sign that some things never change, that time and

space were frozen and this classroom represented all schooling spaces I have been too;

bringing back both positive and negative memories. The dust from the chalkboard, which

soon would become the stage, further accentuated this feeling. I rearranged the tables

myself by moving them as close to the walls as possible and creating a semi square,

leaving the center of the classroom free for play. I set the chairs inside this square in

71

order for them to have a clear view of the performances that would take place, and create

openness and yes, vulnerability. The students would have to face one another, without the

deterrents of face-to-face interaction, cell phones or laptops. With these changes to the

classroom I attempted to turn it into a different kind of laboratory, a stage for rehearsal,

there was no place to hide, not even for me. There was not need for a special backdrop,

the stage I (re)created resembled the stages where the 26 vignettes I collected for the

purpose of this research took place, so in this sense, the universality and familiarity of

this classroom, with all its aloofness—created perhaps by the white fluorescent lighting—

and ghosts and fairies of past classrooms, felt accurate.

On my roster there were 22 students; I quickly recognized eight names. I had met

these students before in two different classes where I acted as a teaching assistant. The

fact that I met these students before did not mean they would be amenable to the

kinesthetic activities in which they were about to be engaged. Two days before starting

fieldwork, I received the results of the instructional survey for one those classes four of

the students attended. The highlights of the survey were the following:

� not receptive

� forced her ideas and opinions on us

� unwelcoming

� critiqued too harshly

� came off rude at times

� lacked empathy

72

� made a really fun and exciting class difficult and frustrating

Though I did not know whether any of these students who had taken part in that class and

were enrolled in the class I was conducting wrote these comments, I could not help but

put it at the forefront of my mind especially the first sessions, thinking I could face more

scrutiny, disengagement and opposition. These comments did not abandon me for a long

time and kept me thinking that even though they were extreme, there was some truth

behind them no matter how much I tried to justify my teaching style. While these

comments helped me reflect on my own craft and be mindful of cultural differences,

some of my attributes are not up for negotiation. I do have deep-seated ideas about how

structural societal issues that allow injustice, inequality and marginalization permeate

education, and the need for the denunciation of them in the classroom. I do also believe

that learning (and teaching) is what happens outside the comfort zone and while the

classroom should be a safe space for discussion, there is the danger of the “feel good”

approach that comes with safe thinking. Giroux (2014) claims, “When students are told

that all that matters for them is feeling good and that feeling uncomfortable is alien to

learning itself, the very nature of teaching and learning is compromised.”

THE PROTAGONISTS

Founded in 1891, the current enrollment in the College of Education at the

undergraduate level is 2,188 students, 1,027 of which are elementary education

majors. The Curriculum and Instruction department is 11th overall among

73

universities and eight among public universities in the country. (College of

Education at University of Texas website, US News & World Report. 2014).

The twenty-two students participating in this study, in spite of their differences

which I will discuss those later on in this section, share certain commonalities. All of

them were accepted into the bilingual/bicultural education program, although four of

them were accepted conditionally due to language and coursework requirements. All of

the students were in their early twenties and all but two were female. When asked about

their racial identity, they used national ethnic labels to describe themselves, such as

Mexican, Mexican-American, American, Jewish-American or pan ethnicities, such as

Latino/a and Hispanic. Only one participant identified as mestiza/o; a label with both

liberatory and colonial connotation depending on which side of the border one comes

from. As someone born, raised and schooled in Latinoamérica, mestiza/o is a racial

category created to divide the population into castes; that is, as a way to classify people

according to the correlation of wealth, skin color and social class. I would check

“mestiza” in all the paperwork where demographic information was requested in Perú,

my motherland. However, as a trans-national individual living in the US, I understand the

term mestiza/o has been reappropiated to contest this colonial term and denote pride.

At the start of this research, the participants were part of the bilingual foundation

semester, which is the first section of the professional development sequence. The classes

the participants needed to take during the foundational semester were Second Language

Acquisition, Language in Education, Latino Children’s Literature for the Bilingual

Teacher, Spanish Language and Methods for Bilingual Teachers I, and Foundations of

74

Bilingual Education. This research took place during the latter class, which covers an

array of topics related to the history, politics, policy, theory, programs, and assessment

for bilingual education in the United States in general and Texas in particular. Since this

class has a Cultural Diversity Flag, topics such as multilingualism, multiculturalism,

immigration, and bilingual special education are also included in the instruction.

TRAJECTORIES: SCHOOLING AND EDUCACIÓN

During FY 2013, this preparation program helped pass 98% of the aspiring

teachers out of the 459 applicants, 279 of which were white, 16 were African

American, and 108 were Hispanic. 380 of these now teachers are female (The

University of Texas at Austin 2015 Accountability Report).

I divided the description of the trajectories of the participants of this study into

two main categories: educación and schooling since, according to Illich (1970), these are

not to be confused. I use the word educación in Spanish because it differs greatly from its

counterpart in English. I take the definition of educación from a study conducted by

Villenas (2001) among Latina mothers. The mothers interviewed agreed that to “have a

buena educación meant having the social skills of etiquette, loyalty to family and kin, and

most important, respect” (Villenas, 2001, p. 12-13). Thus, the worldview behind the

definition of educación also involved moral and ethical values, and beliefs, which speaks

of a different sense of relatedness. This sense of relatedness is connected to what Wilson

calls relationality (Wilson, 2008) as an indigenous way of being: to think of oneself as

part of a community and one’s interconnections and interdependence, a sense which in

75

turn is at odds with the hegemonic western society that demands individualism,

disconnection and dissociation to better function in society. Therefore, this educación is

left at the margins to give way to accepted forms of schooling, the one imparted at

schools where people are invariably put at a disadvantage/advantage according to the

color of their skin, their gender (identification) and their socio-cultural and economic

status.

Reminiscent of my own trajectory, the demands of trying to fit into a society that

rejected me at the same time, made the lessons of my educación blurry, therefore, the

vernacular and indigenous lessons I received at home were dismissed and hidden. It is

shocking to compare my educación and my schooling: at home I would observe and learn

from what adults did on the go, deprived of paternalistic explanations. The schooling I

endured for eleven1 years and whose game I played well did little for me and almost

discouraged me from pursuing higher education. It is important to highlight that while my

educación was not unproblematic there was this sense of apprenticeship that awoke my

curiosity, self-study skills and responsibility that in many ways is helping me in my own

research design, data analysis and critical inquiry. In many ways, the education/schooling

division is a response to my own cultural deprivation from my indigenous side,

something that I long for as I am trying to pick up the pieces, putting them back together

however possible.

1TheeducationalsysteminPeruconsistsofsixyearsatelementarylevelandfiveyearsinhighschool.

76

Participants’ Schooling

In 2011-2012, at University of Texas at Austin 28 bilingual/bicultural education

majors took the required certification tests: the Bilingual Generalist EC-4 and the

Bilingual Target Language Proficiency test (BTLPT). In that year, out of the 28,

21 became bilingual teachers (Title II 2013 Report for Higher Education Act).

As bilingual majors, the participants in my class described their schooling in

connection to language learning, regardless of their status as either simultaneous or

consecutive bilinguals, or whether they either were born in the US, were 1.5 generation

(Portes & Rumbaut, 2001) or immigrants themselves. Table 3.1 describes the

participants’ forms of schooling in the US, their ethnicity/race, and national origins. I

used the data the participants provided and their own recollections of their schooling

during class discussions about race (session 8), written reflections on program models for

bilingual/ESL students (session 6), and self-examination of the language policies

implemented at their schools (session 4).

Name Self-Identification National Origin

Language Policies at School

Liliana Mexican/American US born Bilingual maintenance program

Roxana Mexican US born Bilingual maintenance program

Enrique Mexican-American Immigrant as a child

Bilingual maintenance program

Table 3.1 Participants self-identification, national origin and language policies at school

(continued next page)

77

Table 3.1 Participants self-identification, national origin and language policies at school

(continued next page)

Guadalupe Mexican Immigrant as a child

Bilingual maintenance program

Luz Mexican Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish use allowed in class

Norma Mexican/Mexican-American

Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish use allowed in class

Patricia Mexican/Mestiza Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish use allowed in class

Ursula Mexican-American Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish use allowed in class

Ana Maria Mexican-American Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish not allowed in academic or social settings at school

Ganiva Mestiza/ Mexican Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish not allowed in academic or social settings at school

Luis Mexican Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish not allowed in academic or social settings at school

Marita Mexican-American Immigrant as a child

English Only–Spanish not allowed in academic or social settings at school

Isabel American/Mexican-American

US born English Only–in ethnically diverse schools

Jenny Mexican/American US born English Only–in ethnically diverse schools

Mariella Mexican US born English Only–in ethnically diverse schools

Rocio Mexican US born English Only–in ethnically diverse schools

Milagros Mexican US born English Only–classes in white communities

78

Sarita Mexican-American US born English Only–in predominantly white communities

Zully Mexican-American US born English Only–in predominantly white communities

Antoinette American/White US born English Only–Spanish as a foreign language

Bonnie Jewish-American US born English Only–Spanish as a foreign language

Figure 3.2 provides a more detailed breakdown of the types of schooling the

participants had. While four students were enrolled in bilingual programs at one point in

K-12, the rest of the participants were placed in mainstream classes. The breakdown

shown in Figure 3.2 describe the different language ideologies behind the language

policies the participants were exposed in English only schools. This figure also contains

the ethnic demographics of the schools that were the most restrictive when providing

language support to the participants of this study.

Paola African-American/Mexican-

American

US born English Only–in predominantly white communities

Table 3.1 Participants self-identification, national origin and language policies at school

79

Figure 3.1 Participants’ schooling breakdown

Bilingual Schooling

Out of 22 participants, only four students attended maintenance bilingual

programs. Those four described their experiences as positive ones in which using English

and Spanish was not only encouraged but used as a tool for learning. Liliana, for

example, was proud to have participated in a bilingual program that fostered the use of all

her linguistic toolkit in order to learn and to teach others, creating a sense of community

and self-worth;

Nuestras maestras siempre nos dejaban hablar en el idioma con el que nos

sintiéramos más cómodos. Esto causó que los estudiantes que sabían hablar el

80

inglés más bien le empezaran a ayudar a los que hablaban el español. A veces se

me olvidaba cómo decir una palabra en español, y siempre había alguien allí para

ayudarme. Esto me ayudó mucho en mejorar mis dos lenguas2. (Liliana, oral

reflection – September 17, 2014)

As participant in a similar bilingual program Enrique noted his realization of being part

of a privileged minority in the classroom as he heard the testimony of most of his peers,

who did not have the chance to be enrolled in a bilingual program, were not encouraged

to develop their languages, or did not live in multilingual environments:

Growing up in a bilingual speaking region really made me take for granted being

able to practice multilingualism because I was fortunate enough to be able to

speak two languages without ever being told I was wrong or right for speaking it.

Listening to what my peers have discussed and what I have read made me realize

that not everyone is privileged to speak two languages simultaneously without

getting scolded. (Enrique, written reflection – September 10, 2014).

As they learned more about the goals of different dual language program models during

early sessions, a couple of students noticed that even though they were enrolled in so-

called dual language programs as children, these programs were in fact transitional in

execution.

“I was put in bilingual classes from kindergarten up until second grade, and yeah,

2Translation:Ourteachersalwaysletusspeakthelanguagewefeltmostcomfortablewith.SothestudentswhospokeEnglishbetterstartedtohelptheoneswhospokeSpanish.SometimesI’dforgethowtosayawordinSpanishbuttherewasalwayssomeonetheretohelpme.Thishelpedmetoimprovemytwolanguages

81

my teachers spoke Spanish to us and some assignments were given in Spanish as

well, but now that I think about it, we were slowly but surely being transitioned in

English classes where our first language was only used from time to time”

(Roxana, written reflection – September 10, 2014).

Even though students like Roxana realized their bilingual classrooms had a transitional

nature, they still regarded themselves fortunate in contrast to the rest of their classmates.

After all, participating in any kind of program where first languages are supported, no

matter the time, is better than not receiving such services at all (Thomas & Collier, 1997).

English-Only Schooling

As aforementioned, 18 students reported not having participate in bilingual

programs at school, eight of whom were immigrants as children. Within this group, four

of the immigrant students recalled having been allowed to use their first language in order

for them to confer with other Spanish-speaking classmates in social contexts and to learn

content. Norma and Luz’s experiences in high school mirrored each other in that in spite

of having been enrolled in mainstream classes, they were not prohibited from speaking

Spanish in social settings. However, they both overlapped in one area: Spanish or any

linguistic practice other than English did not have a place in the classroom as part of the

instruction but only as a means to be able to develop their academic English;

Si la educación monolingüe hubiese sido implementada en mi preparatoria en

Houston cuando emigré a los Estados Unidos, mi experiencia aprendiendo inglés

en la preparatoria hubiera sido mil veces mas difícil. Simplemente no hubiera

82

podido comunicarme con nadie, ya que yo no sabia nada de ingles. Mis

compañeros y yo nos comunicábamos y nos ayudábamos los unos a los otros en

español. Socially, students in my high school were allowed to use whichever

language they wanted when talking to friends, during lunch, etcetera. But when it

came to class, everything was conducted in English3. (Luz, oral reflection –

September 17, 2014).

These opportunities to speak Spanish in the classroom were nurtured especially if there

was more language involvement and if the teacher was bilingual herself. Patricia, who

also belonged to this subgroup, remembered finding a multilingual/multicultural space

during a hands-on vocational course in high school in which language was not an

impediment for learning. Owing to several convivios (retreats) organized by her

teacher—who happened to be bilingual—a sense of collaboration was created which

allowed English-speaking classmates to learn some Spanish from Patricia and other

Spanish-speaking students. According to Patricia this linguistic welcoming fostered cross

cultural understanding among white, African American and Latino students in the

classroom. This cross-cultural community was even able to pick up Spanish during their

exchanges.

Another example within this group is Ursula, She was placed in mainstream

3Translation:IfamonolingualeducationhadbeenimplementedinmyhighschoolinHoustonwhenIfirstarrivedintheUS,myexperiencelearningEnglishwouldhavebeenathousandtimesmoredifficult.Isimplywouldn’thavebeenabletotalktoanyonebecauseIdidn’tknowEnglishatall.MyclassmatesandIwouldtalkandhelponeanotherinSpanish.Socially,studentsinmyhighschoolwereallowedtousewhicheverlanguagetheywantedwhentalkingtofriends,duringlunch,etcetera.Butwhenitcametoclass,everythingwasconductedinEnglish.

83

classes though her third grade teacher allowed the use of her primary language. As per

her own account, she was encouraged not to be ashamed of her culture and language.

However, in spite of having been encouraged to use Spanish in her classroom while

learning English, bitterness seeped into her recollection of her memories in that stage of

her schooling as it reminded her of the slow but steady process of language loss;

Hoy me siento que fui robada de mi idioma de español porque yo no me siento

fuerte hablando o escribiendo en español o escribiendo en inglés. La cultura de los

Estados Unidos me quitaron el español y el sistema escolar debe de usar lo que el

individuo tiene como fortaleza para crecer4. (oral reflection – September 17,

2014).

Ursula was careful not to put the blame of her lack of development of Spanish on a

specific person. She looked beyond her own experience and concluded that such a loss

was part of a societal monolinguistic ideology, and a myopic education system that

refused to take advantage of such linguistic skills.

In contrast, four participants who were also immigrants were not allowed to use

Spanish , even for social purposes. Ana Maria connected her deprivation of language

support with the negative sentiment towards immigrants at the school she attended. This

participant narrated not only her own story about her inability to use Spanish at school

but also retold her sister’s story of alienation;

4Translation:NowIfeelIwasrobbedofmySpanishbecauseI’mnotstrongwhenwritingorspeakingitasIaminEnglish.ThecultureintheUSAtookmySpanishawayfrommeandtheeducationalsystemshouldusetheindividual’sstrengthtobeabletogrow.

84

Todas nuestras clases eran en inglés y muchos de nosotros no teníamos la

oportunidad de expresarnos en nuestro primer lenguaje o idioma. Tampoco lo

sabía leer y eso sí es una desgracia. Mi hermana menor un día después de hacer

sus horas de voluntariado llegó enojada a la casa porque otros estudiantes le

decían que no hablara o usara el español porque ellos estaban en los Estados

Unidos y no en otro país5. (oral reflection – September 17, 2014).

Luis recalled the way he was marginalized for his lack of proficiency in English, which,

for his teachers was a predictor of his imminent school failure;

Yo estaba apenas en el cuarto grado y tenía menos de un año en este país. La

escuela no contaba con programas bilingües. No me podía comunicar con mis

amigos que hablaban español porque luego me castigaban. Así que durante todas

las clases me mantenía callado. Los maestros creían que si seguía hablando

español yo nunca iba aprender el inglés y mucho menos acostumbrarme a la

cultura de aquí. Me hacían sentir mal porque yo sabía que estaba despreciando mi

cultura6. (oral reflection – September 17, 2014).

This marginalization probably led Luis to engage in moments of maladjustment and

5Translation:AllourclasseswereinEnglishandmanyofusdidn’thavetheopportunitytoexpressourselvesinourfirstlanguage.Ididn’tknowhowtoreadandthatwasadisgrace.Onedaymyyoungersister,afterdoinghervolunteeringhours,arrivedhomeandshewasangrybecausesomestudentstoldhernottouseSpanishbecauseshewasintheUSAandnotinanothercountry.6Translation:Iwasbarelyin4thgradeandIwaslessthanayearinthiscountry.Myschooldidn’thavebilingualprograms.Icouldn’ttalktomySpanish-speakingfriendsbecauseIwouldgetpunished.SoduringtheclassesIremainedsilent.MyteachersthoughtthatIkeptonspeakingSpanishIwouldn’tbeabletolearnEnglish,letalonegettingacculturated.TheymademefeelbadbecauseIknowtheyscornedmyculture.

85

resistance, which may be regarded as reactionary (Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001).

However, Luis may have engaged in an “informal infrapolitics of the oppressed” (Kelley,

1993) since that kind of resistance, no matter how reactionary it might look, has the

potential to become transformational through example;

Cuando estaba en la secundaria, yo y algunos amigos planeamos festejar el Cinco

de Mayo en la escuela. Nos pusimos la camisa de la selección mexicana, llevamos

sombreros (nunca los pusimos en nuestra cabeza), y llevamos comida para festejar

durante el periodo del lonche. Cuando el director vio que llevábamos sombreros,

nos llamó la atención y nos dijo que no podíamos traerlos porque luego íbamos a

distraer a nuestros compañeros. No solo eso, sino que dijo que las camisas

llamaban mucho la atención y podrían ser distracción. A ninguno de mis

compañeros nos gustó esto así que le hablamos a nuestros padres y vinieron a

hablar con el director. El director recibió tantas llamadas negativas que tuvo que

hacer una disculpa pública a todos los alumnos7. (oral reflection – September 17,

2014).

Luis engaged in defiance when displaying cultural artifacts that explicitly showed his

Mexicanness as a reponse to the cultural and linguistic erasure he—and probably the

classmates that accompanied him—experienced at school. This could have been a

7Translation:WhenIwasinhighschoolinthesamestate,someofmyfriendsandIplannedtocelebrateCincodeMayoatschool.WeworetheMexicansoccerteamt-shirtandbroughtsomehats(weneverworethem),andwebroughtfoodtocelebrateduringlunchtime.Whentheprincipalsawwebroughthats,hereprimandedusandtolduswecouldn’tbringthembecauseitwoulddistractourclassmates.Notonlythat,buthealsosaidthet-shirtsweretooflashyanditcouldbeadistraction.MyclassmatesandIdidn’tlikethissowetalkedtoourparentsandtheytalkedtotheprincipal.Theprincipalgotsomanynegativecallsthathehadtopubliclyapologizetoallstudents.

86

reactionary resistance that could have ended up in suspension or silence had they not had

the support of their parents.

Reminiscing on the lack of Spanish support in spite of being immigrants, Marita

and Ganiva reflected on predominant linguistic discourse they were exposed to at school,

which is the link between mastery of the English language and success,

Cuando yo estaba en la escuela, todo el punto del aprendizaje trabajaba para llegar

a un solo camino. Este camino era guiar a todos los estudiantes a que aprendieran

y dominaran bien el inglés. Querían que nosotros aprendiéramos muy bien el

inglés para poder ser exitosos en la vida porque según el inglés era indispensable

para ser alguien importante en la vida con un buen entorno social y trabajo de

buena categoría8 (Marita, (oral reflection – September 17, 2014).

Ganiva was also exposed to this discourse; however, after having read articles and texts

on this topic, she reflected on the contradiction to this message and the realities of the job

market in which bilingual individuals are at an advantage (Callahan & Gandara, 2014);

I grew up here in Austin, and back then it was definitely not as "cool" to know

two languages; everyone was striving to perfect their English and the home

language was usually ostracized. However, I have noticed that now that I am

older everyone wants to be bilingual because of the need in the job marker for

bilingual workers. I think it is definitely a double standard that we were taught,

8Translation:WhenIwasatschool,thepointoflearningworkedtowardonepath.ThatpathwastoguideallstudentstolearnandmasterEnglish.TheywantedustolearnEnglishwelltobesuccessfulbecauseaccordingtothem,Englishwasindispensabletobesomeoneinlifewithagoodsocialcircleandahighstatusjob.

87

both in school and in society; that we should be embarrassed to speak Spanish,

but in the workforce bilingualism is greatly needed and valued (written reflection

– September 10, 2014).

English-Only in Predominantly White Schools

Out of the 18 participants who were enrolled in mainstream schools, eight

belonged to the group of US-born students with Mexican-American heritage. Apart from

the English-equals-success discourse shown in the previous subgroup, this group has

distinct characteristics. The first trait is related to the school area in regards to

demographics and language. This means that apart from not receiving language support

at school, the schools were located in predominantly white communities. Milagros and

Paola exemplify these instances

Growing up I attended schools where the student body always had a white

majority. Therefore, multilingualism wasn’t promoted very much. Being a

minority was already different alone. (Milagros, written reflection – September

10, 2014).

It is important to note that, while these participants attended predominantly white

schools, they felt they were minority not only linguistically but ethnically as well.

Milagros described her feelings of double isolation. As an Afro-Mexican-American,

Paola became not only “hidden” but probably torn between belonging to the Latino or the

African American group, which, in her own account, never merged. On the other side of

the scope was the lack of language services in bilingual communities, relegating Spanish

88

language maintenance to families and social interaction within the community. In other

words, some of the students were placed in mainstream schools because they were

located in predominantly Spanish speaking communities where learning Spanish was

taken for granted as students presumably would learn it at home and within the

community. Sarita elaborated on her experience of being enrolled in mainstream classes

in a Mexico-USA border town where the majority of people speaks Spanish,

I grew up in a border town. I attended a private school where we were mocked

for speaking Spanish. At my school, being in a border town, and almost everyone

being able to speak in Spanish, we didn’t have this [bilingual education]. (written

reflection – September 10, 2014).

While these participants highlight the importance of Spanish in their bilingual

communities, they reiterated the disregard of Spanish as an academic language or a

language of prestige, and its use was a reason for bullying.

Spanish as a Foreign Language

Finally, the last group comprised two of the US-born, English dominant

participants who learned Spanish as a foreign language, were not Mexican-

American/Hispanic/Latino/a, and spoke an additional language. Antoinette took Spanish

as a foreign language classes starting kindergarten, and Bonnie, as a Jewish-American,

took Hebrew in high school. Despite learning at least three languages—including English

as their mother tongue—they reflected on the pervasiveness of English in their learning,

either at school or at home. For instance, Antoinette’s experience reflected how middle

89

class white parents are growing increasingly more interested in raising multilingual

children even when they are not multilingual themselves, possibly due to the economic

advantages of becoming bilingual, (Callahan & Gandara, 2014)

I grew up in private school where teaching Spanish from Kindergarten was

sufficient, but nothing more than Spanish was offered until high school. In the

community I grew up in, no one in my family spoke another language. In fact, I

am the first of my immediate family to even try to learn a third and fourth

language, let alone a second (written reflection – September 10, 2014).

Participants’ Educación

During a reflection on their own funds of knowledge, the participants examined

their own learning outside schooling, and discovered the richness of these knowledges

that shaped who they were at the moment of the discussion. Witnessing this discussion

reminded me of my own process of (re)discovery of the skills I had learned from my

parents, revived my old feelings of prejudices against such educación since it came from

a pair of unschooled individuals who I thought did not have legitimate knowledge to

offer, and my current guilt for having ever felt that way. Having gone through a similar

process as the participants made me more aware of the moments of self and mutual

recognition since they all shared several traits.

The first trait this cohort shared was their strong connection to plants, be it

through their curative characteristics, planting and/or harvesting for consumption.

Curanderismo, mal de ojo cure, herb infusions, chamomile, aloe vera, yerbabuena,

90

oregano, ruda and the connection of their relatives to the land through farming—usually

in Mexico—was a constant experience this cohort shared in common;

Cuando era niño mi padre vivía en un rancho en Ixtlahuacan Jalisco. Siempre

hacían remedios usando hierbas que crecían en la casa. Hay muchas veces en la

que me enfermo y mis padres me hacen un té o otros remedios para que me sienta

mejor9.(Liliana, written reflection—October 22, 2014).

…encontrarías muchas plantas que mi mamá usa para ser tés para curarnos y

plantas de chile que usa para la comida. Ella tiene yerbabuena y orégano.

También encontrarías algunos ingredientes que usa para estos tés como hojas de

laurel y estrella de anís10. (Norma, written reflection – October 22, 2014).

Mi abuelita sabe cómo curar de mal de ojo, como curar oídos cono ajo asado, la

ruda para el estómago de los bebes, y otras habilidades11.(Sarita, written reflection

– October 22, 2014).

The constant of plants in the educación of this particular cohort is unsurprisingly

connected to the second principal characteristic, which is religious/spiritual education

learned at home, especially Catholicism. The somewhat syncretic nature of this fervor—

engaging in curanderismo/healing plants—is very common in families with roots in

9Translation:WhenIwasachild,myparentslivedinranchinIxtlahuacan,Jalisco.Wealwayshadremediesmadewithherbsthatgrewinourhouse.WheneverIfellsickmyparentswouldmakemeateaoruseotherremediestomakemefeelbetter10Translation:…andyou’dfindalotofplantsmymomusestomakehealingteasandchiliplantsforcooking.Shehasyerbabuenaandoregano.Youwouldalsofindotheringredients,suchasbayleavesandstaranise.11Translation:Mygrandmaknowhowtocureevileye,howtocureearswithaconeandroastedgarlic,rueforstomachacheforbabiesandotherskills.

91

Latinoamérica and this cohort reflected this blend, which could place a Virgen de

Guadalupe and a Catechist book next to a raw yolk floating inside a glass of water.

Images of saints and crosses at home are not mere decorations but symbolism of

important spiritual traits among the participants beyond belief in miracles. Giving thanks

and resorting to God for protection are the practices in which the participants engaged

whether they were very religious themselves or not;

Mis padres vienen de familias muy católicas y creen mucho en las vírgenes y

santos. Encontrarías muchas imágenes de la virgen de san juan de los lagos y

también encontrarías una estatua de el divino niño. Nosotros creemos en estas dos

personas mucho porque nos han hecho milagros12.(Norma, written reflection –

October 22, 2014).

Así que si oirás a mi papa decir gracias Dios por un día mas, pero no

necesariamente practicamos creencias religiosas13. (Mariella, written reflection –

October 22, 2014).

Connection with food, cooking and the food industry comes in as the third characteristic

of this group. Three of the participants learned administration and the confection of

traditional food through their early contact with their family-owned restaurants. The rest

12Translation:Myparentscomefromverycatholicfamiliessotheybelieveinsaintsandvirgins.You’dfindlotsofstatuesofthevirgin,St.JohnoftheLakesandyou’dfindtheDivineChildstatuetoo.Webelieveinthesepeopleferventlybecausetheyhavegrantedusmiracles.13Translation:Soyou’dhearmydadsaying‘thankGodforonemoreday,”butwedon’tnecessarilyobserveanyreligion.

92

of the participants reflect on cooking as a ritual of sharing, nutritional value; and as a

heritage passed down to them.

Mi abuela paterna es una excelente cocinera; siempre lo ha sido. Ella no necesita

recetas sofisticadas o hacer un banquete para demostrar su talento. Cualquier

comida que prepara es deliciosa. Mi abuela materna era igual, de acuerdo a lo que

me platica mi mamá. Aunque no tuve la dicha de conocerla yo creo que esto es

cierto porque ella fue quien le enseñó a mi mamá a cocinar y mi mamá a su vez

me enseñó a mi y a mis hermanas. Nunca mido los ingredientes que uso, es como

un instinto14. (Luz, written reflection – October 22, 2014).

When discussing their education at home, the participants described certain values they

learned that shaped the way they approach economics, social relationships and

study/work ethics. One of the most salient is resourcefulness and thriftiness to save on

repairs and clothing. Since many of the participants were in direct contact with the family

business, they were able to acquire social skills when dealing with clients and customers,

and found communal ways to save money;

14Translation:Mygrandmaonmyfather’ssideisanexcellentcook;she’salwaysbeen.Shedidn’tneedsophisticatedrecipesormakeabanquettoshowhertalent.Anyfoodshemakesisdelicious.Mygrandmaonmymother’ssidewasthesame,accordingtowhatmymomtellsme.ThoughIdidn’tmeetherIthinkit’saccuratebecauseshetaughtmymomandthenmymomtaughtmeandmysisters.InevermeasuretheingredientsIuse,it’slikeaninstinct.

93

Mi mama a veces organiza tandas15 para obtener dinero en mayoreo envéz de por

porción16. (Enrique, written reflection – October 22, 2014).

Other values learned at home as part of their educación was their ethical approach to

study and work as a result of apprenticeship Rogoff, Paradise, Mejia, Correa-Chavez,

&Angelillo, 2003). Apprenticeship refers to the direct participation of the skills to be

learned without direct instructions. This is the way some of the participants learned

organization, group work, discipline, hard work, and independence;

Cuando mi mamá cocina ella nos pide ayuda para picar las verduras o cuidar que

la comida no se queme pero de esta manera nosotros comenzamos a aprender a

cocinar porque observamos el proceso que ella sigue para hacerlo y a veces

hacemos preguntas para confirmar que lo estemos haciendo bien y así cuando

necesitemos hacerlo solas seamos capaces de hacerlo sin ayuda de nuestra

madre17.(Patricia, written reflection – October 22, 2014).

However, only three of the participants mentioned learning Spanish as part of their

educación at home, and seven at a community level. I find it interesting that few students

recognized their learning and maintenance of the Spanish as something salient in their

15“Tandas”refertoaninformalsavingstrategyinwhicheachofthemembersofsaidtandagiveacertainamountofmoneyattheendofthemonthtobegivenfullytooneofthemembers.Thisprocessisrepeateduntilthelastmemberofthetandareceivesthefullamountofwhatwascollectedthatmonth.Eachmemberofthetandareceivesthesameamountofmoneyeverymonth.16Translation:Mymomorganizestandastogetmoneyinbulkandnotjustlittlebylittle17Translation:Whenmymomcookssheasksusforhelptochopthevegetablesormakesurethefooddoesn’tgetburnedbutinthiswaywestartlearningtocookbecauseweobservetheprocessshefollowsandsometimesweaskforconfirmationsowhenweneedtocookbyourselvesweareabletodosowithoutherhelp.

94

educación at home. This fact is relevant since 18 of the participants received little or no

language support at school. One would conclude that for these 18 students home and

community were the sites of language learning/maintenance. However, it is more likely

codeswitching and their perceived low proficiency in Spanish—the feelings of

inadequacy—may play an important factor in their perception of learning Spanish more

as an outcome rather than a process.

I created a composite of the participants’ feelings towards their language usage

using their reflections to better illustrate their experiences with language. I decided to

create a composite of students’ feelings towards their language practices in the form of a

poem as a way to illustrate students’ understandings of what it means to be bilingual and

how the social environment urges them to position themselves through language.

Utilizing poetry as embodied and evocative presentation of data in research provides a

different dimension that highlights rhythms, forms and metaphors (Leavy, 2015) used by

the participants when describing their language practices and their feelings towards them.

I engaged in what Leavy calls “poetic transcription (p. 83) as I used the participants’

reflections and interview transcriptions to look for recurring language around the

description of their languages after engaging in the reading of Anzaldua’s “How to tame

a wild tongue” (1987). Anzaldua described her linguistic conflicts as Tejana in the border

and her eventual acceptance and defiance. In order to write this composited poem I drew

the exact words the participants uttered extracted from the data collected. As Glesne

(1997) posits, this form of poetic writing in research not only preserves the speech

patterns but allows the voices of the participants’ emerge in their own terms allowing the

95

coexistence of both rationality (e.g. providing the name of the language practices) and the

emotional evocation. Moreover, poetic transcriptions makes room for the “third voice’

that comes with the researcher’s voice and insights as she responds to the participants’

evocation literally or figuratively.

One of the most salient features is how the participants are asked to perform not

only a language practice, but the identity connected to such practice. At the same time,

the scenarios (parties, school, boyfriend, etc) position the students in different ways,

some at disadvantage (“la gente se me queda viendo” [people stare at me] ) or some in

which the students fit right in (“slang… solo con mi novio” [only with my boyfriend]). In

the end, it is the students’ prerogative to respond agentically to such positioning (“ahora

no me importa” [now I don’t care]), or pretend not to be hurt by it (“¿o sí?” [or do I?]).

Mis languages

Identidad e idioma

español natal, inglés académico

español o inglés professional, formal y informal, mezcla,

Chicano Spanish, Texmex Spanglish, chicano caló

pa’ tortia, googlear, parquear, textiar,

laquiar la puerta, ponte las pilas, aguas! es fácil

…

Pocho, slang, callejero, en fiestas, digo groserias,

no necesito ser professional o sofisticada

Incómoda cuando hablo slang English con professors

96

Eso es solo con amigos o con mi novio

Cada lenguaje refleja un aspecto de mi personalidad

Todo depende de donde estoy

…

Mixto porque no sé decir algunas palabra; no esta bien

tengo que pensar más y tener cuidado

en lo que voy a decir porque lo mezclo

No cómoda porque la gente se me quedaba viendo

avergonzada por las miradas.

Ahora no me importa (o sí?)

…

Soy la única que se puede comunicar con mis abuelos

Nunca hablé español en casa,

mi papá no quiso practicar y estoy resentida con eso

Batallo con la escritura: he estudiado por 8 años

Y todavia sigo nerviosa. Tengo que practicarlo

La gente reacciona si estás fuera de El Paso

So triste porque no había con quién hablar en Austin

…

Inglés no es importante porque lo ha hablado toda la vida

Orgullosa de haber mejorado mucho

pero batallo a veces

97

Español academico:

No me gusta porque es dificil

pero tengo que explorar y aprender18

This poetic transcription also depicts the contradicions the participants faced when using

their languages, similar to what Anzaldua described in her text. In spite of seemingly not

worrying about people’s reaction towards their language practices, the stigma of their

language mixing remains and is a source of shame and self-consciousness. Regarding

their language proficiency in Spanish, the poem reflects the feelings of inadequacy

described in Guerrero (2003a, 2003b & 2009), which they feel as useful when conversing

with their elders but insufficient in academic settings.

Driving forces

Initially, the participants of this study—regardless of the linguistic ideologies

behind their schooling and their educación—asserted that becoming bilingual teachers

18Translation:Identityandlanguage:nativeSpanish,academicEnglish,professionalSpanishorEnglish,formalorinformal,blend.ChicanoSpanish,Texmex,Spanglish,Chicanocaló.Fortortilla,google,park,text,lacquerthedoor,watchout!It’seasy.Pocho,slang,streetlanguage,atpartiesIcuss;Idon’tneedtobeprofessionalorsophisticated.UncomfortablewhenIuseEnglishslangwithprofessors.That’sonlywithfriendsorwithmyboyfriend.Eachlanguagereflectapartofmypersonality.ItalldependsonwhereIam.MixedbecauseIdon’tknowhowtosaysomewords;It’snotgood.IhavetothinkmoreandbecarefulwithwhatIsaybecauseImixthem.Notcomfortablebecausepeoplestareatme.Ashamedbythepryingeyes.Now,Idon’tcare(ordoI?).I’mtheonlyonewhocantalktomygrandparents.IneverspokeSpanishathome;mydadneverwantedtopracticeitandIresentthat.Istrugglewithwriting,I’vestudieditfor8yearsyetI’mnervous.Gottapracticeit.Peoplereactifyou’reoutsideElPaso.Soit’ssadbecauseIdon’thaveanyonetotalkhere.EnglishisnotimportantbecauseI’vespokenitallmylife.ProudofhavingimprovedmySpanishbutIsometimesstruggle.AcademicSpanish:Idon’tlikeitbecauseit’shardbutIhavetoexploreandlearnit.

98

was their response and a reflection of their feelings towards their own Spanish language

proficiency and a longing of what could have been;

‘This (using both languages at school) is one of the reasons why I chose to be a

bilingual educator. I want to change the idea that bilingualism is wrong” (Sarita,

written reflection—September 3, 2014)

“Mi papa nos hablaba en español cuando éramos niños pero por un razón paro y

perdimos todo la lenguaje. No hablábamos mucho del idioma, pero estábamos

aprendiendo el idioma de mi papá y ahora todavía no lo sabemos19” (Zully,

written reflection—September 10, 2014)

As the sessions progressed, the participants moved from stating that Spanish

language deprivation was something that happened to friends and close relatives to

opening up about the connection between their difficulties of becoming proficient in

Spanish and their cultural identities. Some participants stated they were torn between

what they called “Mexican culture” and the “American culture,” exoticizing,

romanticizing, and trivializing the former. This made one of the participants reflect on

her lack of knowledge and participation in certain superficial cultural performances as a

reason for her “lack of Mexicanness,” therefore, unprepared to connect with students of

Mexican/Mexican-American heritage:

“I do have some of the cultural background from my mother I have noticed that

I'm not as prepared as I should because my upbringing was Americanized. For

19Translation.MydadwouldspeakinSpanishtousaschildrenbutforsomereasonhestoppedandwelostthelanguage.Wedidn’ttalkmuchaboutlanguage,evennowwedon’tknowthereason.

99

example, when we were going over the children songs in instructor X's class I

only knew like three” (Isabel, written reflection—October 22, 2014)

This sense of their lack of Mexicanness/Latinaness also stemmed from their proficiency

in Spanish. This perceived lack of authenticity affected one of the participants in

particular, pushing her to struggle with her own identity;

“I personally wish I was more in touch with my Spanish language and Latina

culture because I want to be able to promote it without having identity issues (but

that's a different topic)” (Zully, written reflection—September 3, 2014

This is the landscape in which the research took place. During the first session, I

informed the participants of the nature of both the class and the research. As my research

assistant and good friend prepared the main camera to start rolling, I was reminded of the

words of Dr. Omi Jones that spoke of the similarities of doing research and falling in

love. Her words encouraged me to be open, vulnerable and intimate; to embrace the

unknown even in moments in which synchronicity was not possible, in a space of both

transformation and resistance. That would also mean to allow myself to be terrified as if I

were anticipating that sensation in the stomach moving slowly towards the highest point

of a roller coaster ride. In a nutshell, I needed to be a co-performative witness instead of a

participant observer.

THE SCRIPT(S)

Official Materials

100

I conducted my research in the Foundation of Bilingual Education class, which

took place during Fall 2014 on Thursday afternoons. In order to prepare for this class and

get familiar with the course and materials, I inherited a syllabus used the previous

semester. Most of the syllabus remained unchanged. Table 3.2 shows the articles used for

the class apart from the official text (De Jong, 2011. The complete syllabus used in this

research is listed as Appendix I.

Readings Assignments Language

How to Tame a Wild Tongue (Anzaldua, 1987) English/Spanish

Discurso del español académico en una zona fronteriza: Un caso de colonialismo benevolente (Guerrero & Guerrero, 2013)

Spanish

Políticas y modelos de educación bilingüe en la atención a la diversidad lingüistica en Estados Unidos (Peleato, 2013)

Spanish

’Bilingue’: Una palabra tabú en la educación pública (Potowski, 2008) Spanish

Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Americans and Whiteness (Foley, 2008) English

Funds of Knowledge for Teaching (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzales, 1992) English

Educating language minority students and affirming their equal rights: research and practical perspectives (Hakuta, 2011)

English

Immigration, Language, and Education: How Does Language Policy Structure Opportunity? (Gandara & Rumberger, 2009).

English

Dynamic bilingualism as the norm: envisioning a heteroglossic approach to standard-based reform” (Flores and Schissel, 2014)

English

Critical Thinking” (bell hooks, 2010)

Table 3.2: Readings assignments (continued next page)

English

101

Chicanos have Math in their Blood” (Ortiz-Franco, 2013) English

‘High-Stakes' Harm (Christensen, 2012) English

Alternatives to Standardized Tests (Peterson & O’Neill, 2012) English

Enacting advocacy-oriented visions of bilingual education: Lessons from experienced bilingual educators (Dubetz, 2014)

English

The Big Picture: A Meta-Analysis of Program Effectiveness Research on English Language Learners (Rolstad, Mahoney & Glass, 2005).

English

Dual Language Education: A Promising 50-50 Model (Gomez, Freeman & Freeman, 2005)

English

Bilingualism: the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism (Bialystok, 2009)

English

Table 3.2: Readings assignments

It is necessary to note that out of the official textbooks and articles one of the texts

was written in both languages (“How to tame a wild tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldúa, 1987)

and three were articles written in Spanish in their entirety: “’Bilingue’: Una palabra tabú

en la educación pública [“”Bilingual: A taboo word in public education] by Kim

Potowski (2008); Políticas y modelos de educación bilingüe en la atención a la

diversidad lingüistica en Estados Unidos by Irene Verde Peleato (2013); and Guerrero &

Guerrero (2013). A quick survey of the material included in the syllabus gives us the

English-Spanish ratio of 33:4; a reality documented by Guerrero & Guerrero, who

demand more scholarship in Spanish due to English being the hegemonic language of

academia. Updated scholarly articles written about (bilingual) education in the US

102

context are a rarity, to the extreme that I was contacted by a university professor in

another institution to help her compile articles in Spanish I had been tracking down since

I arrived in the US in 2007. Unfortunately, only these four written pieces made it to the

syllabus as they related to the objectives of the course and complemented the topics in the

official textbook.

I decided not to modify the syllabus significantly in order to assure fidelity to the

program. However, pedagogically speaking, I approached the class in such a way that I

was free to experiment with Boal’s techniques while still addressing the topics in the

syllabus with the required material. The syllabus required students to engage with the

weekly readings electronically, write reflections of their observations in dual language

classes in the area, and a final exam, all of which were done in both English and Spanish.

These assignments had also been part of the syllabus I adopted, and the cohort I

researched took the same exam as the one the previous classes had taken. The only

modification was the debate component. In the previous semester, the students needed to

demonstrate their knowledge of the history of bilingual education, language ideologies,

bilingual models and programs, language policy, research on bilingualism, multilingual

principles, and assessment in both languages. To do so, the students would engage in

formal presentations in front of a simulated public of parents, teachers, administrators in

order to talk and state their case in favor of bilingual education. During my research, the

participants recreated scenarios in which these ideas were brought up, not in a debate

format, but in a conversational one and were allowed to use all their language practices.

103

Counternarratives

Though not included in the syllabus, the narratives of fourteen experienced

bilingual teachers were part of the material covered in class. Each of the stories was

collected after extensive interviews, which were part of another study I was working on

as a research assistant. The interviews I conducted were under the umbrella of the larger

project; these fourteen selected teachers were among 53 participants in a special cohort

master’s degree program supported by a Title III National Professional Development

Grant (2007-2013). Initially, I selected twenty-nine vignettes coded according to

emerging themes. After the vignettes were identified, I matched them with each of the

sessions in the course, its content and material, ending up with fourteen vignettes

(Appendix II). Even though there were only twelve instructional sessions, during session

7, I used four vignettes: I showed three new stories and recycled the one used during the

previous class. The languages used in the vignettes displayed a range of language variety

from Spanish only—mostly among bilingual teachers educated in terciary educational

institutions in Latin America—different varieties of translanguaging practices—to one

instance in which the narrative was in English only; which was from a bilingual teacher

who admitted she would not pass the Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test

(hereinafter BTLPT) exam if she had to take it. However, language was not part of my

rationale for choosing the vignettes; rather the topics displayed: attitudes towards parents,

students and bilingual teachers, language ideologies towards translanguaging practices

and Spanish at different levels, bilingual program implementation, and pedagogy.

104

A representative example of the matching process between the content of the

prescribed syllabus and the vignettes is session five. That session was devoted to an

examination of the history of bilingual education in the USA with an emphasis on Texas.

During this session, the material and discussions focused on emblematic court cases both

in favor and/or against bilingual education and educational laws throughout the history of

bilingual education. For this class I chose a vignette in which the bilingual teacher

narrates the reaction of her colleagues when she decided to use the book Sylvia & Aki20

(Conkling, 2011) as part of 4th grade social studies class, and her plea to dig deeper into

the invisible history of Mexican Americans away from prescribed books;

Cuando enseñé a mis estudiantes el libro Silvia & Aki, a las maestras no le

gustaba que yo enseñara la historia que realmente los maestros bilingües no

sabemos, como la inmigración. Es muy importante que los estudiantes puedan

aprender lo que estaban sufriendo estos niños en California. Ese caso de

Westminster es the most crucial thing that could have happened to Mexican

Americans; por ese caso estamos right here. Le dije a mis niños: “you know, I

didn’t know about this, nobody taught me this.” You need to educate yourself.

Pero los maestros around me didn’t think it was necessary. Ellos dicen: “you’re

making them not like it here in the USA.” En cuarto grado estudiamos la historia

de Texas and I told them: “you have to be really careful with the story of Texas,

20Sylvia&AkiportraystheconnectionofaMexican-AmericangirlwhowasinvolvedintheMendezvs.WestminstercaseforracialdiscriminationatschoolandaJapanesegirlwhowastakentoaJapaneseinternmentcamp.

105

your sources.” I’m not afraid to tell them that books can be inaccurate pero mis

colegas me decían: “why are you contradicting the textbooks?”21

It is important to note that these vignettes created a counterpoint in the course because of

their content juxtaposed with the scholarly articles and official textbook of the syllabus.

Vignette 4 is an oral narrative of a bilingual teacher who attempted to bring up the hidden

histories of Mexican Americans in the US in her classroom while tapping into the hidden

struggles of Mexican-American teachers who are criticized—and even punished—for

placing peripheral histories at the forefront of class instruction. At the same time,

narratives such as vignette 4 provided a certain balance between the official materials

included in the syllabus, which, as shown above, were predominantly written in English.

Note the fluidity of this teacher’s speech using the language varieties she is familiar with:

Ese caso de Westminster es the most crucial thing that could have happened to

Mexican Americans; por ese caso estamos right here.22

One could argue that linguistically speaking, this teacher used an intra and intersentential

codeswitching double combination (Soltero-Gonzales, et al, 2012) and the switch to

English in both instances is due to her need to emphasize the point made (“the most

21Translation:WhenItaughtSylvia&Akitomystudents,theteachersdidn’tlikethefactthatIwasteachingthehistorybilingualteachersdon’tknow,like(issuesof)immigration.It’simportantforstudentstolearnhowchildreninCaliforniaweresuffering.TheWestminstercaseisthemostcrucialthingthatcouldhavehappenedtoMexicanAmericans.That’swhywe’rerighthere.Itoldmystudents;“youknow,Ididn’tknowaboutthis,nobodytaughtmethis.Youneedtoeducateyourself.”Buttheteachersaroundmedidn’tthinkitwasnecessary.They’dsay:“you’remakingthemnotlikeithereintheUSA.”In4thgradeweteachthehistoryofTexasandItoldthem:“youhavetobereallycarefulwiththestoryofTexas,yoursources.”I’mnotafraidtotellthemthatbookscanbeinaccuratebutmycolleagueswouldtellme:“whyareyoucontradictingthetextbooks?”22ThatWestminstercaseisthemostcrucialthingthatcouldhavehappenedtoMexican-Americans;becauseofthatcasewe’rerighthere

106

crucial,” “right here”). However, the frequency of those switches in the whole

interview—switches I reciprocated eagerly—made me aware of the unmarkedness as

instances of such abound; the boundaries between languages were erased and that feature

became the norm (Bailey, 2007; Otheguy, García & Reid, 2015).

A more specific vignette about language rights was provided during session ten.

This vignette complemented the articles and assignments, which examined the promotion

of additive bilingualism and school integration. The students engaged in conversations

about their emerging understanding of translanguaging and language status. To expand

the ideas presented in this class, I showed them a vignette that deals with the use of

translanguaging practices in an elementary class and the push back from some bilingual

teachers to the complete separation of language in a double monolingual stance. The

teacher behind the vignette concluded that this language practice was widespread in

Texas, therefore, a legitimate means of communication in the classroom;

Algunos maestros bilingües se oponían a que se mezclaran los idiomas. Ellos, por

haber venido de un país donde se habla español, le decían a sus estudiantes: “no

los mezcles; no me dañen ni el uno ni el otro.” No era justo decirle eso a un niño

que está creciendo con dos idiomas que se limite a uno. Si traen dos idiomas, que

las usen como ellos más les convenga, eso no es un daño. Por ejemplo, ayer uno

de mis niños estaba haciendo un escrito sobre la lucha libre. El escribió “my

family like lucha libre;” no va escribir wrestling porque no es tan significativo

para él porque es la palabra que usa todo el tiempo. No hay ningún problema con

107

que ellos mezclan los idiomas pero uno necesita darse cuenta que es algo propio

de Texas pues aceptarlo como parte de la cultura23.

This teacher, an adult immigrant from Latin America, admitted having previously

engaged in language separation in the classroom and used to believe that mixing

languages would damage students’ language development. Unlike the previous teacher,

the author of vignette 10 used mostly Spanish in his interview, which indexes his comfort

using Spanish as his preferred means of communication.

This is the mise en scene in which this study took place. The setting, the

preparation program, the participants’ voices and intentions coming from particular life

trajectories are pieces of the tapestry sewn together with my own voice and my intentions

that reflected the kind of research, pedagogy and materials I brought to the table. Soon I

found out that merging all these different pieces together brought a certain dissonance

that required changes and adjustments from all the participants and myself. The following

chapter will address the initial conflicts the participants faced as they confronted the

counterstories, the use of their bodies as a means for sharing and producing knowledge,

the open language policy, and a better understanding of the challenges of becoming

bilingual teachers.

23Translation:Someteachersopposedthemixingoflanguages.They,asimmigrantsofSpanish-speakingcountries,wouldtelltheirstudents:“don’tmixthem,don’tdamageeitherofthem.”Iwasnotfairtotellachildwhowasgrowingupwithtwolanguagestoonlyuseone.Iftheybringtwolanguages,theyshouldusethemastheyseefit;that’snotdamage.Forexample,yesterday,oneofmystudentswaswritingaboutwrestling.Hewrote“myfamilyloves‘luchalibre’,”he’snotgoingtowritewrestlingbecauseit’smeaninglessforhimbecauseheusesthatphrase(inSpanish)allthetime.Thereisnoproblemistheymixlanguagesbutoneneedstobeawarethatthat’saTexanpractice,soyouneedtoacceptitaspartoftheculture.

108

Chapter Four

Initial Confrontations: Adjusting Texts for Performance

Hoy en la mañana tuvimos una discusión porque estábamos buscando educadores

bilingües en mi escuela pero resulta que a la mayoría de los niños en clases

bilingues se les ha sido enseñado solamente en inglés el año pasado. Entonces,

varios del comité decían: “para qué necesitamos un maestro bilingüe!

Contratemos un maestro monolingüe porque el año pasado les enseñaron todo en

inglés.” Terminé saliendo de la reunión porque esas personas eran gente con

mente cerrada. Muchos de estos niños tienen un gran potencial pero por el hecho

de que no tienen el inglés o que la escuela no visualiza el bilingüismo como una

ventaja, terminan siendo estigmatizados. (Vignette week 2, September 4, 20141)

The participants prepared for this second session by reading the first two chapters

of the official texbook on both pluralist and assimilationist linguistic discourses that

permeates public education (deJong, 2011) and an article pertaining to the cognitive

differences between bilinguals and monolinguals (Bialystok, 2009). During class time,

the participants worked in groups and created posters in which they enumerated the

1Translation:Todayinthemorningwehadadiscussionbecausewewerelookingforbilingualteachersatmyschool,butwhathappensisthatmostofthechildreninbilingualclasseshadbeentaughtonlyinEnglishlastyear.So,manyofthecommitteememberswouldsay:“whydoweneedabilingualteacher!Let’shirea(English)monolingualteacherbecausewetaughtthemeverythinginEnglish.”Iendedupleavingthemeetingbecausethesepeopleareclosed-minded.Manyofthesechildrenhadagreatpotentialbutthefactthattheydon’tspeakEnglishorthattheschooldon’tseebilingualismasanadvantage,theyendupbeingstigmatized

109

arguments for and against bilingualism and engaged in group and whole class discussion

of what this meant for them. Illustration 4.1 and 4.2 are examples of some class-

generated posters. The participants created the ones illustrated below on September 4th

2014 before the reenactments of the vignette above.

Illustration 4.1 One of the class-generated poster in favor of bilingualism

As the whole class expressed their own experiences to illustrate the points of the

articles read in the class, it was clear that they agreed on certain points and had hope for

future changes. For instance, they agreed on the normalization of English as the language

of power, with the consequence of the marginalization of speakers of other languages.

Paola pointed out that she felt that speaking Spanish as their first language in the US was

like a disability. Luis went beyond this simile stating that speaking English was not a

guarantee of future success, such as access to well-remunerated jobs and retirement, and

110

Illustration 4.2 One of the class-generated poster against bilingualism

freedom. It could be argued that at this point this session—30 minutes before the end—

was a “success” since the research analysis, the textbook, and their lived experiences

aligned perfectly. This was the point in which I showed the class vignette #1 (shown

above) with the story of a male teacher. The story shows, in spite of working in a school

in which a dual language program was purportedly being implemented, this male teacher

disclosed that English was, in fact, the language of instruction. Owing to this, the school

search committee was amenable to hiring a mainstream teacher instead of a bilingual

teacher for the following year, despite the protests of the male teacher who witnessed the

development of the conversation. The teacher finished his narrative by denouncing the

injustice of this practice that further stigmatizes emergent bilingual students within the

dual language program in which he works.

111

After having one of the participants read it aloud for the class, we started the

reenactment of the vignette. As Boal proposed, the participants were to jump from being

acquainted with the story to action almost immediately. Since the better part of the

session was devoted to create posters based on the findings in the research they analyzed,

and the textbook, the arguments were visible for them around the classroom so they could

review them whenever they wished during the reenactments. After agreeing on the

number of characters for the role play four participants volunteered to be the first to move

towards the blackboard, which became the stage throughout the sessions. Luis, Zully,

Isabel and Ursula stepped on stage; Luis was the teacher protagonist and the rest played

the search committee. After making sure the participants understood their motivations, I

reminded them to use the languages they preferred, encouraging them to also use Spanish

and English as they wished.

In order to show the dialogue during the reenactments, I used Jonsson (2005) and

Marin (2007) as models to shape the analysis and reporting of the reenactments. Both

scholars use a format that resembles theatrical scripts for writing up discourse analysis of

language features in Chicano theater and turn-taking (Jonsson, 2005), and to employ

artistic methods of reporting Boalian work (Marin, 2007). As a traditional theatrical

script, Marin capitalizes the characters and centers the dialogues. Marin argues this

format “combines the artistic elements of theatre techniques with the rigor of qualitative

research methods” (p. 87). I modified the theatrical script by capitalizing the names of the

participants instead as I analyze the embodiment of the characters they played, and—like

Jonsson—added the number that corresponds to the turns in the dialogue in parenthesis.

112

Performance 1, September 4th, 2014

(1) LUIS PROTAGONIST (Luis):

Como estaba diciendo, mi meta es más contratar a un maestro bilingüe para el próximo año así que no sé qué piensan ustedes…

(2) URSULA ¿Para qué necesitamos maestros bilingües, el año pasado enseñamos puro inglés? (Pause)

(3) LUIS Vamos a cambiar; lo que vamos hacer es…la educación bilingüe es muy importante

porque… este… (4) ISABEL

Pero, pero luego nomás se van a confundir (5) LUIS

Pero, ¿qué se van a confundir? Van a aprender más (6) ISABEL

Se van a confundir los lenguajes. Digo no van a hacer (overlap) (7) LUIS

es parte del aprendizaje para los estudiantes; estás incorporando dos lenguas (8) ISABEL

(laughter in the classroom) Sí, pero luego van a tomar el STAAR test que es todo en inglés y se van a confundir. Y que tal si ellos piensan en…

(9) LUIS Sí, pero para eso se practica. Tenemos un currículo en inglés y en español

(10) URSULA (committee member 1) ¿Pero vamos a tener suficiente tiempo para practicar y tenemos que estar enseñando en

español y en inglés? (11) LUIS

(covering his face) ay; ya me callaste (louder laughter in the classroom)2

2Translation:(1)Luis:asIwassaying,mygoalistohireabilingualteachernextyearsoIdon’tknowwhatyouthink…(2)Ursula:Whatdoweneedbilingualteachersfor,lastyearwetaughtonlyinEnglish(pause)(3)Luis:we’regoingtochange,whatwe’regoingtodois…bilingualeducationisveryimportantbecause…er...(4)Isabel:butthenthey’llgetconfused(5)Luis:theywon’t,they’lllearnmore(6)Isabel:They’llconfusethelanguages.Imean,they’renot(overlap)(7)Luis:it’spartofstudents’learning;you’reincorporatingtwolanguages(8)Isabel:(laughterintheclassroom)Yes,butthenthey’lltakeSTAARtestandit’sinEnglishandthey’llgetconfused.Whatiftheythinkthat...(9)Luis:butthat’swhyyouneedtopractice.WehaveacurriculuminEnglishandSpanish(10)Ursula:WillwehaveenoughtimetopracticeifweneedtoteachinEnglishandSpanish?(11)Luis(placedhishandsonhisface)oh,youjustshotmedown(louderlaughterintheclassroom)

113

The reenactment above showed the difficulties Luis had as he tried to articulate

arguments in favor of hiring a bilingual teacher instead of a mainstream teacher, in spite

of the posters in display in the classroom and the discussions we had had both in the

classroom and in the interactive discussion forum online system. For Isabel and Ursula it

seemed to be easier to bring up more arguments against bilingualism in the classroom.

Arguments in favor of hiring a mainstream teacher—such as language confusion, state

tests requirements, and time constraints—were more accessible (turns 2, 4, 6, 8), and one

might argue more memorable than the ones in favor of hiring a bilingual teacher. Luis

stated that bilingual education was important though he did not manage to elaborate this

claim further (turn 3) in spite of the posters at hand and recent discussion. It was clear

that while intellectually Luis was aware of the advantages of being bilingual, he was

unable to incorporate this knowledge yet into his own discourse during an argument even

when those arguments supported his beliefs. When queried about this instance and after

watching the video of this intervention, Luis explained:

I don’t think I have much experience as far as in the field of education, that’s why

I couldn’t respond a lot in Casos de la Vida Real. I only responded whenever I

had already read the articles. (Interview, January 30th, 2015)

It is interesting to note that even when Luis read, discussed and wrote about the

articles—he was knowledgeable enough about this topic that it could have helped him in

the reenactment—he felt he was unable to articulate them because of lack of experience

and knowledge. Luis tried to respond to his classmates’ claims without much elaboration

114

but false starts. In turn 5, Luis could not address Isabel’s concern of further confusion to

then claim that confusion was part of learning (turn 6). He ended up defending without

being able to construct a concrete argument for hiring a bilingual colleague, leaving him

in a position of powerlessness, as he could not address the issue. This was clear when he

attempted to respond to the antagonists concerned related to confusion and the pressure

of standardized tests (turn 6, 8) with the need for more practice (turn 9). Ursula quickly

shot down this attempt, forcing Luis to admit defeat both physically (covering his face)

and verbally (“ya me callaste”) as he could not recall more arguments that would help

him continue the debate (turn 11)

During this reenactment follow-up, when asked their opinions of Luis’

performance, the audience pointed out that though they believed he made good points, his

intervention was not convincing. Different participants volunteered to replace Luis as the

protagonist of this vignette using different arguments .For instance, Luz claimed bilingual

teachers should exert their agency to be policy makers in the classroom as they know best

the needs of their students;

LUZ Pero la ley no sabe todo lo que hacemos. El maestro es el que está en

el salón, no el que hizo la ley. El maestros es el que sabe lo que necesitan3.

Ganiva resorted to reminding the rest of the search committee members of their

presumingly similar goals as bilingual teachers as she tried to appeal to their vocation to

serve emergent bilingual students;

3Butpolicymakersdon’tknowwhatwedo.Theteacheristheoneintheclassroom,notthepolicymakers.Theteacheristheonewhoknowswhat(thestudents)need.

115

GANIVA Pero tienes que pensar en tu meta como maestro bilingüe. Qué quieres para tus

estudiantes? Te estás preocupando4? When asked their opinions about Luz’s and Ganiva’s interventions, the audience agreed

that they were not as powerful as the argument against. Milagros, for instance, argued

that “this is how the educational system is” implying that neither vocation nor agency

could change top-down mandates that permeate the classroom.

The initial performances and their outcomes illustrate several issues the

participants had as they tried to reconcile the different voices they were exposed to and

that were about to materialize on stage in this early phase. This chapter describes the

initial issues they encountered during the process, which include

1. A shift in the legitimacy of texts, from the official voices of experts to counter-

stories in the struggles of bilingual educators through Casos de la Vida Real in

order to explore the reality of bilingual education at a local level.

2. A shift in medium of communication; from rhetoric to actual doing through the

body—through Theater of the Oppressed—as a different form of communication

in academia.

3. A shift in learning focus, from getting acquainted with principal theories,

principles and policies in bilingual education to a dynamization of such

knowledge in real-life situations.

4. A shift in language of power in higher education; from English as the hegemonic

4Butyouneedtothinkaboutyourgoalsasabilingualteacher.Whatdoyouwantforyourstudents?Areyouconcernedaboutthem?

116

language of academia perpetuated through the majority of materials for the class

to English, Spanish and Espanglish as the main language of instruction.

5. A shift in their understanding of their roles as bilingual teachers, as they start to

identify and see themselves in the protagonists and antagonists they performed or

witnessed, which requires communication and negotiations skills.

I will now describe the following initial shifts in the rest of this chapter intertwined with

performances, post-performance debriefings, and reflections by the participants.

SHIFT IN LEGITIMACY OF TEXTS

A éste maestro lo conozco desde hace tiempo. Vive en el sur de la ciudad, y esta

es parte de su vida como maestro bilingüe (Researcher, introducing a vignette,

September 18, 2014)5

In Chapter Three, I described the inclusion of counterstories of experienced

bilingual teachers in form of vignettes as a vital element in the classroom included to

dynamize the learning of the course content using a real-life scenario. I presented these

narratives thirty minutes before the end of the class and I introduced them by stating that

the narrator is an actual bilingual teacher who is working or has worked in the same area

where the university is located, who they may or may not know,6 that I have met them

personally, and that some of them were my friends. The purpose of this introduction was

5Translation:Ihaveknownthisteacherforalongtime.Helivesinthesouthofthecityandthisispartofhislifeasabilingualteacher6Twooftheclassroomsselectedforstudentstoobservebelonged,infact,totwooftheteachersIhadinterviewedforthevignettes.Thisinformationwasdisclosedtothestudents.

117

to make the students aware that the stories had a human face, a human face that lived and

breathed in the same city, and not stories that took place in a different time and different

place. In a nutshell, my goal was to make these stories as close and personal as possible

to hit home, or as Sarita put it, “witness direct experience” (interview, February 16th

2015). These stories hit home for me; I witnessed these teachers while they narrated their

stories to me; I witnessed their pain, impotence and outrage while I was recording them.

While a power point slide containing their vignettes would never do justice to the way

they were narrated, introducing them the way I chose to do provided a glimpse of the

genuine nature of the situations shown. My status as the instructor of the class and the

witness of the narratives afforded me with credibility in two accounts: 1) the narrator

existed nearby; 2) the story was real. However, what allowed these vignettes to be

accepted as legitimate text in the class was the proximity of these teachers to the

participants in terms of identity, culture, profession, and location. This proximity meant

for the students that they could potentially be the protagonist of similar stories, unlike

narratives within textbooks, articles and research papers:

Whenever we read stories in articles, we’re like “oh yeah, this happened” and turn

the page. But when we’re actually playing, we see ourselves in the classroom

because it happened there and it can happen to us in a few years so it makes it

more real (Luz, interview, February 16th, 2015)

I think it opened my eyes, especially the fact that you knew these people and they

live not far away. It’s relevant to you. I think the fact a lot of the times you told us

they were teachers in the school district, we were just “OMG, we need to come up

118

with something;” that could be us, what are we gonna say?” (Luis, interview,

January 30th, 2015)

The vignettes as legitimate texts in the class also bridged the intellectual and the

emotional/personal. As the students engaged when reading the official texts containing

research, facts, data, and examples, the narratives pushed them to a different arena in

which research, language ideologies, program implementation, and educational laws

concretized and the students could witness the real outcomes/consequences at a micro

level from the point of the bilingual teacher experience. Most of the time, the students

developed identification with the situation and the protagonist—even though the students

had not experienced it first hand—possibly due to the development of their own emergent

identities as bilingual teachers. Ana Maria, for instance, identified with the narrator

bilingual teacher in such a way that she was convinced by the veracity of the account she

could “feel” what it was like, which empowered her to empathize with the protagonist of

the vignette;

You feel it more to heart when you feel it more in person when someone says I

just saw that. You feel it present, someone in your life; when I read it in the book

it’s kind of far away, I kind of have to imagine it in my head and be able to see.

(interview, February 16th, 2015)

SHIFT IN MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION

From the beginning of the sessions, the participants’ bodies were made visible

during the reenactments, thus vulnerable. The participants who volunteered to intervene

119

in the vignettes were not only exposed to the audience’s scrutiny but also to the two

cameras in the classroom recording every movement (and a stranger to the classroom

manipulating one of them). It was no wonder they looked for ways to feel more at ease in

front of the class. A way they showed their need to feel less vulnerable was their constant

holding their own hands and fidgeting (Illustration 4.3); hiding behind the desk

(Illustration 4.4), and bringing some props to the stage (Illustration 4.5).

Illustration 4.3 Fidgeting

Illustration 4.4 Antoinette hiding behind the desk while Ana Maria speaks

120

There were some instances in this initial stage in which the participants used

props to distract attention away from themselves on stage. Ganiva, for instance, brought a

stool to the middle of the stage and sat down during her intervention without any

justification, which made the prop ineffective (Picture 4.5). However, there were other

instances in which the use of props enhanced the embodiment on stage. For instance, in

Picture 4.6, Antoinette grabbed a backpack to better embody the bilingual student who

was to be transferred to a mainstream classroom due to her high grades in math and

sciences but who may not have been ready linguistically:

“Me di cuenta de que pensaban hacer la transición de clases bilingues a solo

inglés comenzando con el tercer grado y me desesperaba que los estudiantes más

listos que estuvieron conmigo en segundo los ponían en tercero a tomar el

examen en inglés. Recuerdo a una niña en específico y les decía ‘¿por qué me la

sacan a ella del programa bilingue? Ella tenía todas las bases académicas en las

matemáticas y ciencias y yo decía ‘dejenla que siga en el programa bilingüe y

que más adelante se puede transferir.’Y yo no sabía nada de teoría pero para mí

se me hacía lógico que no la transicionaran todavía7” (Vignette week 4,

September 18th, 2014).

Here the participants insisted on the inclusion of the child in the scene even though in the 7Translation:IrealizedthattheywerethinkingabouttransitioningfrombilingualclassestoEnglish-onlystartingthirdgradeandIfeltdesperatebecausethebrighteststudentsthatItaughtinsecondgradewouldbeplacedinmainstreamthirdgradetotaketheexamsinEnglish.IrememberthisgirldistinctlyandIwouldtellthem“whydoyouwanttogetherourofthebilingualprogram?Shehadalltheacademicfoundationsinmathandscience”andIwouldsay“letherstayinthebilingualprogramandlateronyoucantransferher.”AndIdidn’tknowtheorybuttomeitwaslogicalnottotransferher.

121

end they realized this character was the one who was heard the least. By putting on the

backback, Antoinette (and in a later intervention, Luz) attempted to put herself in

someone else’s shoes, adjusting her voice and posture to represent a second grade girl in

the middle of a dilemma the actual girl may have not witnessed herself. It is important to

notice that there was no hint of

Illustration 4.5 Ganiva using stool as a prop

Illustration 4.6 Antoinette using a backpack as a prop

122

mockery on the presentation of the child; this character was represented as a shy child

afraid to talk in front of adults but who would voice her opinion when asked. This was

the first attempt any of the participants tried to become the other based on the

participant’s analysis of how that character might be presented. More difficult to imagine

proved to be the embodiment of a teacher and to imagine how to “be” the teacher during

the reenactments. During the reenactment of the vignette programmed for week 3

(September 11th 2014), Ana María and Ursula (picture 4.4) showed how their posture

changed when using research to back up their points against watered-down Spanish in the

bilingual class:

(1) ANA MARIA I mean we have seen students that use their primary language and their second language

to make connections to be able to learn the other one. With this, their knowledge and skill levels get higher and higher (overlap)

(2) LUZ And there is research to prove that students who have strong foundation in their native language they are going to use that language to help transfer the information into other

language as English. Honestly, as teachers we are going to help them transfer that information but it would be easier for the students to learn to understand the concept, to

understand the language, the use cognates and false cognates.

Both Ana María and Ursula used their body and hands to convey the authority they had

not only as teachers (note the straight up posture) but the authority they had due to their

knowledge of research to back up their response. Their use of academic discourse in their

responses and arguments is notable, albeit in English. The overlap signaled Ana María

and Ursula’s eagerness to make their point because at this point in the semester these

concepts had become familiar to them. During an interview (February 16th 2015), Luz

recalled the moment in which the internalization of content knowledge enhanced her

123

confidence as sessions progressed:

(1) LUZ The first few pieces I was like I need to hit someone, but after I was more like, ok now I know there is research and stuff and I was a little bit more calm because of the practice

(2) RESEARCHER Were you more calm because of the practice or because of the knowledge?

(3) LUZ Both of them

As time progressed the participants became more focused on embodying the teacher the

way Ana María and Ursula did during their intervention: their posture, poise, register and

discourse during Casos de la Vida Real. The more they rehearsed their new roles and new

voices as their own, the more they discovered where they stood in the reenactments.

SHIFT IN LEARNING FOCUS

The use of reenactments proved to be a shift in the way students engaged in

learning by connecting the theory they read in the official textbook and articles to bridge

that knowledge to a practical application beyond teacher-led IRE questioning (Initiate-

Response-Evaluate; Cazden, 1988), an essay or an exam. In this manner, the learning

focus stopped being how much knowledge of the content of the class they could recall in

order to complete a written assignment/ test and pass a class. Instead, the learning focus

became how effectively they could put knowledge into practice in a highly contextualized

situation in which they should defend their position without having to resort to grading as

a motivation/reward.

This learning focus shift, however, was a slow process that took some time to take

off. During the initial sessions participants presented difficulties in including the

124

arguments on the posters they designed themselves into the performance of Casos de la

Vida Real, including the pros and cons of bilingualism, and the advantages of bilingual

education during the reenactments of the vignettes, points they repeatedly utilized during

classroom conversations and online discussion forums. The transcription of the early

sessions shows up to four attempts on my part to create the connection between the

vignette, the book, the article and the posters by asking them to turn to them for ideas.

These reminders peaked during the third session. The class-generated posters were visible

during these sessions so the participants could use them as a resource during the

reenactments.

The information in the posters did make their way into the post-performance

discussions. The post performance discussions provided a time for the participants to

analyze the role play, what did or did not work out, and whether the interventions were

effective or not. According to Boal’s rules for Forum Theater, whenever the audience

suggests an idea, he or she is invited to the stage to do the intervention instead of talking

about the intervention as a way to use the body to communicate knowledge. Similar to

Boal’s Forum Theater, after each reenactment, the participants—both the audience and

the actors—engaged in post-performance discussions in order to debrief the actual

reenactment. During the initial stages of the research, I noticed the students engaged in

two kinds of modes to approach the debriefings. I call the first one “sitting-down

arguments” (SDA), instances in which the participants came up with arguments during

the debriefings but declined trying them out on stage. An early example of SDA

happened during week 4. After an intervention, as the Joker I opened the conversation on

125

views about the role-play. Jenny and Ana Maria, the actresses, were still on stage, while

the audience, or spectactors, remained in the shoe horse seating position while providing

feedback.

Post performance debriefing, September 4th, 2014

(1) URSULA

Leí en un artículo que decía que muchos estudiantes bilingües están más avanzados en ciertas cosas que los monolingües8, so you (looking at Luz and Ganiva) can use that

(2) GANIVA We have done readings where it says that if you improve your native language ultimately

it will help you gain literacy in your second language more than ‘oh I kind of know English and kind of know Spanish.’

(3) ANA MARIA (referring to Jenny) I think that if she would have elaborated in that level and research, I

think she would have made a great point to the person who was saying ‘take off Spanish.’

Though students displayed certain knowledge and understanding of the course

content, they still struggled to connect such knowledge with a practical application

through the reenactments. The use of SDAs was a first step to shift from demonstration

of knowledge in a traditional way by providing arguments they learned in class during the

debriefings but without taking the risk of acting them out in a reenactment. For instance,

Ursula and Ganiva showed their knowledge of research in favor of bilingualism and its

advantages by using some conclusions of Bialystok (2009, turn 1) and Cummins (de

Jong, 2011; turn 2). Beyond having the right answers, in order to be able “win” the

argument in vignette 1 the reenactments required more strategic thought about the context

8Translation:Ireadanarticlethatstatedthatmostbilingualstudentsaremoreadvancedincertainaspectsthanmonolingualssoyou(lookingatLuzandGaniva)canusethat

126

of the argument, the positionality of each party involved, the delivery, and rapport.

A second approach of debriefing was through “practical performance feedback”

(PPF). The participants engaged in PPF every time they referred to the way the

performers on stage delivered their arguments and provided feedback on ways to improve

the delivery of such intervention. Using the same exchange above as example, Ana Maria

provided the first PPF of the research by suggesting that Jenny elaborate more on her

point by using the research they viewed during that session (turn 3).

(3) ANA MARIA (referring to Jenny) I think that if she would have elaborated in that

level and research, I think she would have made a great point to the person who was saying ‘take off Spanish.’

Another example of PPF is related to the how the protagonist was perceived due to the

delivery of the argument. This PPF is related to tone, posture and wording that may

provide the protagonist a boost in the credibility of his/her argumentation and its

effectiveness. One example of this PPF comes from session four, in which Ursula

discusses the way Zully’s tone was received by the audience in spite of agreeing with her

(turn 3).

I also noticed that another obstacle the participants faced when trying to move

towards a practical application of knowledge through their bodies and performances was

related to the kind of skills required to communicate knowledge to others and keep

dialogues open through negotiation. During the reenactments, the participants would use

the resources within their reach learned at home, school, and/or in community settings.

Those influences were concretized in their interventions and the outcomes. Luz, for

127

example, explained that their family’s introversion and lack of physical display of

affection prevented her from speaking her mind and so she kept silent;

If I were in a confrontation, I may not say anything but then in my own head I

have this whole argument but I don’t say to the person; I keep it inside. That’s my

parents too, we’re not a family that like “love you, I’m going to hug you”. I mean,

we love each other but we’re not a hugging family (interview, February 16, 2015)

Luz’ experience rejected the stereotype of the affectionate Mexican-American family,

and the use of physical affection to demonstrate love. In contrast, Sarita explained that

because of having been raised in a Mexican-American family, that happened to be the

opposite of Luz’, her communication style consisted of trying to maintain important

relationships while at the same time, keeping her objectives in mind;

When I would do Casos, especially about family, I think I take a caring demeanor

because I feel you can get more when people feel you’re on their side. I was in

business and marketing class at school, we’d do this presentations in front of

businessmen and we had to sell our ideas and I’d always be very complimentary

‘oh, I like it, where did you get your tie, sir?” you know, to get on their nice side

to sell my idea. Me and my dad were very close, and I lived with my grandma and

she would always give me hugs and feed my heart with food, and my dad too,

very affectionate. So I learned in those formative years to kill them with kindness

(interview, February 16th, 2015)

Some other students drew from their experiences in both high school and post-secondary

studies in order to communicate with others should confrontation arise. Ana Maria

128

reminisced about her high school classes that were geared towards learning

communication skills to prepare them for college life. She role-played scenarios in which

she and her classmates were in dilemmas that they may encounter at university; much

like Casos de la Vida Real;

In my high school they taught me all these strategies when we tried to prove a

point. They taught me everything I needed to go before going (to college). So we

were not just dumped in the water without learning how to swim. They taught us

about alcohol poisoning, we had lessons over and over; we had classes on

financial aid, on loans, how to react if these situations come, in that sense we did

Casos de la Vida Real (interview, January 30th, 2015)

Ana Maria’s communications skills learned before entering the bilingual teacher

preparation program showed during their participation in the reenactments. Several

students—half-joking-half-serious—admitted they “wanted to be like Ana Maria,” and

complained (again, jokingly) they did not want to have to argue in opposition to her in

the reenactments; or tried to convince her to play for their team, all of these amid laughter

during post-performance debriefings. Sarita, for instance, disclosed that she waited until

Ana Maria had taken part in the reenactments to gather courage to go in front as she

regarded her as a model to follow in this aspect due to her confidence. What made Ana

Maria ideal model in the eyes of the rest of their classmates? What are the skills she had

that the rest of the participants coveted? Next chapter deals with these questions as the

participants of this study deconstructed their participation during post-performance

debriefings.

129

The experiential and practical nature of this shift in learning focus occurred

gradually as the students became more invested in the outcomes of their participation in

the reenactments; be it as an actor on stage or as spectactors in the audience. The

participants moved from SDA to PFF gradually as they became more concerned about

the way they delivered their arguments during the reenactments for greater impact. This

progression provided opportunities for students to offer support through feedback, ideas,

and coaching; thus developing those skills further as they saw them enacted and modeled

for them during the post-performance debriefings. Further modifications of Forum

Theater in later stages of this study enhanced this feature. I will elaborate on these

modifications—which proved crucial for the participants and the research—in chapter 6.

SHIFT IN LANGUAGE OF POWER

The participants had strong opinions towards the kind of linguistic discourses they

were exposed to at schools as they recalled how they were regarded and labeled. They

connected the readings and their lived experiences as they also recalled instances in

which relatives or friends were defeated in their attempt to use Spanish due to linguicism

and feelings of inferiority:

Tengo un primo que hablaba muy bien en español, cuando éramos niños siempre

hablabamos en español, pero ahora le cuesta trabajo hablar su primer idioma

porque en la escuela y con sus amigos solo habla en inglés. Es triste porque él no

practicó su idioma nativo y ahora ya no lo sabe hablar con facilidad (Guadalupe,

130

written reflection, September 17th 2014) 9

“I have been in several situations where I felt like I was being judged for speaking

in Spanish. It made me feel like I was less and this has probably happened to

others” (Enrique, written reflection, September 17th 2014)

Some others were able to make connections with their stories and issues of discrimination

and racism at a societal level:

Desde que éramos pequeñas, a mi prima hermana le daba pena hablar en español

porque decía no era un idioma ‘importante.’10 I think that many people do not

think anything unusual of it because the English language and “culture” has

become such a big influence in our country and internationally. Since it is seen as

the norm, other cultures and languages are often seen as inferior. The negative

impressions from society (discrimination, racism, sexism etc.) that impact these

cultures usually lead to a cultural and language loss. (Roxana, written reflection,

September 10th 2014)

As mentioned before, in the classroom the participants were allowed to use the language

in which they felt more comfortable, and to use all their language varieties, not only

during the time of instruction but during the reenactments as well. In session 2, the

participants used Spanish as the main language during the reenactments. In the first

performance in week 2, out of thirteen turns, twelve were in Spanish and one was a

9Translation:IhaveacousinthatwouldspeakSpanishverywell,askidswewouldspeakSpanish,butnowit’shardforhimtospeakhisfirstlanguagebecauseatschoolandwithhisfriendsheonlyspeaksEnglish.It’ssadbecausehedidn’tpracticehisnativelanguageandnowhecan’tspeakiteasily10Translation:sincewewerechildren,mycousinwasashamedofspeakingSpanishbecauseshe’ssayitwasn’tan‘important’language.

131

codeswitch . Isabel introduced the phrase “STAAR test” (turn 8) in the middle of her

turn, which was done completely in Spanish. One could argue that she codeswitched as a

crutch (Zentella, 1997) since it appears she did not recall or was not aware of the

translation of this phrase.. In session three, the exclusive use of Spanish as the language

of Casos de la Vida real shifted to a bit more fluid variety;

Performance 1, September 11th 2014

(1) ANA MARIA

So como maestros bilingües yo creo que nosotros debemos enseñar el español pero no tenemos que implementarlo mucho. Aunque le estamos enseñando los tenses está muy bien pero debemos poner una que otra palabra cuando estamos dando instrucción para

enseñarles en español pero no hay que darle tanta importancia. Al final tenemos que los estudiantes sepan el inglés y que ellos salgan del escuela escuela sabiendo inglés y

mejorar más con los años que vengan. (2) SARITA

Yo tengo una pregunta; si estamos enseñando nada más lo básico, no crees que no le estamos dando las herramientas necesarias para hablarlo bien? o sea, si necesitan una

palabra y si esta palabra no es permitida en el contexto que la debe usar sino que es más formal el contexto, no crees que dándole nada más que lo básico, no vas a tener otro

recurso? (3) ANA MARIA

Yo creo que con lo básico los estudiantes van estar bien, para qué tener que empujarlos que sepan el español? con el inglés van a avanzar bien a los años que vienen, van a hacer

bien en el colegio para poder comunicarse con otras personas11. 11Translation(1)AnaMaria:So,asbilingualteachersIthinkweneedtoteachSpanishbutweshouldimplementittoomuch.Thoughwe’reteachingthemthetenses,it’sok,butweshouldaddsomewordshereandtherewhenwe’reteachinginSpanishbutitshouldn’tmattermuch.IntheendweneedthestudentstolearnEnglishandthattheygraduateknowingEnglishandthattheyimprovemorewithtime.(2)Sarita:Ihaveaquestion:ifwe’reonlyteachingthebasics,don’tyouthinkwe’renotgivingthemthetoolstospeakitwell?Imean,iftheyneedawordandifthatwordisnotallowedinthecontextbecauseit’saformalcontext,don’tyouthinkifwe’regivingthemthebasicsonly,theywon’thaveanyresources?notepermiteusarlosinoqueesmásformalelcontextoynopuededecirlo,nocreesquedándolenadamásquelobásico,novasatenerotrorecurso?(3)AnaMaria:Ithinkthestudentswillbeokwiththebasics,whyshouldwepushthentolearnspanish?They’lladvancewithEnglishthefollowingyears,they’lldogoodatuniversityandwe’llbe

132

Ana María uses the conjunction “so” to preface her performance in Spanish (turn 1). In

her second sentence in the same turn she chose to using the word “tenses” in lieu of its

translation in Spanish (“tiempos”). Both shifts may be attributed to an easier accessibility

to those terms. “So” is more flexible that its translation “entonces,” which is not

completely appropriate for this instance, being “por lo tanto,” o “es por eso” more

accurate but more difficult to recall. The word “tiempos” is a specialized word in

Spanish, which requires the speaker to know its different meanings: time, grammatical

tense, and weather. Ana María might have shifted to English due to a lack of accessibility

to that word. In another instance, Ana María engaged in a literal translation of “he’s

going to do fine at university” in Spanish because “va a hacer bien” is an acceptable

phrase in Tex-Mex (turn 3).

After this performance, Ana Maria noticed her language shifts and ended up

apologizing for them, even though all the participants were allowed to use all their

language repertoires. After this session, Ana Maria avoided language shifts starting

session 3. Coincidently, it is in this session, that one of the participants—with the support

of other students—requested using English in the reenactments as she found it difficult to

translate in her mind educational terms to Spanish. After this request, in comparison to

session 2—when Casos de la Vida Real started—the reenactments in session three and

four were conducted mostly in English. Figure 4.1 illustrates the language shift during the

abletocommunicatewithotherpeople

133

reenactments in these sessions.

Figure 4.1 Language practices during reenactments: sessions 2-4

Like, Jonsson (2005), and her work on codeswitching in Chicano theater, my

analysis is based on turn taking instead of sentence as a unit as it is resembles more the

role-playing nature of the reenactments. I counted as codeswitching any turn in which the

students engaged in the following practices: intra and intersentential switch, bidirectional

syntax transfer, combo, literal translation (Soltero et al, 2012), loan words, nativized

words, (Escamilla, 2014). For instance, in session 2, the reenactments took 29 turns, out

of which 28 were taken in Spanish and one switch (STAAR test). Session 3 showed 29

interventions as well but after students’ request to use English 25 of them were in

134

English, three in Spanish and two instances of shifting, which are

English 25 of them were in English, three in Spanish and two instances of shifting, which

are Ana María’s examples shown above. In session 4, English became the language of

Casos de la Vida Real with 33 turns in English out of 39; 4 turns in Spanish and two

shifts: an intersentential switch (“what's up sweety? Ellos quieren que estés en una una

clase sólo solamente en inglés12”) and a nativized loanword (“transicionarla a la clase de

inglés13”).

In this initial stage, the participants experienced an additional element to manage

during the reenactments and a different dilemma: decide what language to use, whether to

mix them or not, regardless of the flexible linguistic policy in place, and which language

would better convey what the participants intended to express. As shown in Figure 4.1

the participants preferred English in their interventions, sparingly using both Spanish and

Spanglish.

The fact that initially the participants preferred English as the language for Casos

de la Vida Real seems to contradict the perception of some participants who believed that

being proficient in Spanish triggered participation, as gathered in the semi-structured

conversations. After some internal inquiry within her cohort, Ana Maria shared during

her interview that the participants she talked to thought that being native Spanish speaker

triggered participation based on intuition and emotions because they knew what knowing

a second language or looking different (because of their skin color) meant in schools that

12Translation:What’supsweety?TheywantyoutobeinanEnglishonlyclass.13TransitionhertoanEnglishclass

135

followed the norm of monolinguals and what being American meant.However, Luis, who

started his schooling in the US in late elementary, reflected on the fact that confidence in

his knowledge on the topic at hand and experience dealing with similar issues—or lack

thereof—were the main factors that compelled him to take part in the reenactments; not

language. Regarded as one of the most proficient in Spanish in the classroom,, he stated

that “Para mí hubiera sido lo mismo (participating in the reenactments) porque yo todavía

no tenía tanto conocimiento y experiencia. Si hubiera hablado en inglés (during the

reenactments) no hubiera estado más fácil o mas dificil14.” (interview, February 16, 2015)

Ana Maria’s inquiry and Luis’ account showed that higher language proficiency

in Spanish seemed not to have been connected to higher frequency in participation. Even

for the most proficient Spanish speakers, the initial difficulty of recalling specialized

vocabulary automatically and the unfamiliarity of the discourse were determinant in their

choice to use English rather than Spanish .

Para mí era dificil traducir los términos del inglés al español, porque es fácil

hablar en español porque es mi primer idioma. Pero cuando teníamos términos

específicos que los aprendimos en inglés era dificil cómo encontrar la traducción

ahí en el momento (Ana María15 interview, January 30th 2014)

The shift in language of power was met with institutional support. While enrolled

in my class, this cohort was taking two classes that were also conducted bilingually and 14Translation:tomeitwouldhavebeenthesame(participatinginthereenactments)becauseIdidn’tknowmuchaboutitandwasinexperienced.IfIhadspokeninSpanish(duringthereenactments)itwouldn’thavebeeneasierormoredifficult)15Translation:TomeitwasdifficulttotranslatetermsfromEnglishtoSpanishbecauseit’seasiertospeakSpanishbecauseit’smyfirstlanguage.ButwhenwehadspecifictermsthatwelearnedinEnglishitwasdifficulttofindatranslationonthespot.

136

shared similar topics centered in language from several points of view. As the semester

progressed and the classes unfolded, it was the hope for this particular teaching

preparation program that the constant recycling of specialized terms pertaining to

bilingual education and second language acquisition supported students’ ability to learn

the concepts and attain a certain discourse to be able to use it in effective ways in both

languages. However, the participants initially showed resistance to this language of

power shift even though their explicit goal was to improve their language proficiency in

Spanish for professional purposes. As I conducted the class bilingually with an explicit

preference for the minoritized languages while fomenting a free classroom language

policy; the participants confronted their feelings of inadequacies in Spanish language

while experimenting and rehearsing their new voices as teachers who will instruct in that

language. The initial intimidation to use Spanish in the reenactments—even among the

students regarded as more proficient—resulted in participants’ resorting to use English as

the language of the interventions, and in some instances the initial shame of their use of

codeswitching to convey meaning on stage. Note that this was an initial response to the

language shift; the following chapters will describe the progression of their views

regarding their language practices.

SHIFT IN UNDERSTANDING ROLES

As bilingual teachers, we don't reach for richer word in Spanish. Hay maestros

que aren't teaching that. I feel that the Spanish we're teaching isn’t rich enough.

Some teachers say que no importa, con tal que enseñemos algo de español. Por

137

ejemplo, hacer que los students usen la palabra “producir” en vez de “hacer.”

We shouldn’t leave their Spanish as is but enrich it. Not all the teachers have the

same level of Spanish16. (Vignette week 2, September 4th 2014)

One of the first things this process seemed to accomplish for the participants as

they began to do the reenactments was that it provided concrete reality checks of their

pre-conceived images of their future profession. The first vignettes shown in the class

provided a contrasting version of the world as experienced by a seasoned bilingual

teacher, and a glimpse of what their professional lives might look like after graduation.

The clash of these differing images and the participants’ reaction created moments of

entropy and confusion as they were trying to make sense of what they saw whenever their

classmates took the stage. Using the poetic transcriptions approach (Leavy, 2005;

Glesne,1997) I drew from chapter 3 of this dissertation to illustrate the participants’

language practices, I created a another composite of the participants’ actual words with

dissonant ideas, confusion and attempts at sense-making during the post-performance

discussions of vignette 3 illustrate the complexities of the juxtaposition of the texts

(image of the education profession, beliefs, the vignettes, the textbook and articles, the

witnessing of the live reenactment) to which the participants were exposed.

Ser maestro no nomás es por la paga That's how the educational system is. sino que es algo que tu quieres hacer.

This is how it is in real life. 16Translation:Asbilingualteachers,wedon’treachforricherwordsinSpanish.Thereareteachersthataren’tteachingthat.IfeelthattheSpanishwe’reteachingisn’trichenough.Someteachersayitdoesn’tmatter,aslongasweteachsomeSpanish.Forexample,havestudentsusetheword“produce”insteadof“make.”Weshouldn’tleavetheirSpanishasisbutenrichit.NotalltheteachershavethesamelevelofSpanish.

138

Un maestro no puede decir I wish we valued other languages more at schools

"ay, no quiero hacer el trabajo extra and I understand that language teachers

para ayudar a este estudiante.” are supposed to include Spanish

Para eso eres maestro, ¿no? but that’s how it really is.

Si en verdad eres una maestra, I realized not all teachers are advocates

te tienes que quedar con el niño más tiempo and not all parents are going to look

y hacer más cosas con ellos for extra resources, and

para que lleguen a un buen nivel. not all parent have access to that.

I don’t think this is how I imagine teachers argue, Even some bilingual teachers don’t value

como colegas, en una escuela. their language and that is sad.

They should be working together En la escuela donde trabaja mi mamá en El Paso

together towards a common goal: hasta la secretaria tiene que meterse

improving the students’ lives. con los administradores porque

A veces vas a estar en situaciones no llegan a una decisión sin pelearse.

que tú no escogiste, nomás te pusieron. Facing confrontation Tú no tienes un say;

is part of our building character un decir; pues ni modo, ¿no?

and growing up. Don’t you have to learn to deal with it eventually?

I don’t know if had opened my eyes before.i

As mentioned in chapter three, the participants of this study enrolled in the

bilingual/bicultural education program with certain beliefs about what a bilingual teacher

should be: a second parent who integrates culture and language in a classroom with a

139

caring environment as part of his/her advocacy. The lines in italics show some of the

participants’ reactions to the reenactments: they expressed their disbelief at the way the

antagonist—in this case, a bilingual teacher—was unwilling to provide quality instruction

in Spanish since it portrayed a contrarian image of the bilingual teacher the participants

strived to become. The idealized image the participants had of the teacher during the third

session was one who would devote all their time to serve as an inherent trait of her/his

vocation (‘If you are a real teacher, you have to spend more time with the child’)

surrounded by like-minded colleagues who shared similar goals (‘working together

towards a common goal: improving the student's lives’), and who, at the same time,

lacked agency to make change (‘you don’t have a say’) in the face of challenges at

school.

The performances of the vignettes created an environment of realization that even

being certified as a teacher, the educational system would put them again at disadvantage

(‘That's how the educational system is. This is how it is in real life’). The composite

above shows some of the contradictions between what they believed to be true about

bilingual education and the stories behind the vignettes: bilingual teachers differ on their

level of involvement and commitment (‘not all teachers are advocates,’ ‘even some

bilingual teachers don’t value their language’), parents that lacked cultural capital were

marginalized (‘not all parent have access to [resources]’), and the need for well-prepared

teachers who are able to face challenges in a professional manner (‘It's part of our

building character and growing up’) as they are to enter a controversial field.

140

ADJUSTMENTS AND REALIZATIONS

During the interviews, the participants had the chance to elaborate more on their

moments of rupture and new understandings. Luz, who was one of the ones who declared

that her decision to become a bilingual teacher was due to her own schooling, explained

that the inclusion of Casos de la Vida Real was not what she initially expected her

teaching training to be, as she had this idea of her training as a set of “how to” strategies;

I thought when I came to this school that it was going to be learning techniques,

and thought that it would be like learning how to teach but then we started to read

all of these cases and the injustices against the community and suffering. I don’t

know if I had opened my eyes before when I decided to become a bilingual

teacher. (Luz, interview January 30th 2015)

it is imperative for teacher preparation programs to provide practical tools for content-

based instruction, class management, and assessment. Luz’ reflection is telling since it

portrays a generalized view of teaching as a technocratic endeavor, devoid of historic-

socio-political and cultural context and background. (Athanases & Oliveira, 2008;

Athanases & Martin, 2006; Bartolome, 1994) This viewpoint has become the main

selling point alternative routes for teaching certification and programs such as Teach for

America: a time/cost effective deal for their order of a bag of gimmicks and tricks on the

go (Dressman, 1998; Dantas-Whitney & Dugan, 2009).

The participants’ understanding of their new roles as teachers during the

rehearsals did not mean an automatic adoption of such an identity. When asked about

141

what they would do if they were in a situation for a written reflection in response to one

of the earlier vignettes that dealt with an premature transfer of a student from a bilingual

program to mainstream classes, of the twenty students’ written reflections, ten answered

this question from the teacher’s point of view, and ten assumed they were asked their

opinion as a student. Paola exemplifies the latter group;

Yo empezara a sacar malas notas en esas clases. Si esta clase me castiga en una

forma de escuela entonces nomás regreso al nivel en donde estaba cuando queria

que me quedara en una clase de ESL.17 (Paola, written reflection September 24th

2014)

In this example, Paola described feelings of helplessness, confusion, and victimization as

she wrote from the students’ point of view. Using a student’s point of view could be

attributed to the saliency of that identity in their lives. Her response may also be a

reflection of her own experiences as students, and exteriorized their lack of agency to

change such circumstances. However, Paola, also provided an attempt of resistance,

albeit reactionary (Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001). When taking the point of view of

the teacher, the participants agreed they would engage in acts of resistance. The

participants would fight to keep the student in the bilingual program and involve parents

in the decision-making process as well as utilizing research as evidence.

The use of Casos de la Vida Real in combination with the official textbook and

articles allowed for the merging of both theory and practice in which the participants

17Translation:I’dstarthavingbadgradesinclass.Ifthisclasspunishedmelikethis,I’djustpretendtogobacktothelevelIwaswhenIwasplacedinESLclasses

142

could reflect on their future selves as bilingual teachers. One of the realizations the

participants made was their need to find “nooks and crannies” in order to “tweak the

curriculum” as they understood they could make a difference in the way they created

lessons and delivered their instruction in terms of language and cultural diversity.

However, the participants were able to make connections between the topics of the

narratives—transitional bilingualism, subtractive Spanish instruction, and early

transitioning—and issues of monoglossic ideologies and educational, standardized testing

and a disregard of evidence of the benefits of bilingualism, that results in covert

discrimination and drop out rates among emergent bilingual students. Jenny and Ana

Maria, for instance, noted the connection between the historical deficit perspective

towards emergent bilinguals of color and the colonizing goals of standardization:

It is no wonder there have been dropout rates and failure rates so high throughout

the education system’s history. We set our students up for failure because we fail

to notice their individual differences through standardized testing and instead of

empowering them by recognizing their successes and progress, we focus on what

they lack. (Jenny, written reflection September 24th 2014)

Similarly, Ana Maria reflected on the several factors that affect the academic success of

immigrant emergent bilinguals of color like she was as a child:

Immigration, race and language are all interconnected and each of these factors

has an influence in a student’s learning and success. However, these factors are

also the major obstacles that might prevent a child from being successful in the

United States education system. (Ana Maria, written reflection September 17th

143

2014)

During this chapter I showed the participants’ initial adjustments of their own

beliefs, experiences, new knowledge, and the early reconfigurations of their salient

identities with new ones through their participation in the reenactments that might

portray their future selves as bilingual teachers. Since they worked to confront all these

texts through the body in the reenactments, it was impossible to ignore the extent in

which emotions played a crucial role in this research. Emotions dictated both the

willingness and unwillingness of the participants to take the stage and filter their

interventions. Emotions also affected of the way the students interacted with the

contention shown in the vignettes as they tried to use their intuition and knowledge to

make sense of their emerging stances. Emotions also played a crucial role in the way the

participants related to the antagonist: their reluctance to play the antagonist, and the

lessons learned through the reenactments. Emotions, as well as language practices, were

the main foci during the second stage of the research as the participants became more and

more familiar with research and more knowledgeable with the new discourse, “speak

educación,” as the semester progressed. These two topics will be the subjects of the

following chapter.

144

iTranslation:BeingateacherisnotjustforthesalaryThat’showtheeducationalsystemis.butsomethingyouliketodo.Thisishowitisinreallife.Ateachercan’tsayIwishwevaluedotherlanguagesmoreatschools“Gosh,Idon’twanttdoextraworkandIunderstandthatlanguageteacherstohelpthatstudent.”aresupposedtoincludeSpanishThat’swhyyou’reateacher,right?butthat’showitreallyis.Ifyouarearealteacherrealizednotallteachersareadvocatesyouhavetospendmoretimewiththechildandnotallparentsaregoingtolookanddomorethingswiththemforextraresources,andsotheycanreachagoodlevelnotallparenthaveaccesstothat.Idon’tthinkthisishowIimagineteachersargue,Evensomebilingualteachersdon’tvaluelikecolleagues,atschool.theirlanguageandthatissad.TheyshouldbeworkingtogetherAttheschoolwheremymomworksinElPasotogethertowardsacommongoal:eventhesecretaryhastointerveneanddealimprovingthestudents’lives.withtheadministratorsbecauseSometimesyou’llbeinsituationsTheywon’treachadecisionwithoutfighting.Youdidn’tchoose,youjusthappentoplacethere.FacingconfrontationYoudon’thaveasayispartofourbuildingcharacterasay,ohwell,right?andgrowingup.Don’tyouhavetolearntodealwithiteventually?Idon’tknowifhadopenedmyeyesbefore.

145

Chapter Five

Emotions and the Monologue

As mentioned in chapter 5, emotions played a vital role in the way the participants

performed in the reenactments, provided post performance feedback, related to the

characters and connected the local histories with current issues in the education of

linguistic and cultural minorities in the US while dipping their toes into their possible

future histories. Unlike traditional instruction, the exposure and vulnerability of the body

through Forum Theater makes hiding difficult; and emotions that resulted from merely

reading Casos de la Vida Real could either encourage some students to participate;

prevent some others from taking the stage; provoke stage paralysis; or end up making the

student forget social conventions, context and collegiality while in front of the class. This

chapter will describe each of these reactions and the strategies the students used in order

to communicate their thoughts more effectively in order to be advocates within the

circumstances shown in the vignettes during sessions five to eight. This chapter will also

describe their language practices during the reenactments and their views on their roles as

future teachers and advocates on this stage.

EMOTION 1: “EL QUE SE ENOJA, PIERDE”

“Me di cuenta de que pensaban hacer la transición de clases bilingües a solo

inglés comenzando con el tercer grado y me desesperaba que los estudiantes más

146

listos que estuvieron conmigo en segundo los ponían en tercero a tomar el

examen en inglés. Recuerdo a una niña en específico y les decía ‘¿por qué me la

sacan a ella del programa bilingüe?’ Ella tenía todas las bases académicas en las

matemáticas y ciencias y yo decía ‘déjenla que siga en el programa bilingüe y

que más adelante se puede transferir. Y yo no sabía nada de teoría pero para mí

se me hacía lógico que no la transicionaran todavía” 1 (vignette week 4,

September 18th 2014).

For some of the participants, stage paralysis was not an issue as they eagerly

volunteered to take part in the interventions. Their willingness to participate in the

reenactments did not necessarily mean the students were able to channel emotions

effectively in order to deliver an effective intervention. Some students displayed strong

emotions disregarding the fact that the vignettes depicted interactions with colleagues,

which required a careful delivery of the message, taking into account context, register,

and power relations. Zully, in one of the most critiqued interventions became “too

assertive,” as Luis pointed out. Zully corralled her fellow colleague and antagonist in a

sort of fast paced interrogation in which Zully’s goal was to prove Milagros wrong by

highlighting her inadequacy to teach Spanish dominant students in a mainstream

classroom:

1 Translation: I realized transition from bilingual to mainstream classes would start in third grade so the fact that the smartest students I had in second grade would have to test in English in third made me feel helpless. I remember one girl specifically and I would say: ‘why are you transitioning her from the bilingual program’? She has all the academic foundations in math and science, and I would say ‘let her stay in the bilingual program and later you can transfer her.’ I didn’t know anything about theory but to me it was logic not to transfer her just yet.

147

Performance 1, week 4 (1) ZULLY

Are you the third grade teacher? (laughter from audience) (2) MILAGROS

Yes (3) ZULLY

Are you going to be her teacher? (4) MILAGROS

Yes, I will (5) ZULLY

Do you speak Spanish? (6) MILAGROS

Yes! (Milagros looked at me for an answer) do I? (Voices: no, no, no you don't) (7) ZULLY

If she has a question about clarification in math or science or language arts, will you be able to help her if you can't understand what she's saying and she can't understand what

you're saying? (8) MILAGROS

I can bring someone in the classroom to help with it (9) ZULLY

So you're going to bring outside resource and you’re going to interrupt someone else's day to come help her when she can just stay in my classroom, and I as a teacher can start

focusing more on English while you don't understand Spanish (10) MILAGROS

Yeah (laughter from audience)

In this intervention, Zully questioned Milagros’ ability to provide not only

Spanish support (“Will you be able to help her if you can't understand what she's saying

and she can't understand what you're saying?”) but also claimed that she herself—as a

bilingual teacher was a better fit to provide support and be a resource for the Spanish-

speaking student. Some participants responded that while they agreed with Zully in that

mainstream teachers are not as equipped to support Spanish speaking students, her

arguments could be easily dismissed by her delivery, making her and her message

questionable. The audience rejected Zully’s intervention not because they did not agree

148

with her but because they regarded it unprofessional, defensive, and disengaging. Zully

felt a bit upset for having shown lack of control, especially after another participant

played her character and took heed of the feedback she received. Eventually, Zully

apologized for not controlling her emotions and showing her anger, something I found

commendable and brave. Reflecting on her apology, I did not know whether it could be

possible for me or probably for any participant to accept such an apology, as any of us

would possibly have reacted in similar fashion. My post-session fieldnotes in this stage

were filled with questions about the way to harness such strong emotions and act

strategically; and, if that sort of skill is acquired at a certain point in life, when does that

actually happen? Does it come with practice, with a certain level of maturity?

Several students mentioned a very well-known proverb in Spanish when

describing the reason why Zully’s bold intervention was ineffective while agreeing she

was right at the same time given the context of the vignette. El Que Se Enoja Pierde,

became a mantra for the students when trying to formulate and deliver well-thought out

arguments while at the same time trying not to antagonize further the interlocutor(s). This

proverb entails being knowledgeable of the game at play, being cool-headed and strategic

when making a move, and channeling strong emotions to play the game effectively.

Later on in this chapter, I will elaborate more on the students’ response to this proverb

and how it looked when reenacting Casos de la Vida Real.

EMOTION 2: STAGE PARALYSIS

Cuando enseñé a mis estudiantes el libro Sylvia & Aki, a las maestras no le

149

gustaba que yo enseñara la historia que realmente los maestros bilingües no

sabemos, como la inmigración. Ese caso de Westminster es the most crucial thing

that could have happened to Mexican Americans. Por ese caso estamos right

here. Le dije a mis niños: ‘you know, I didn’t know about this, nobody taught me

this. You need to educate yourself. Pero los maestros around me didn’t think it

was necessary. Ellos dicen: ‘you’re making them not like it here in the USA.’ I’m

not afraid to tell them books can be inaccurate pero mis colegas me decían: why

are you contradicting the textbooks? 2 (Vignette, session 5, September 25th 2014)

During the Foundations segment in their teacher preparation program, this cohort had to

read the book Sylvia & Aki (Conkling, 2011); a chapter book based on the friendship of a

Mexican American girl banned from a mainstream school and forced to attend a subpar

school due to her skin color, and a Japanese girl, whose family was forced to live in a

Japanese internment camp in the 40’s. This book also narrates the story of a court case

that was a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education called Mendez v. Westminster. In

this court case, Sylvia Mendez won the right to attend the school closer to her house

without having to be segregated due to her race. The participants not only read this

historical fiction in one of their classes but we discussed this court case as a landmark for

the Mexican American community as it set a precedent for equal education access. After

reading the picture book “Separate is Never Equal” (Tonatiuh, 2014) during session 5, in 2 Translation: When I taught the book Sylvia & Aki, other teachers didn’t like it that I taught the history that we, bilingual teachers, don’t know, which is immigration. The Westminster case is the most crucial thing that could have happened to Mexican Americans. Thanks to that case we’re right here. I told my students: ‘you know, I didn’t know about this, nobody taught me this. You need to educate yourself. But the teachers around me didn’t think it was necessary. They said: ‘you’re making I’m not afraid to tell them books can be inaccurate pero mis colegas me decían: why are you contradicting the textbooks?

150

which the class discussed the different educational laws and court cases that either

promoted or defunded bilingual education, the students were very enthusiastic about

using these materials in the classroom.

After a brief discussion on how certain parts of history have been hidden from the

general domain in order to not challenge the official version, I showed them the vignette

above. The class, having been engaged in a very animated conversation in which they

brought up their viewing of the documentary Precious Knowledge (Palos, McGinnis,

Fifer, Bricca, Amor & Dos Vatos Productions, 2011), their thoughts on Manifest Destiny,

and the fact that they finally learned more about the history of Mexican Americans in

Texas history in college, the class became silent for some seconds as the participants

digested the story as told by an experienced bilingual teacher during the implementation

of the Tejano Project curriculum (https://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/tejano-history-

curriculum-project) the previous year. After the first interventions, the audience provided

some post performance feedback in which they indicated the actors should elaborate on

more concrete examples of implementation of the Sylvia & Aki book. Isabel, Antoinette

and Ana Maria volunteered to reenact this vignette. Ana Maria agreed to be the

antagonist of this performance.

Performance 1, week 5 (1) ISABEL

I’d like to teach my students and read them the book of Sylvia and Aki so they get a better perspective of what happened in history.

(2) ANTIONETTE Creo que es más importante que los estudiantes, no? 3

3 Translation: I think that’s what’s most important for the students, right?

151

(3) ANA MARIA Why do we want them to know about this kind of information? Is it necessary?

(4) ISABEL Well, because even the textbooks we're teaching them now, they're biased because they

have authors and every author is already biased, so why don't we present every perspective that way they can formulate their own perspective?

(5) ANA MARIA But they can already think for themselves (overlap)

(6) ISABEL And it's providing them one-sided information cause every author is biased. So yes,

textbook is provided but so is Sylvia and Aki. It might be like it's more personal but still is provided the same right information

(7) ANA MARIA You yourself have to use the textbook? I mean, do you use it?

(8) ISABEL I'm not saying that they do not use the textbooks, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying I want to integrate this with the textbooks to do more with it and bring more perspectives

(9) ANTOINETTE Cómo vas a conectar el libro con los textos si no son muy… I wanna say they're not covering, are not covering as much (voices giving suggestions of a word in Spanish).

Cobertura. Como va a solucionar eso?4 (10) ISABEL

Ok, we are already teaching about those eras and this is what's happening in the classrooms so why not going there and add a different perspective and students can go

ahead and formulate their own thoughts (coughs). In that way they can fill their own dots, and they are going to be able to put into new ideas into so they can be more well rounded

(11) ANA MARIA I actually feel they will not be well rounded. I feel they will laugh at this type of

information because this information is unnecessary. I think there is not reason for them to know the immigration status, and who's coming and who's not because they're living in

the US and they live in a dominant-English-language-America. All this information is just going to intrigue them and make them a little bit confused instead of focusing on

what they actually need to do (12) ISABEL

You're just saying their history is not important because this is also their history. You have to remember America history. The American history isn't just in English, it didn't start in 1776? (laughter) It started way before this, it started with the Native Americans;

the first people who colonized the us were Spanish and then the German, and French and English and everybody else

4 Translation: how are you going to connect the book with the texts if they’re not… I wanna say they’re not covering, are not covering as much. Covering, how are you going to solve that?

152

Isabel and Antoinette brought up their arguments for the inclusion of Sylvia &

Aki to complement the social studies textbook in the classroom. They started with a

critique of official textbooks as biased towards the erasure of the minoritized population

(turn 4), thus a need for an alternative perspective (turn 10). Isabel insisted on the use of

Sylvia & Aki as a way to develop critical thinking to inform students’ perspective on the

issues presented in the non-fiction children book (turn 4), which would not be a threat to

the official textbook since it would not be a replacement but a complement for a well-

rounded education (turn 8). Antoinette argued that the official textbook did not provide

adequate coverage of important historical events (turn 9). Note that even though she

stumbled in words like “cobertura” as she insisted on using Spanish during her

participation and only used English to ask for help with that word. The arguments for the

inclusion of Sylvia & Aki closed as Isabel claimed her students’ right to have their

historic heritage validated in the social studies class together with the histories of other

populations that colonized North America (turn 12).

Ana Maria, on the other hand, argues against such inclusion as she deemed them

unnecessary, insufficient, and confusing for students (turns 3, 5, and 11). Ana Maria also

considered this book a distraction, instead of a greater focus on ‘what they actually need

to do’ (turn 11). Providing spaces for development of critical thinking by contrasting

official texts and peripheral stories such as Sylvia & Aki might mean the teacher, Ana

Maria, was embodying a distraction from her duties as enforcer of school mandates—i.e.

following the official curriculum—preparing students for the material used for

standardized tests. Unlike the first sessions, the post-performance debriefing did not

153

focus on the protagonist’ reactionary response to the antagonist’ arguments, but instead

on how to enhance the protagonists’ proactivity to engage in a dialogue. For instance,

when playing the antagonist, Ana Maria suggested a more explicit explanation of how

new perspectives would benefit students while demonstrating stronger connection

between the historic events narrated in Sylvia & Aki and the histories of the students.

When asked for more volunteers for the second intervention, some of the participants

voiced their concerns about expressing their ideas in this highly emotional scene:

Post-performance debriefing (1) GANIVA

It's just hard to do it because you can't, like... when you're sitting down you think of a bunch of things and when you go out there you just…

(2) RESEARCHER like “I wanted to say this but I couldn't do it.” What does stop us from saying something?

(3) ISABEL We get nervous

(4) LUZ We're frustrated

(5) ISABEL Por eso yo estoy ahorita hablando en inglés porque estoy… I can’t think in Spanish right

now5 (6) ANTOINETTE

Also when words come into play you can’t say what you want to say because you can get tired and you just want to (making a gesture as if slapping someone)

(7) LUZ It's hard to get that person to understand and they say that no

(8) GANIVA They're ignorant

(9) LUZ It's like everything you told them it's going to be "but this and that" but just to "get in

your head, it's not like” that's what is hard (10) RESEARCHER

I think it's maybe not a matter of convincing the other of your point of view but at least to consider something, or reach out (overlap)

5 Translation: that’s why I’m speaking in English because I am… I can’t think in Spanish right now

154

(11) ISABEL Try to convince, like putting like a foot in the door, just a little bit

In this excerpt, Ganiva, Luz, Isabel and Antoinette elaborated on their stage

paralysis. Ganiva expressed her inability to express all her thoughts at once (turn 1);

Isabel spoke of how her nervousness prevented her from expressing herself in Spanish

(turns 3, 5), and Luz and Antoinette argued the pointlessness of discussing with someone

who was unwilling to listen as the main factor of their silence (turns 6, 7). Antoinette’s

gesture of slapping (turn 6) reflected some of her classmates' thoughts of resorting to

physical violence as their last alternative to have the antagonist understand their pledge.

Even though I reminded the class of the tremendous albeit slow progress education for

emergent bilinguals from Mexican American/Latino descent has made since Mendez v.

Westminster; I could relate to those feelings of impatience and frustration.

Slapping the antagonist was a reoccurring theme for confrontation. Between the

first interventions until session five, as many as seven students found slapping the

antagonist—half-seriously and half-jokingly—the desired non-verbal reaction and

ultimate solution to Casos de la Vida Real. When discussing the reenactment of the

vignette above during an interview, Ursula described her thought process during this

performance and how her feelings of anger and outrage would stop her from being able to

verbalize her knowledge in an effective way to get her point across:

Me senti bien nerviosa pero my mind went blank porque you’re just so angry at

the situation that your mind doesn’t think about all the examples you can provide,

and all the research because we’ve done a lot of readings where it gives you

155

explanation by explanation of why bilingual education is important, what laws

helped us get bilingual education. Cuando presentamos quieres decirles todo lo

que quieres pero nomás quieres cachetearlas, cachetearlas como ‘what are you

thinking?6’ (Interview 1)

While Ursula acknowledged her nervousness whenever she volunteered to take part in

Casos de la Vida real, she admitted her speechlessness was due to her outrage towards the

situation presented that did not allow her to show her knowledge of the research and

educational policy she was acquainted with to defend her position. Her speechlessness

due to anger brought up a primal instinct towards violence as a way to stop an argument

that she felt was violent against her as a Mexican-American bilingual woman and as a

professional bilingual teacher.

As I write this, I can remember my own feelings at this point of the research in the

face of stage paralysis shown here. I saw the students struggle and I could understand

some may not have participated fully due to the fact that they may yell or cry. Guilt

overcame me as I thought using Casos de la Vida Real was making my students feel

helpless in spite of knowing they were capable of using the content of the course as what

Boal calls arsenal. I contemplate my own paralysis as I remember their faces of

impotence thinking that was not the feeling I was aiming for. Empowerment is not the

same as hopelessness; I thought; however, can hopelessness be a stage in the process of

6 Translation: I was really nervous but my mind went black because you’re just so angry at the situation that your mind doesn’t think about all the examples you can provide, and all the research because we’ve done a lot of readings where it gives you explanation by explanation of why bilingual education is important, what laws helped us get bilingual education When we performed you want to tell them everything you just want to slap them, slap them like ‘what are you thinking?’

156

reaching empowerment—i.e. does empowerment have stages like grief does? Anzaldua

(2002) describes arrebato as one of the seven stages to reach conocimiento. She likens

arrebato to the aftermath of an earthquake in which “fear ripples down your spine,

frightening your soul out of your body” (p. 554) and leaves you “exposed, naked,

disoriented, wounded, uncertain, confused and conflicted (…) forced to live en la orilla”

(p. 547). Arrebato, then, though painful and disorienting, is an opportunity for the

arrebatado to reconstruct the way they see themselves and their relationship with the

world within a new reality.

The instructor and researcher in me could not help but try to find ways to make

this process less discomforting and quick for them to reach the other side since this was

the time I feared the aftershocks would bring this study to a halt and encounter resistance

to do the reenactments. In spite of this, some participants kept on volunteering to

intervene and confronted their stage paralysis in spite of not reaching a solution or

winning the argument at the end of the intervention. The feelings of impotence and anger

gave way to a different attitude towards the injustice shown in the vignettes. While the

students’ goal was still to win the argument, they realized that becoming more strategic

could open the dialogue in order to “put a foot in the door,” as Isabel proposed (turn 11),

and achieve their objectives of advocacy.

During one of the semi-structured conversations, Luz and Enrique shed light on

their thoughts on the display of Casos de la Vida Real in the classroom; the reenactments

engendered other sentiments regarding their vision of their future careers;

157

I actually think it had the opposite effect because we are in this field because we

love bilingualism and we know that it’s important so seeing those things make me

think that this is something I’ll be fighting against, that I have to make a change, I

have to do something to make people realize that bilingualism is important. So I

think instead of being discouraged I actually was like “I know why I’m here, I

know that I need to do something to change this. (Luz, interview January 30th

2015).

In spite of my fears of creating helplessness during Casos de la Vida Real, Luz described

how those moments of discomfort and confusion gave way to a sense of duty. The

realization meant being eager to obtain the tools to defend her stance about bilingualism

and a purpose to promote change against monoglossic and linguicist ideologies. Enrique

elaborated more on his “arrebato” stage and the feelings of paralysis actually pushed him

to the stage to rehearse the vignettes:

At the beginning, yeah, I felt hopeless but it was a good thing though because I

would step outside and it was a mock scenario instead of real life and I was

‘what? I screw up, I should have said this or that.’ Talking about practice, we

need that practice of what I would say so the next time I’d be like ‘oh yeah, I

remember that scenario, se parece let’s try that.’ (Enrique, interview February 16th

2015).

158

In spite of his initial paralysis, Enrique felt safe to use the stage as a safe place of trial and

error, and how this embodied practice—and the feelings that accompanied it—would be

imprinted for later use as a similar scenario arises.

OWNING THE GAME

Cuando vamos a preparar los grupos que van a pasar de pre-kinder a kinder yo

asumí que mi grupo y el grupo de inglés pasan intactos. Mi compañera y yo

fuimos a hablar con las maestras de kinder para hacerles sugerencias de cómo

trabajar nuestro grupo, para darles más información sobre los niños que iban a

enseñar el año siguiente. Pero ellas nos dijeron: “nosotras ya mezclamos a todos

los niños y los niños bilingües no van a pasar al dual language two-way. Los

niños tienen que tener que mezclarse mejor y hasta que los niños estén en primer

grado recién estarán oficialmente en el dual language two-way. Los niños

americanos van a continuar recibiendo íntegros sus servicios toda su educación

pero los míos van entrar y salir del programa Ellas nos dijeron que así se había

decidido aun cuando Gomez y Gomez recomiendan los niños en el two-way deben

permanecer juntos para mejores resultados7 (Vignette 6, October 2nd 2014)

7 Translation: when preparing the pre-K cohort to kinder, I assumed the group would move up untouched. My partner teacher and I talked to the kinder teachers to give them suggestions ad information about the group they would teach the following year. But they told us: ‘we already mixed all the students because they won’t be in the dual language program. They need to be mixed to then be placed in dual language classes in first grade officially.’ The American kids will receive all their services but mine will be in and out of the program. They told us that was the decision even though the Gomez & Gomez model recommends dual language cohort members to remain together for best results.

159

Amid my musings and worries, session six proved to become a breaking point in

the research. I showed the aforementioned vignette on how a bilingual teacher fought for

the right implementation of the current dual language program in place in Austin. After

asking for volunteers to reenact the scene, only Marita jumped at the opportunity. Since

no one else offered to intervene in the reenactment, I allowed SDA so as to keep the

conversation going and at least have the participants share their opinions about the case at

hand. In retrospect, the vignette chosen for that week appeared to be too difficult for the

students to imagine since there were some technicalities they could not grasp then but

became clearer some weeks later after finishing their field experience observing a dual

language classroom. Feeling defeated for lack of volunteers, I decided to cut the session

short. Minutes before the class was over, however, the reluctance shown in this session

encouraged me to ask for feedback from the students.

(1) RESEARCHER Is it really hard for you to come here in front and do it? (voices: yeah). why?

(2) GANIVA Because cuando ya estás ahí enfrente tienes que tener un argumento ya, you have to have

an argument already formed8 (3) ANTOINETTE

It's easier for me to go actually if I have discussed it before we go there (4) LUZ

Yo creo que a lo mejor una manera de hacerlo mejor sería dividir a todos y cada grupo tenga como un argumento y solamente un representante del equipo pasa al frente pero

con las ideas de todos9 (5) RESEARCHER

So to have a discussion before. Ok, ok, let's go that route. I'm going to post the Casos online before class so you have them beforehand.

8Translation:becausewhenyou’rethereonstageyouneedtohaveanargumentalready,anargumentalreadyformed.9 Translation: I think a better way to do it would be to divide the class, each group to have an argument, and just a representative of the group to go to the stage with the group’s ideas

160

(6) ISABEL Does everyone going to choose their side? (voice: just divide the classroom!)

(7) LUZ I say randomly (voices: yes)

(8) RESEARCHER I think a new rule should be the people who come to the front shouldn’t be the same all

the time (voices; yeah). Ok, let's do that next week One of the things I struggled with during the pilot study of this research was

flexibility.

As mentioned before, Boal envisioned Forum Theater as a way to leave rhetoric

behind and move to the action, expecting spect-actors to jump on stage and try ideas on

the go, without much pondering or any kind of conferring with other members of the

audience. But this experience led me to decide to break Boal’s rules to a certain extent,

by letting students work in pairs and discuss the Caso de la Vida Real of the week before

the reenactments. This was the modus operandi during the discussions previous to every

Casos de la Vida Real until that session. However, these accommodations did not seem to

work for the students. The above feedback I received from the students made sense in

terms of their need for peer support both academically (“a representative of the group to

go to the stage with the group’s ideas”); and emotionally in order to overcome silence

(“when you’re there on stage you need to have an argument already, an argument already

formed”).

The lessons previous to Casos de la Vida Real were organized in a way that

promoted community building and collective work so it made sense to let that dynamic

bleed into the reenactments. As shown in the exchange above, Luz proposed to divide the

classroom into two groups—the antagonists and the protagonists—and confer with the

161

members of the group to gather ideas to utilize during the reenactment. This division

would be made randomly so as to avoid having some of the participants only playing one

of the characters. I was concerned that this dynamic would turn into a competition

between groups and relegating the students who were shy to push the most outspoken to

the stage in order to “win.” To avoid this, I proposed that the groups should make the

decision to choose the ones who would intervene in the reenactments as long as ones

selected varied every session.

The following week and right after I presented the new vignettes, Mariella

expressed her feelings towards Casos de la Vida Real as she felt that a formal debate

would accomplish the goal of exposing different arguments about a situation. I brought

her concern to the whole class without putting her on the spot;

(1) RESEARCHER Algunos me decían ‘¿por qué no mejor tenemos un debate?’10

(2) JENNY because we'll be confronting teachers like this in our future (whispers)

(3) MARIELLA No creo que sería lo mismo porque podemos poner un committee de teachers que está en

contra11 de o al favor. (4) JENNY

But you're not always going to have just one who is going to detract... (5) ISABEL

You might be one against everyone (6) MARIELLA

But we can add variety; one day we can do Casos de la Vida Real and others debates (7) PAOLA

I thought this was a debate (laughter, voices: ‘yes’) (8) ZULLY

There is a similarity, but in a debate there is this side and this side, and then we're going

10 Translation: some of you asked me ‘why don’t we have a debate?’ 11 Translation: I don’t think it would be the same because we could have a teacher committee against and another in favor

162

to present this side, and the other people are going to say 'no, that's full of crap’, and these people are going to say "no, that’s full of crap" and they're going back and forth

(9) RESEARCHER En este caso es un cierto tipo de debate, no de los que ven en la televisión, que una

persona comienza y dice que tiene dos minutos para12… (laughter and unintelligible voices)

(10) ZULLY Yeah, but we're not going to stop and say now we have time for questioning

The exchanges in this brief discussion showed the different ideas of what a debate

looks like. To Mariella, a debate consisted of a panel discussion with two opposing sides

defending their points of view while being moderated. In this specific case, Mariella saw

this debate as the creating of committees with teachers providing arguments for their

cause and against the opposing team of teachers. There was no need for me to say

anything about Mariella’s proposal to shift the reenactment activity; some students

explained the rationale of Casos de la Vida Real better than I would have. Jenny, Cecilia,

and Paola exposed the practical application of Casos de la Vida Real in contrast to a

formal panel. For instance, Jenny and Isabel (turns 2, 4 and 5) stated the fact that the

chances of disagreeing with a fellow teacher are higher than being part of a debate, and

that in real life this kind of confrontation was rather uneven, unlike a predetermined

number of panelists in a debate. Zully (turns 8 and 10) went on to describe the dynamics

of a formal debate as consisting of taking turns to disprove the other team’s reasoning

and time for questioning at the end; pointing out that this structure does not work in real

life.

12 Translation: In this case it’s a type of debate, not like the ones on TV in which someone starts and is told ‘you have two minutes to…” (laughter and unintelligible voices)

163

Mariella’s request for adding formal debates instead of Casos de la Vida Real

may have come from the illusory comfort of decontextualized argumentation in order to

debate in the realm of ideas without risking putting one’s skin on the line, and appear

neutral. I can also see the contrast of Mariella’s request with the actual bilingual teacher

involved in the Sylvia & Aki’s vignette, who I interviewed some months before starting

this study. She, unprompted, described her wish to have role-played scenarios during her

Master’s degree coursework together with her classmates, in which she had to defend her

beliefs as a way to not only rehearse resistance, but also to leave a legacy of resistance

that could be used by others;

Lo que pasa es que tienes mucha resistencia de not only central office, but

administración, your principal. Y we need to role-play those things cause en el

momento en que tú estás ahí you’re like ‘blah, blah blah’ y piensas después, una

hora después ‘oh carajos! por qué no lo dije así,’ pero para entonces ya es ley. A

mí me gustaría venir y role play por si alguien está en esa posición. Yo ya no pude

hacer nada pero por si alguien está en esa posición puede decir ‘yo recuerdo que

Juana hizo un roleplay13.’ (phone interview, November 3rd, 2013)

During the reenactments in week seven, the students put into practice the changes

they proposed for Casos de la Vida Real, which continued for the rest of the course. This

shift promoted more participation, feedback, and collective support during the

13 Translation: what happens is that there’s a lot of resistance, not only from central office but administration, your principal. And we need to role-play those things cause in the moment you’re there just like ‘blah, blah, blah’ and after an hour you think ‘oh shit! Why don’t I say that this way,’ but by then it has already become the law. I’d like to come and role-play if someone is in that position. I can’t do anything but if someone is in that position I could say ‘I remember Juana did that in a role-play’

164

reenactments and created a deeper bond in the students as they took ownership of the

process. Illustration 5.1 shows how the class was divided into two groups as each of them

provided ideas before the reenactments. The groups would regroup after each

intervention in what they called “coaching time,” a time-out period that resembled the

time basketball coaches take to discuss last minute strategies with their players.

During these coaching times, the groups resorted to the textbook, articles,

educational policies, research, posters created in class, and their own ideas on how to

approach the vignette more effectively. Some of the participants were so excited about

this new dynamic that they would whisper ideas in the middle of the intervention, which

resulted in laughter in the class. This laughter was not an act of mockery towards the

students who took the stage but a sign of collegiality. The participants were collectively

creating alternative responses to the dilemmas posed and strategies for more effective

delivery, so my fear of competition turned out unfounded. The following exchange is

how the side coaching worked for the class;

(1) GUADALUPE Their test doesn't mean they don't know the subject, maybe they were nervous or got

anxiety (2) LUIS

How do I know that? (laughter from audience) How do we know that? (more laughter) (3) ZULLY

Time out! time out! (4) RESEARCHER Quieren reemplazar?

(5) ZULLY We're not going to replace, we're going to ayudar (laughter). (To Paola and Guadalupe, who are on stage) Come here, come here! (Paola and Guadalupe joined them. Luis and

Rocio’s group went on stage to help them for a quick coaching session.) (6) RESEARCHER

Time is up!

165

(7) ZULLY This is so good! (everybody went back to their places)

(8) RESEACHER 3,2,1, action! (resume reenactment)

Session seven ended up with the students’ reflections on the new format of Casos

de la vida Real. They pointed out the changes proposed were effective and that most of

the students participated in one way or another, either as actors or coaches. The

engagement was general: in their groups they tried to strategize the best way to play the

game, and even “bs-ing” their way to reach their goals, as Jenny mentioned.

Illustration 5.1 Student-led Coaching Time

PLAYING THE GAME

Rules of the Game

Durante las juntas con los maestros, mi subdirectora de vez en cuando dice que

166

los estudiantes hispanos tienen dificultades de leer y escribir porque la culpa la

tienen básicamente los padres de familia y que es una cuestión cultural. Hay

varios maestros a su alrededor y nadie dice nada, entonces ¿cómo uno puede

entrar en ese diálogo para tratar de modificar esas ideas de una manera lógica y

amable sin convertirlo en un ataque personal? Una vez dije algo y cuando la

reunión terminó algunos maestros se acercan en privado y me dicen: “estamos de

acuerdo con usted y qué bueno que usted lo dijo.” Y yo me quedé pensando pero

¿por qué no dijeron en la junta cuando todos estamos allí? No se atreven a salir

de la zona de confort 14 (Vignette d week 7, October 9th, 2014)

Session seven became a decisive point in the research, because of the fact that the

students took the reins of the rules in Casos the la Vida Real. The time spent for coaching

and their willingness to replace the spect-actors on the stage encouraged students to find

ways to deliver their message more effectively. As the audience provided feedback at

every reenactment; they started to notice some of their classmates were more effective

than others in both the content of the arguments but also in the way they conveyed their

message. Ana Maria, for instance, was praised constantly for her calm demeanor

whenever she was on stage, whether she was playing the antagonist or the protagonist.

14 Translation: During teacher meetings from time to time my assistant principal say that the Hispanic student had difficulties reading and writing due to their parents and that’s a cultural matter. There are several teachers around an nobody says anything. So, how can one start a dialogue to change those ideas politely and logically without turning it into a personal attack Once I said something and when the meeting ended some teachers approached me in private and told me ‘we agree with you and we’re glad you said something.’ And I wonder why didn’t you say anything when we were all there? They don’t dare to leave their comfort zone

167

The students described Ana Maria’s approach as ‘elegant and confident.’ Here is an

example of part of her intervention n the reenactment of vignette seven:

Excerpt of Performance 3, week 7 (1) MARIELLA

They do have resources, like the library, they don't have the time to go; realistically they don't have time, you can't expect them to help them en español

(2) ANA MARIA Correcto, no tienen el tiempo alguno de ellos, pero hay programas que nos pueden

ayudar, como Victory, que están al lado de las escuelas. A veces en donde nada más podemos mandar a los estudiantes, ahí empiezan mejorar sus habilidades en la escritura,

en el lenguaje 15 (short applause) (3) ZULLY

Are we supposed to expect that students take away from their families, their dinner time, their after school activities for them to get help and outsource the things that we're doing?

(4) ANA MARIA A veces no queremos quitarles el tiempo, so lo que visto en otras escuelas que hacen es que en la última hora del día, y en esa hora, tienen esa hora solamente para programas para ayudar a los estudiantes a mejorar. So lo que podemos hacer es incorporar esta

última hora del día para incorporar nada más programas que van ayudar a los estudiantes a mejorar sus habilidades de la lectura y otras cosas16

(5) RESEARCHER Stop (applause) Qué les pareció los argumentos que estaban a favor17?

(6) VOICES Ana Maria, way to go!

(7) ZULLY Yeah, Ana Maria is great

(8) RESEARCHER OK y Qué tal sus argumentos? Pero está bien, la forma en que ella se conduce es

calmada, porque hay muchos de ustedes, y me incluyo a mí misma (laughter) because I'm not like that. Pero uno tiene que aprender a… cómo era? the game, no18?

15 Translation: Right, some of them don’t have time but there are programs that can be useful, like Victory, which are near schools. Sometimes that’s the only place we could send the students, there they start to improve their writing and language skills (short applause) 16 Translation: sometimes we don’t want to take away their time so what I’ve seen in other schools is that they do it during the last period, they use it for programs to help them improve. So we can do is to use that period to incorporate programs to help students improve their reading skills among others 17 Translation: Stop (applause). What do you think about the arguments in favor? 18 Translation: Ok, what about her arguments? But it’s fine, the way she speaks is calm because many of you, and I include myself (laughter) because I’m not like that. But one needs to learn to, what was it? The game, right?

168

In this intervention, Ana Maria incorporated her experience working in a tutorial

program for school children as an argument to alternatives to improve students’ academic

achievement instead of blaming the parents for the lack of care (turn 2 and 4). After

proposing a similar tutorial program to the one she participated in during the last period

of classes; the audience initiated an attempt to clap at her idea, though they stopped (turn

2) before it became a standing applause, as the scene was not finished. Whether Ana

Maria’s idea was feasible or not, the students congratulated her on the way she kept calm,

and approved on her intervention.

At that time the students and I wondered what made Ana Maria effective during

Casos de la Vida Real and what qualities allowed her to be poised on stage. As stated in

chapter 5, Ana Maria had previous experience learning and applying these sort of self-

advocating communication strategies in high school as a way to prepare her to interact in

the adult world of college, though this fact only surfaced during semi-structured

conversations after the semester ended. Ana Maria’s poise is not solely the result of this

previous practice but a combination of dispositions that allowed her to act maturely in her

interactions with others in stressful situations like the ones in the reenactment. The rest of

the students looked up to her and used her as a model on how to interact with the

antagonist in the reenactments. After session seven, the students reflected on the desirable

traits needed to succeed in contentious situations, and identified a set of characteristics

they found effective on stage, as well as others they used in their daily life and were

shaped by their own experiences. I compiled those strategies and pointers the students

169

created in their reflections. I shared the compilation with the students and they approved

of the list. Though that list was a condensed version, I preferred including their own

words here:

Rules to Play the Game

Cuando alguien está calmado, es más fácil pensar y procesar lo que otros dicen

Tus ideas no van a ser válidas si no puedes mantener tu calma

Eso puede evitar gritos y faltas de respeto.

Cuidar nuestro tono, no debemos alzar nuestra voz

Es importante entender que estás en un ambiente professional

Entrar a la discusión con una mente abierta: siempre va haber opiniones distintas a las

tuyas. Hablar de una forma professional y escuchar y respetar esas ideas

Usar los datos, teorías y estudios como los de Krashen, Cummins, Bialystok

Ser lógica y amable y encontrar soluciones, no ataque personal nor name-calling

En lugar de atacar tratar de hacerlos ver desde otra perspectiva,

questioning people about their beliefs/thoughts; this makes people think of what they are

saying

Echoing the traits the students admired in Ana Maria and the proverb ‘El que se

enoja, pierde,” staying calm during confrontation is the main rule as this facilitates

thought process and prevents the advocate from delving into attacks. The students

identified that an offensive response might bring to a halt any kind of communication and

invalidate the message even if the message could potentially debunk the contrarian

argument. They agreed that the way the messenger carries him or herself was as

170

important as the message; hence the need for a certain tone, certain professional

language, a certain level of authority and knowledge, a certain level of courtesy and

kindness to engage an antagonist, even a certain way to question contrarian arguments. A

way to be an effective and legitimized advocate; a recognized and legitimate way to “be”

the advocate in educational settings. Cummings, Bialystok and Krashen—among

others—became the armor of truth and authority when setting the rules to play the game,

in spite of being Maria, Juan and Teresa19—the authors of the vignettes—who stirred

something inside the students and empowered them to walk in their shoes. And I

encouraged that, knowing full well that following those rules have allowed me to achieve

many of my goals.

“Came rude at times, critiqued too harshly, forced her ideas, lack of caring, not

receptive.” Reflecting on the image of the advocate teacher created by my students and

the feedback I received in a previous class, I wonder to what extent I was succeeding at

playing the game and how much I succeeded by resisting the game. As I look at the rules,

I can see the compromises I needed to make in certain contexts in order to be accepted as

a legitimate advocate and engage in the politics of niceties for a desired goal, and how

taxing this could be for the soul. The approach to the game, of course, changes depending

on the power differentials, hierarchies of the players and what is at stake. Regarless, the

set of rules the participants created became a tool for developing impression management

skills (Foley, 1990) to accomplish their goals, and move from a monologue to engage in a

dialogue with the antagonist.

19 pseudonyms

171

The Abercrombie Jacket or Engaging the Antagonist

Session 8 was devoted to discuss issues of identity affirmation, racism and what it

means to be Latin@ in the US using Foley (2008) and de Jong (2011). After some

exercises to warm up our bodies and to prepare them for Casos de la Vida Real, I shared

a poem I wrote some years ago about my first discovery of my ‘brownness’ as a child to

motivate students to discuss their racial identities. I did not slot Casos de la Vida Real at

the end of the class but in the middle so as to take advantage of the buildup that created

the intimate conversations on race. My sharing of the poem based on an intimate passage

of my life with the students made sense to me as an exchange for my students’ courage to

share their vulnerabilities and fears every time they stood up and participated in the

reenactments. If they were willing to be vulnerable in front of the class even in fear of

their emotions overcoming them in front of the class, I should follow their lead. It was

indeed one of my most vulnerable moments for me during this research. The applause I

received after I finished reading my poem made me aware of my duty to show that

vulnerability and emotion through play and dramatization had a place and were

welcomed in that classroom; even for instructors/researchers. My dissertation chair—who

was also charged with supervising my teaching responsibilities—was present during this

session, sitting at the back of the class from the start. As she was not teaching

undergraduates that semester, most of my students seemed not to know who she was.

After all, they were used to my research assistant moving around with his camera

172

capturing everything he could, so they did not mind another person in class. By this time,

he was invisible to me and became present only when I revisited the videos.

The vignette I chose for this session was the infamous ‘Abercrombie Jacket.’

That was the first vignette shown after reflecting and discussing strategies to “play the

game” (previous section). The students had a visceral reaction to this vignette as it

portrayed not only raciolinguistic discrimination, but uncovered issues of class and

xenophobia as well:

The other day una maestra vino y me dijo: I know that you were absent yesterday.

One of my students lost his jacket and I think one of your students stole it. I was

puzzled. She told me she waited to talk to me because he didn't understand

English. I told her that student has been here for 4 months in the United States. So

I asked her: “how do you know he stole it?” She said: “because it says

Abercrombie on it, your student can't afford Abercrombie.” (Vignette week 8,

October 16th 2014)

As Luis uttered the last word he read from this vignette, the students produced a

deep sigh. That vignette was the last one I collected during a phone call with an upset

teacher on the other side of the line, who had experienced it some days before. And now

one year later, my students saw that vignette on the power point slide I was showing. As

emotions were high, we entered into a dialogue to unpack this narrative before moving

into the reenactments. I facilitated a discussion in which students verbalized the way the

Abercrombie student was perceived in this vignette. I asked students to imagine the

173

scenario, visualize the student, and see the situation from the antagonist’s point of view

for them to think about the reasons behind such accusations.

(1) RESEARCHER Vamos a pensar que esto es una maestra regular, de las clases regulares, mainstream.

¿Cómo esta maestra veía a este estudiante20? (2) VOICES:

A criminal (3) RESEARCHER

¿Por qué? ¿Cuál es la característica de este estudiante que hizo pensar a esta maestra de que había robado una chaqueta de Abercrombie?

(4) VOICES Que no habla inglés, no nació aquí

(5) RESEARCHER ¿No dice dónde, no? ¿De dónde?

(6) VOICES De Latinoamérica, de un país latinoamericano, de un país subdesarrollado

(7) RESEARCHER ¿Por qué piensan que es latinoamericano?

(8) GANIVA Por todo lo que está pasando ahorita con los niños centroamericanos

(9) JENNY A un niño anglosajón no lo van a ver así como un criminal.

(10) RESEARCHER ¿Un niño anglosajón sí puede comprar una chaqueta de Abercrombie?

(11) JENNY 20 Translation: (1) Let’s think that this is a mainstream teacher, in mainstream classes. How did she perceive the student? (2) Why? What is the feature that made the teacher think that he had stolen the Abercrombie jacket? (3) He doesn’t speak English; he was not born here (4) It doesn’t say where he’s from. Where’s he from? (5) From Latin America, from a Latin American country, from an underdeveloped country (6) Why do you think he’s Latin American (7) Because of all the things happening now to Central American children (8) They wouldn’t see an Anglo kid as a criminal (9) An Anglo kid can buy an Abercrombie jacket? (10) I suppose so (11) You suppose so. You’re right. Not everybody who is white can afford to buy a new jacket. What other 12) characteristic does this student have in the eyes of the mainstream teacher? You already said poor, Latin American, anywhere in Latin American, no European. What else? (13) That doesn’t understand English (14) Someone who doesn’t speak Spanish. Brown? (15) Maybe

174

Se supone (12) RESEARCHER

Se supone. Tienes razón. No todas las personas blancas pueden tener el dinero suficiente para una chaqueta nueva. ¿Qué otra característica tiene este estudiante en la vista del

maestro regular? ¿Dijeron pobre, latinoamericano, en cualquier lugar de Latinoamérica, no europeo, que más?

(13) VOICE That doesn't understand English

(14) RESEARCHER Que no hable inglés. brown?

(15) VOICE Maybe

When you leaf though an Abercrombie catalog or get to see its billboards on the

streets, one catches a glimpse of perfect white young able bodies whose preppy clothes

index their socio-economic status, their level of schooling, and the comfort of belonging

to the “in” group. Even though we cannot hear them speak in the ads on TV, it is a given

that since Abercrombie is an American trademark the models in the images must speak

English and are all-American youth. This is not to say that all Abercrombie customers fit

those images but wearing its clothes provides an imaginary comfort that those traits of

“coolness” or “success” could somehow transfer to the wearer (Pattillo-McCoy, 1999).

The images of the Abercrombie advertisements are at odds with the images of the student

in the vignette, and that dissonance resulted in the positioning of the “Abercrombie kid”

as a poor (line 11) recent immigrant (line 4) from Latin America (lines 6, 8) child of color

(lines 9, 15, 16) whose first language was not English (lines 4, 13), and was prone to

crime (line 2). Unlike other vignettes where discrimination could be hidden behind

remedies to help students to achieve academically while positioning them in a deficit

frame; vignette 8 portrayed blunt racism, xenophobia, classism, linguicism and

175

criminalization of a brown body at school.

The class did not get into further discussion after the brief analysis above and

instead discussed the mise en scène. They required only two students as the antagonist

and protagonist teachers and rejected the idea of having someone representing the child

on stage. I divided the class in half and each group chose which party they would

represent. The groups conferred for around five minutes and chose the designated

actor/actress to perform on stage. When they were ready, I reminded them of the list of

strategies they designed in order to enter into the discussion in a firm and professional

manner. Knowing that anger and powerlessness prevented them from speaking out, I

briefly narrated a recent incident in which anger stopped me from defending myself (see

postscript at the end of this chapter), reassuring that it was acceptable during our

“rehearsals.” As in previous reenactments, the students should use the language practices

of their choice. They decided the conversation was going to be in English since the

accusing teacher was not able to communicate with the “Abercrombie kid” in English as

a way to be as realistic as possible to the scene depicted in the vignette.

After a couple of trials and coaching, the students were concerned about two

things: Ganiva’s calling the antagonist teacher prejudiced, and the fact that they felt it

was pointless to convince the antagonist that their point of view was wrong. The

following discussion focused on the pros and cons of calling out a colleague on her/his

prejudice, the students decided to focus on how to make the antagonist understand his/her

own prejudice without having to use the actual word so as to keep a collegial relationship,

instead of pushing to recognize he/she is wrong, and as a consequence, racist. Ursula, the

176

student whose mind went blank due to anger, offered an SDA as a way to start a

conversation about ethnicity. However, Marita told her “de qué sirve explicar de una

manera si no lo vamos a entender; pero si you’re actually speaking (on stage) we see”

[what’s the point of explaining if we’re not going to understand; but if you actually say it

(on stage) we’ll see]. Ursula had been part of the first reenactment of the research and,

since then, had only watched the reenactments, as she was usually shy and soft-spoken.

This time she stood up and took the stage.

Session 8, intervention 3

(1) URSULA What do you think about the ethnicity that I

have in my class? (2) MARITA

I don't think anything; I’m colorblind. I don’t think ethnicity is important in this

conversation. I'm asking about your student stealing the sweater of one of my students

(3) URSULA Why do you make that assumption?

(4) MARITA Ok, I quit. I had a good idea. Because he's a recent immigrant to the United Stated and obviously four month is not enough time for them to be… they don't have enough

income to afford an Abercrombie sweater (5) URSULA

Are you just assuming my students are from low-income households?

(6) MARITA I'm not assuming, I know

(7) URSULA How do you know?

(8) MARITA He's in the bilingual program

Used the SDA she proposed Strategy: ask for evidence (Marita reformulates her argument) Strategy: question reasoning Strategy: Ask for evidence

177

(9) URSULA That doesn't mean anything, just because

he speaks Spanish and he's taught in Spanish

(10) MARITA Where he comes from he speaks Spanish,

right? That's in their country, but here because they speak Spanish, you are

generally from low-income households (11) URSULA

Ok, I went to UT and read articles and investigations where spoke about Spanish speakers are more engaged and they have more achievement because they have both

languages (12) MARITA

No, I did go to UT but I never read these articles

(13) URSULA Because you're not a bilingual teacher while I am. This program helped me

understand how these students are learning and I'm valuing their language. You're not

valuing their language, that's how you assume they come from low-income

households? Language, that's why you assume.

(14) MARITA No, I said generally they come from low-income household. I'm not saying that all

your students. But I think that student who stole my student sweater, that's a fact.

Strategy: Ask for evidence Strategy: Power & knowledge: the fact she attended a well reputed university Strategy: knowledge and authority (expressions of outrage from the audience (“what!”) interrupted the scene

At the beginning of this intervention, Ursula used the SDA she proposed prior to

moving onto the stage, “what do you think about ethnicity” (turn 1). However, Marita

dismissed her question by resorting to the colorblind approach, highlighting that her

accusation was not caused by racism (turn 2). Contrary to what Ursula expected—having

178

Marita accept her prejudice against the student—her SDA did not work in practice even

though it might have sounded effective from the comfort of her seat. However, she

utilized some of the game-playing strategies her classmates and she created and examined

minutes before the reenactment session. As the chart above shows, not only did Ursula

deploy questions in which she tried to elicit evidence from her fellow colleague to clarify

assumptions of the connections among race and criminality (turn 3), class (turn 5),

immigrant status (turn 5, 7, 9), and language (turn 9). Ursula’s strategy toolkit also

included using the knowledge she learned as part of her professional development as a

bilingual teacher in a way that was not conceived by the whole cohort. She used the

prestige of both the university she graduated from (turn 11) and the expertise that comes

with her specialization (13) as a way to index knowledge and power. In her last

intervention, Ursula summarized her colleague’s train of thought that led her to her

assumption: because language indexed race, immigrant and SES status, the antagonist

assumed the student was a criminal. As Marita needed to save face after this synthesis,

she denied those connections, which were coldly welcomed by the audience, thus ending

this intervention. Immediately after, Ursula confessed her heart was beating while on

stage, though her classmates thought she looked very calm while deploying some of the

game-playing strategies the class had created, and congratulated her.

Some students pointed out that each party could invent the events prior to the

argument between the antagonist and protagonist, which could potentially make it harder

to “win” the argument. For instance, Ganiva mentioned that the antagonist could say that

she actually saw the child stealing the jacket; Jenny claimed that she could have said the

179

student could not have done it because her students were not allowed to take their jackets

to the playground. As the joker, I redirected them to find ways of continue this

conversation, still pointing out prejudice, but at the same time, maintaining collegiality.

Ganiva shared with the class her reflections on how not to see the antagonist as the

enemy as it was portrayed in the reenactments:

I think como generalmente, teachers even when they don't agree, they're generally

nice to each other, you know, even when they don't agree in certain issues como

que no se agarran de los pelos21, or, you know? They don't like raising their

voices, they're generally nice and try to understand each other so I think we're

going out like this (clashed her fist against the other), like trying to clash,

whereas, maybe en una situación regular you would kind of be, they wouldn't; at

least in some degree will try to work with each other.

Ganiva explained that the portrayal of the teacher antagonist was not accurate, as,

she believed, they would normally try to negotiate and find an agreement that satisfies

both parties. However, the vignette did not narrate an impasse with two opposing views

that could be solved with negotiation. The fact that the antagonist blatantly accused a

student of stealing a jacket due to the way his student looked sounded prejudiced.

Ganiva’s statement is partially true: while most teachers try to have a harmonious

relationship with their colleagues, the vignette shows that they could be violently

oppressive even if they used “nice” words to camouflage it. As I tried to elicit other ways

to call out this kind of behavior and still keep it professional, Milagros suggested using

21 Translation: they don’t pull each other’s hairs

180

the word “generalization” instead of prejudiced, while Ana Maria recommended “unjust”

to still maintain the denunciation.

Session 8, intervention 4

(1) ZULLY

Ok, I'll start with that. So you're student stole my student 's sweater because he's

poor (2) JENNY

How do you know he's poor? Do you know his family? (3) ZULLY:

Personally I don't, but he’s a recent immigrant to the US and moving to the US

is a very expensive process and getting settled into the US is an expensive process

and I personally don't think they would prioritize an Abercrombie sweater over

food on the table (4) JENNY

But don't you think that you're generalizing that because he’s an immigrant that he’s

poor? (5) ZULLY

Well, research shows that immigrants are poor (laughter from audience)

(6) JENNY Which group of immigrant are you

classifying? Because as far as I know, lots of recent immigrants are not poor

(7) ZULLY Well, no, because they can afford to take plane rides over here to migrate here. But

let's be real, people from the south just can't (8) JENNY

So don't you think you're just generalizing that because my student is from the south, as you said, that he's poor and that he can't afford things such as even a basic sweater?

Strategy: ask for evidence Strategy: asking questions to make people think what they are saying Strategy: asking questions to make people think what they are saying Strategy: asking questions to make people think what they are saying

181

(9) ZULLY But it's not just a basic sweater, it's an Abercrombie one, do you know what that

you know what that means? (10) JENNY

Do you know there’re other shops? You don't have to buy it directly from the store. And you know there are other sweaters

Strategy: asking questions to make people think what they are saying

In this intervention, Jenny deployed a couple of the collectively created rules to

both understand and question the logic behind the antagonist position. First, she asked for

evidence that prove the claims of the antagonist; in this case, the correlation between

poverty and crime (turn 2). As Zully could not provide that evidence (knowing the family

of the child accused of stealing he jacket is poor), Jenny changed her line of questioning.

She did not ask for correlations anymore but she attacked Zully’s arguments by asking

her to force her to rethink her train of thought and in a way, to provide a way out to save

face. Jenny started her questions with “do/don’t you think/know…?” (turns 4, 8, 10)

instead of direct statement as a way to avoid sounding aggressive and accusatory. In

spite of Zully’s answers and justifications for her racism and privilege—on behalf of the

antagonist that is—Jenny’s purpose was not geared towards winning the argument but to

be able to make the antagonist aware of her prejudice without using the word explicitly,

and she even provided opportunities for the antagonist to backtrack and save face.

As shown in this section, the participants were able to change their views of the

antagonist as some evil force to beat or convince to but someone to engage, negotiate,

and compromise. Even in extreme cases as the Abercrombie jacket, in which the

182

0

25

50

75

100

173 turns

EnglishSpanishCodeswitching

antagonist was being blatantly racist and difficult to reach a common ground, the

participants were able to try alternative ways to engage and call out without having to

burn bridges.

The Language of the Game

To understand the language patterns during Casos de la Vida Real, I analyzed the

language the participants used during the reenactments. Similar to what happened in

chapter 5, the trend during sessions 5 to 8 was the use of English in most of the turns in

the interventions. Since session 6 was devoted to the reformulation of Casos de la Vida

Real and there were no interventions, I examined sessions 5, 7, and 8. A total of 15

performance interventions happened during these sessions: two in session five, eight in

session seven, and five in session 8. The total turns taken in each of these performance

interventions amount to 173 (Figure 5.1)

Figure 5.1 Languages and turn-taking during reenactments: sessions 5-8

183

As Figure 5.1 shows out of the 171 turns during the reenactments of Casos de la

Vida Real 141 were taken in English (83%), 22 in Spanish (13%), and the codeswitches

amount to 8 (4%). The chart confirms the trend shown in chapter 5: the preferred

language for the reenactments is overwhelmingly English. Table 5.1 shows that turns in

English increased to 91% and in turn Spanish decreased to 37% from session 4 to 8. The

participation in the reenactments also increased 78% compared to the first four weeks of

the semester.

English Spanish Codeswitching

Turns % Turns % Turns % Total turns

Sessions 2-4

57 turns

59% 35 turns 36% 5 turns 5% 97 turns

Sessions 5-8

141 turns

83% 22 turns 13% 8 turns 4% 171 turns

Table 5.1 Language comparison between sessions 2-4 an 5-8

A comparison between sessions five, seven and eight show the prevalence of English in

the performances, which shifted from the inclusion of some Spanish and codeswitching

(especially in sessions 5 and 7) to an exclusive use of English in session 8. Even in

session seven, which shows more language variety from the start of the research, the

participants used Spanish and codeswitched 26% and 9% of the turns respectively while

the participants chose English as the language of the performance 65% of the time

184

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Session 5 20 turns

Session 7 80 turns

Session 8 71 turns

CodeswitchingSpanishEnglish

(Figure 5.2).

While these numbers show Casos de la Vida Real was predominantly in English

in spite of the push to use minority languages, one thing these charts do not show was the

language choices the spectactors made were in fact due to the context of the vignettes.

Vignette 5 was based on a conversation between a bilingual teacher and her mainstream

colleagues on the use of authentic material that portrays the history of Mexican and

Japanese Americans in the US.

Figure 5.2 Language comparison among sessions 5, 7 and 822

Vignette 7 is an exchange between a bilingual teacher and allies on the need to confront

head on racism in school meetings, and vignette 8 was a confrontation between a

bilingual teacher and a mainstream teacher about the criminalization of an immigrant

child (see Appendix 1 for more details). The participants chose English as the main

22 No reenactment was conducted during session 6

185

language of the interventions in the reenactment of vignette 5 and 8 due to the perceived

language of their interlocutors. Using Spanish when addressing a mainstream English

teacher or playing that kind of antagonist did not resonate with the students, as shown in

this short exchange previous to one of the interventions in session 7:

(1) GANIVA So en español o inglés? No importa?23

(2) URSULA You're the mainstream teacher so…

(3) GANIVA So I don't speak Spanish

In this exchange Ganiva consulted with her classmates the language she should use as the

antagonist of the story (turn 1). Note her willingness to use either language in the

performance by asking if the language choice was of importance in the reenactment (‘no

importa?’ turn 1). Her intrasentential switch in the same turn by her use of ‘so’ might

index not only her willingness to use either language, and/or her own capabilities to

perform in both. In turn 2, Ursula’s switch to English was strategic as the switch itself

provided the answer for Ganiva’s question. Ursula hinted to Ganiva that the language of

this specific vignette was linked to the character she would play. Her use of the word ‘so’

as an ellipsis at the end of turn 2 was Ursula’s way to elicit the answer instead of

providing one. Ganiva seemed to understand Ursula’s hints (turn 3) seconds before the

performance started.

Session 7 featured vignettes that portrayed how the language choices in Casos de

la Vida Real corresponded to the context of the vignette provided. Session 7 was unlike

23 Translation: So in Spanish or English? Does it matter?

186

the other sessions as the participants needed to choose two vignettes out of the four

provided. After some deliberation, the participants chose two vignettes to perform. The

first vignette—from now on vignette d—is the one illustrated the section ‘The Rules of

the Game’ in this chapter. The second vignette chosen was vignette b, which narrates the

story of a bilingual teacher who witnessed the push for early transition in a dual language

program by stigmatizing not only the children and their families, but the bilingual

teachers as well (see Appendix 1 for more information).

Even though the two vignettes happened in similar school settings, the

participants’ perception of how the exchanges took place and who the characters were

was key in their language choices. As per the description of the scene in vignette b, the

conversation took place during the meeting with the grade-level team; which led the

spectactors to imagine that the conversation occurred among both bilingual teachers and

mainstream teachers. As shown in the brief exchange previous to an intervention (shown

above), Ganiva and Ursula concluded that the characters they would play should speak

English for a more authentic portrayal of a conversation. As a consequence, when

performing vignette b, the students—who played the protagonists—chose to use English

as the common language in their exchanges, as they perceived the antagonist was an

English monolingual character without any prompt from the vignette itself not from me.

In contrast, vignette d portrays an exchange between like-minded colleagues after

a school meeting. With no more information about the identity of those colleagues, the

students assumed they might be bilingual as well, so the interventions of this vignette

displayed a more varied language use. Figure 5.3 shows the language comparison

187

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Vignette b Vignette d

CodeswitchingSpanishEnglish

between the performances of vignette b and d. While vignette b was performed

exclusively in English, Spanish and codeswitching were predominantly used in vignette

b. The students performed this vignette in Spanish and codeswitching in 60% of the

interventions. It is important to note that the linguistic line between protagonists and

antagonists is blurred since in this vignette the participants did not use one specific

language exclusive to the antagonist—and viceversa)

Figure 5.3 Language Comparison Between Session 7, Vignettes b and d

Figure 5.3 Language comparison between vignette b and d, session 7

The exchange below was produced during an intervention of vignette d. As Figure

5.3 demonstrates, during the interventions of this vignette, the participants showed a

more flexible range of linguistic practices that reflected their ability to seamlessly build

on one another’s ideas about the issues at hand without a distinction of a dominant

language. Vignette d portrays a conversation among teachers the participants assumed

188

bilingual. It is important to note that the following intervention is actually a reflection of

the language ecology of the classroom in which translanguaging was the shared and

communal language practice. This is the language use during class exchanges, pre and

post performance debriefings, and social conversation among the participants and also

with me.

Vignette d, intervention 2

(1) PATRICIA (Antagonist)

Al final del día ellos pasan más tiempo en su casa que es con sus papás. Nosotros solamente podemos hacer hasta cierta

parte. Nosotros solamente podemos hacer hasta cierta parte, no podemos entras a su casa y decirles: vas a hacer esto o aquello

(2) SARITA (Protagonist) Y tenemos (clases) en el verano para

compensar todo lo que (overlap) (3) ISABEL (Protagonist)

We sent stuff to parents, but do the parents understand them? A lot of times the parents don’t know how to use those

resources, they just don’t understand. So do we have (overlap)

(4) MARIELLA (Antagonist) Because our parents do not care about

them (5) MARITA (Antagonist)

We send (resources) in both English and Spanish. Going back to offering summer

classes, why? Are you going to pay for the summer classes? The materials, the

transportation? (6) SARITA (Protagonist)

Estoy de acuerdo, pero si nos ponemos a pensar es un problema que se tiene que solucionar. Le podemos echar la culpa a

Counterargument: teachers cannot control learning at home Strategy: show other perspective/solution Argument: lack accessible material/resources, lack of cultural and navigational capital Counterargument: parental lack of care Counterargument: lack of funds Argument: a refocus on solution, not problems Strategy: show other perspective

189

los papás o a quien quieras. Pero al final del día nosotras somos las maestras, los alumnos van a seguir viniendo a clase.

Tenemos que pensar positivo. Los papás se tomaron el tiempo , ven el valor de la

educación y traen a sus hijos a la escuela. Hay que agarrar de lo que nos están

dando, verdad? (7) ISABEL (Protagonist)

No entienden el sistema educativo entonces no saben que algunas clases son mejores o cuándo deben inscribirlos, o los

programas de después de la escuela. Muchas veces los padres no están

completamente conscientes de lo que deben hacer (overlap)

(8) MARITA (Antagonist) Pero estos padres ya tiene aquí, ponle, más

de 10 años, cómo que no saben? How aren’t they going to know how the education system works? (overlap)

(9) ISABEL (Protagonist) How do you know that?

(10) ANA MARIA (Protagonist) Los estudiantes no están aprendiendo a

leer muy bien en el nivel. No les estamos dando otros recursos que los va a ayudar a

que ellos mejoren. El currículo les está haciendo que ellos se limiten y eso no es el problema de los padres. Es más problema de los recursos que nosotros les estamos

dando (11) ZULLY (Antagonist)

But do you think that if we change the curriculum the parents are going to get

that? (12) ANA MARIA (Protagonist)

Los padres tal vez no les van a poner mucha importancia pero los estudiantes van a decirles a los padres “me puedes

Literal translation of get Argument: lack accessible material/resources, lack of cultural and navigational capital Counterargument: disbelief of the previous argument/Extrasentencial switch Strategy: ask for evidence Argument: lack of relevance of the current curriculum and lack of outreach Counterargument: parents’ inability to understand the changes in the curriculum Argument: partial agreement, reaching out to students first. Inclusion of a more culturally relevant approach to curriculum24

24Translation:(1)Attheendoftheday,(thestudents)spendmoretimeathomewiththeir.Wecanhelptoacertainpoint,wecan’tjustgetintotheirhousesandtellthemtodothisandthat

190

ayudar con esto? “ Es algo que tenemos nosotros que incorporar, la cultura para

ayudar a los estudiantes a aprender a leer y… mejorar sus habilidades

This intervention reveals several aspects. These aspects display the way the

students processed the different layers of discourse during the classes: the posters on the

wall helped them with the different arguments (for and against) on stage, the strategies

they created to channel their emotions and make their points clear in a professional

fashion, and the help of their teammates during “time outs,” the previous reenactments of

the same vignette and the participants’ creativity on stage. And let us not forget about

another layer: language. Language practices during this intervention require a more

nuanced analysis, which goes beyond literal translation of the verb ‘get’ into Spanish

(2)Andwehavemake-upsummer(classes)3)Wesendstufftoparents,butdotheparentsunderstandthem?Alotoftimestheparentsdon'tknowhowtousethoseresources,theyjustdon'tunderstand.Sodowehave(overlap)4)Becauseourparentsdonotcareaboutthem5)Wesend[resources]inbothEnglishandSpanish.Goingbacktoofferingsummerclasses,why?Areyougoingtopayforthesummerclasses?Thematerials,thetransportation?6)Iagreebutifwelookclosely,thisisanissueweneedtosolve.Youcanblametheparentsoranyoneelse,butintheendwe’retheteachersandthestudentswillkeepcomingeveryday.Weneedtothinkpositive.Parentstaketheirtimeandtheyvalueeducationandbringtheirchildrentoschool.Weneedtoholdontowhatthey’regivingus,right?7)Theydon’tunderstandtheeducationalsystemsotheydon’tknowsomeclassesarebetterorwhentosignup,ortheafterschoolprograms.Parentsaren’toftenawareofwhattheyneedtodo8)Butthoseparentshavebeenherelikemorethan10years,howcometheydon’tknow?Howcan’ttheyknowhowtheeducationalsystem?9)Howdoyouknowthat?10)Thestudentsaren’tlearninghowtoreadatgradelevel.Wearen’tprovidingresourcesthatwillhelpthemselves.Thecurriculumlimitsthemandthat’snottheirparents’11)Butdoyouthinkthatifwechangethecurriculumtheparentsaregoingtogetthat?12)Theparentsmaynotcarebuttheirchildrenwillaskthe“canyouhelpmewiththis?Thisissomethingweneedtointegrate,theirculturesoastohelpthemlearntoread…anddeveloptheirabilities.

191

‘agarrar’ (turn 6) and intersentential codeswitching (turn 8).

In previous chapters I purposefully broke down language usage into three

categories: Spanish, English, and codeswitch25, as a way to show whether a linguistic

power shift occurred during the reenactments. Chapter 5 and this chapter have shown that

given the chance, the participants would use English as the main language of the

reenactments except in the cases portraying bilingual characters. The reenactment above

could easily be examined using the three categories as well: 5 turns in Spanish, 5 turns in

English and two turns in codeswitching. However, these characteristics do not account

for the translanguaging space (Wei, 2010) the participants created and shared. Wei claims

that a translanguaging space is born out of the concept of languaging (Becker, 1988) to

denote action as part of an ongoing process “to generate new identities, values and

practices” (p. 1223) using multiple linguistic resources. Wei claims that translanguaging

goes beyond a focus on the flow among different codes, language structures, modalities

and skills, and functionality. Since identity, values and practices are notshaped out in a

vacuum, Wei maintains translanguaging is a shared social practice within a space that

allows both its enactment, and its co-creation.

Part of this co-creating and enactment means that this group of students defined

the boundaries of translanguaging practices during the reenactments on their own terms,

levels of comfort, and understandings of the narratives presented. In another study, I

concluded that the student’s tacit translanguaging policy during the reenactments was to 25 The participants used the word codeswitch and translanguaging interchangeably. However, codeswitching was used more prominently when referring to oral language production as they were more familiar with this term. To reflect this I use codeswitching to reflect their preferred word choice even though they mean translanguaging

192

keep only one main language in the intervention and the shift would only occur during a

character break if they could not recall a word/phrase in the main language and needed

help (Caldas, forthcoming). The intervention above is the reflection of the way the

participants enacted translanguaging communicated during classes previous to Casos de

la Vida Real section, the practices they used in the pre and post reenactment debriefings,

and even the couching times whenever they asked for a time-out to help the participants

who volunteered on stage. Since the participants viewed the characters of the vignette as

bilinguals; their performance mirrored how they languaged as bilingual beings.

In this intervention, the participants translanguaged in such a way that the main

language remained unmarked, unlike previous interventions where one language was

more salient than the other. The participants embodied both protagonists and antagonists

by imagining the language practices the characters used. Patricia (turn 1), Mariella (turn

4), Zully (turn 11), and Marita (turn 5 & 8) used English as the main language though at

the same time they were active participants in the translanguaged dialogue as no

clarification (simulated or real) was needed, nor did they hesitate to continue the dialogue

when being addressed in a different language by their peers. The fact that one of the

antagonists only used Spanish (turn 1) and another moved from a statement in Spanish to

a question in English to address the protagonists (turn 8) blurred linguistic boundaries

between protagonist and antagonists in that moment. The same happened with the

participants who played the protagonists, who mostly used Spanish as the main language,

though Isabel (turns 3, 7 & 9) and Sarita (2 & 6) also crossed language barriers.

The “anything goes” approach to translanguaging adopted by the participants

193

reflects the ongoing process of the creation of the translanguaging space where their

constant improvisation, challenge, and transgression might shape the way the participants

perceived themselves as bilingual beings, and inform their participation in the

reenactments as they perform their selves in the future. Doing (trans)language in the

classroom and breaking boundaries requires a critical examination of what that means for

their emerging identities as bilingual teachers, their instruction and pedagogies, and

principally, for their students in the future. Action without reflection is reactionary, and

reflection without action is mere navel-gazing. The following chapter will examine the

participants’ meta-(trans)linguistic reflections through reenactments of Casos de la Vida

Real and how these conversations resulted in emergent ideas about instruction and

advocacy.

POSTSCRIPT TO CHAPTER 5

September 16, 2014: Hello Blanca, I have been working on reviewing your

protocol and in an effort to expedite the process, I believe an in-person meeting

would be faster to discuss some of the items in the protocol. Would you be

available to meet this week?

Iunderstoodhowthoseemotionscouldcontrolspeechandthoughtsand

howtheycouldalsoblindmewithoutrage.Iencounteredasituationinwhichmy

emotionsparalyzedme,asmystudentswereinsomeinstancesinCasosdelaVida

Real.IreceivedamessagefromtheIRBofficetomeetthecoordinatorduringthe

fifthweekoftheresearch.Inthatmeeting,sheinformedmeIwasnotableto

194

conductmyresearchduetoabreachofconfidentiality,asthematerialvideo

recordedshouldbesupposedlyofflimitsafterIstoppedbeingthecourseinstructor.

AstheparticipantsinCasos,Iwasparalyzedbyfrustrationanddisempowerment,as

Iwasunableto“getmyfootinthedoor”whenIdidnothavethesamepowerasthe

coordinator,herbosssittinginfrontofmethetwoofthemexplainingtomethey

haveneverseenanIRBproposallikeminebefore.ImusteredupallthecontrolIhad

nottobesnarkyattherequirementtoconsulttheuniversityattorney,whowould

decidethefateofmyresearch.Askingforclarificationoftheirrequirementsand

takingnotesweremystrategiesasIthoughtthatanythingIsaidcouldjeopardize

evenmyapprovedpilotstudyconductedsomesemestersbefore.Silencebecamemy

strategyinalatermeetinginOctober9thwithbothcoordinatorsandmydissertation

chairatmyside.AsmyallyshehasthepowerthatIlacked,shewasableto

challengesomeoftherequirementsIwasforcedtomeetinordertohavemyIRB

proposalapproved.Iwitnessedmydissertationchairliterallylaughingatthe

coordinator,whoremainedstoic,bothinreliefthatsomeonedefendedmyrightto

doresearchthewayIdesignedit,andindiscomfortasIcouldbecomeaneasy

target.AsIwatchedmystudentsstrugglewithemotionsthattookcontroloftheir

voicesfilledwithfrustrationandhelplessness,Iconfrontedmyownemotionswitha

forcedsilenceandleashedoutrageinmyownCasodelaVidaReal,IRBversion.I

ponderedthetimeittookmetobeabletochannelandtamemyownemotionsina

situationIwouldhavespathot-whitefireatand/orcriedandscreamed

195

uncontrollablyatthesameageasmystudents.AndthereIwas,infrontoftheclass,

askingthemtospeakcalmlyinthemiddleofaCasosdelaVidaRealwhenIwasalso

strugglingwiththedangerofhavingthisresearchshutdownandsharingthesame

feelingsofpowerlessnessasmyownparticipants.TheIRBproposalforthisstudy

wasfinallyapprovedonNovember17th2014aftereightrevisions,acalltothe

universityattorneyandtwomeetingswiththeIRBcoordinators.

196

Chapter Six

Quiero Ser un Avocado1

TAKING THE LEAD: PROPOSING NEW CASOS

‘Al empezar mi horario escolar, mi rutina fue interrumpida por la secretaria de la

escuela quien encaminaba a mi salón a una alumna nueva. Detrás de ella, se

escondía Sonia, una tímida niña firmemente agarrada de la mano de su papá.

Ella se veía asustada y no muy animada de estar en la escuela. Con una sonrisa

de bienvenida, extendí mi brazo para saludarla a ella y a su padre. A las cuantas

horas y a pesar de mis esfuerzos por calmar su intranquilidad, me di cuenta de

que Sonia todavía no se sentía en confianza. Es mas, aun después de varios días,

seguía cohibida y con muy poco involucramiento en clase. A los pocos días, su

papá se presentó en la mañana para hablar conmigo, “Maestra, por favor tenga

paciencia con mi hija porque yo no le puedo ayudar, yo no sé leer ni escribir2.’

(Vignette 9, October 23rd 2014)

As stated in the second chapter when I laid out the format in which Boal worked

Forum Theater, the stories used on stage originated and were proposed by the audience.

1 When trying to translate the word “advocate” into Spanish, Antoinette came up with “avocado” as her approximation 2 Translation: As my school day at school started, the secretary interrupted my routine to introduce a new student. Behind the secretary was Sonia, a shy girl who was holding her dad’s hand very firmly. She looked scared and not very happy about school. With a smile I welcomed her and her dad. After some hours and in despite my efforts to make her feel at ease, I noticed she was not comfortable. Moreover, she was still uneasy after some days and she wouldn’t participate in class. Some days later, her dad showed up to talk to me. “Please, be patient with my daughter because I can’t help her; I don’t know how to read or write.

197

This means the narratives were lived experienced the spect-actors hoped to hash out on

stage in order to examine the factors that created the problem at hand to potentially find

plausible solutions. Unlike Boal’s Forum Theater, Casos de la Vida Real borrowed

challenging stories faced by teachers already in the field of bilingual education to be

reenacted by pre-service teachers who had yet to experience those situations but are

invested in those issues. However, it was during session 9 that students’ ownership of the

reenactments became more similar to the ones Boal engaged in around the world. As the

students shared their noticings of their visits into dual language classrooms, they also

started to imagine what they would do in the situations they witnessed. As a consequence,

one student proposed a Caso de la Vida Real she saw in one of her required observations.

Prior to starting Casos in session 9, the students had participated in the

exploration of their own funds of knowledge as they read more about this topic and

parental engagement in the classroom. As part of their classroom work, they had

previously responded to reflection questions with individual video/audios with an account

of their own funds of knowledge. With this information, the students would create posters

in which they would link their own funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992) with different

content areas and skills. After displaying and discussing their posters, I presented the

students with vignette 9—a parent who is ashamed of being ‘illiterate’ thus apparently

unable to help his daughter with coursework and asks a bilingual teacher for help—

chosen as it connected with the topic of that lesson.

As the students examined vignette 9 the focus of the class shifted to a story

proposed by Mariella, who was observing a pre-kindergarten teacher. Mariella voiced the

198

connection between the vignette and something she observed during one of her visits to

her assigned dual language class. As a requirement of the class, the students had to

complete a total of 6 hours of classroom observations in two different dual language

classrooms. As proof of their observations, the students would eventually turn in

observation logs and a written reflection of each of the classrooms visited, highlighting

the connections between their visits and the material used in class. The vignette’s

similarity with Mariella’s story—a shy student, her parent and the need for the teacher’s

intervention—ignited her intervention:

Ayer tuve una observación con Ms. X en Y elementary, y me tocó un caso muy

similar a este. Ella me dijo que había un niño en su clase que siempre estaba muy

tímido y que no hablaba con nadie. La razón es porque en su casa nadie le pone

atención porque nomás vive con su mamá. Y que cuando llega a su casa, su

mamá le da la tablet. Ella me dijo que tuvo una reunión con la mamá y como que

le llamó la atención porque... me dijo que le dijo a la mamá que cómo que sí tenía

tiempo para tener novio; que cómo que no tenía tiempo para dedicarle a su hijo.

Entonces al siguiente día el niño regresó con una actitud diferente, como más

alegre porque la mamá le dedicó más tiempo pero la mamá es una señora

mexicana que le dijo "no, si es cierto maestra." No es que le haya tomado a mal

pero o sea les pregunto a ustedes usted cree que harían3?

3 Translation: During my observation in Ms. X class in Y elementary, I saw something very similar to today’s Caso. She told me there was a kid a very shy kid in her class and he wouldn’t speak to anyone because nobody pays attention to him and he only lives with his mom. As soon as he arrives home, his mom hands him a tablet. She told me she met that mom and she scolded her because… she told me if that mom had time to have a boyfriend, why she didn’t have time for her son. The following day, that kid

199

In her story, Mariella narrated the reaction of the teacher she was observing towards the

lack of attention the Pre-K student received at home. In Mariella’s account, the teacher

confessed to her she scolded the parent for not spending quality time with her daughter,

which the teacher thought was the reason of the students’ shyness and lack of

participation in class. By the shocked look on her face, one could deduce that the teacher

scolding the parent for dedicating more time to her romantic relationship was what

triggered Mariella’s need for sharing this story. Even though the scolding of the teacher

bore positive results, she was concerned with the methods the teacher used to obtain this

outcome and was genuinely interested in trying a reenactment to find a more adequate

way to accomplish similar results without being too invasive.

Even though I would have preferred to reenact both the vignette and Mariella’s

story, as the class time was running out, I decided to let the students decide which they

would play. Even though they chose the vignette I prepared for that day, Mariella’s story

resurfaced as one of the students on the stage broke character and brought it up.

(1) LUZ (playing the teacher of the vignette) Usted tiene el tiempo limitado pero cada segundo tiene valor la vida de su hija. No tiene que pasar todo el día con ella para enseñarle algo. Cualquier cosa que usted le enseñe la

va ayudar en la escuela.4 (2) ANA MARIA (the father of the vignette)

(breaking character, to the audience) I think that part is essential (audience laughter). Sorry. The man in this case, like the mom who has a boyfriend; the mom has a lot of

work to do but, I mean, that's where she (Luz-the teacher) started saying those different types of ideas, it's a way to approach it.

showed up with a different attitude; he was happier because he spent more time with his mom. That mom is Mexican, and she agreed with the teacher. She was not upset at the teacher but I wonder what you would do in this case. 4 Translation: You have a limited time but every second counts for your daughter. You don’t need to spend all the time with her to teach her something. Anything you teach her is going to help her at school.

200

Despite the vignette not mentioning it, the students assumed that the father was not able

to support his daughter academically due to time constraints. This was the reason why

Luz, as the teacher, reassured him that even when he had a limited schedule his daughter

could still benefit from his skills and knowledge (turn 1). The time limitation Luz brought

to the conversation triggered Ana Maria’s response, which showed her recognition of

Luz’ response as the solution for both the vignette and Mariella’s story. This recognition

made Ana Maria break character by turning to speak to the audience and apologizing for

stopping the scene (turn 2), which was welcomed with surprise and laughter. Ana Maria

shared her discovery to her classmates explaining that the knowledge transmitted from

parent to child was essential, no matter the time spent with them. Ana Maria viewed Luz’

approach as the answer for both stories (‘The man in this case, like, the mom has a

boyfriend’) and that the teacher should tackle the time issue from a positive perspective

(turn 2).

After discussing how the father in the vignette could support his daughter’s

academic success, Mariella responded to Ana Maria’s claim that the solution found for

the vignette could work in the situation she witnessed in her observation:

(1) MARIELLA Sí, porque no están, no están como, no te puedes meter en la vida del padre, no puede

decir esto no está bien. Si la mamá quiere tener 1000 novios ese no es tu asunto. (2) RESEARCHER

Qué tipo de relación tiene la maestra y esa madre de familia en el caso de Mariella? (3) GANIVA

Suena como que la maestra tenía, como que estaba en confianza como para que la maestra dijera algo así tan personal.

(4) MARIELLA La maestra era como, como que su personalidad era muy fuerte. Le estaba diciendo a la maestra de ciencia cuando estábamos en recreo, le dijo así como que "oh sabes qué? Ya

201

aprendió a leer esta niña." O sea como que muy abierta, y la mamá con la que habló es como que más calmadita. Entonces creo que sintió un poquito más superior5.

Mariella’s response might shed light on the reason she proposed this narrative, as she

seemed to disapprove of the way the teacher she was observing handled the situation. She

believed it was not the teacher’s business to opine on the parent’s romantic life (turn 1: ‘if

that mom wants to have 1000 boyfriends, that’s not the teacher’s business’). At the same

time, however, Mariella was struggling to convey a similar message as the teacher—

providing more quality time with the child—without being as intrusive. As the facilitator,

I had the participants examine why, the approach the teacher in Mariella’s narrative

worked despite her intrusiveness. Ganiva attributed the success of such an approach to a

matter of confianza (trust) between the teacher and the mother (turn 3) as she thought

disclosing her romantic life required conversations beyond classroom matters. As a

primary witness of that classroom, Mariella offered more evidence of the teacher-mother

relationship as unequal as she claimed the confianza Ganiva perceived was the teachers’

sense of superiority and authority (line 4), which allowed her to scold the mother.

Proposing a new Caso as Mariella did was not a surprise. I was also using Casos

de la Vida real with an advanced cohort and I already had a student propose a new story

to reenact. Unlike Mariella’s case, the students in that cohort agreed to perform that story

because they identified it as a story most of them have witnessed in their school

5 Translation: (1) Mariella: Yes, because you can’t be nosy about that father’s life, you can’t tell him t’his is not right.’ If that mom wants to have 1000 boyfriends that’s not the teacher’s business. (2) Researcher: What kind of relationship does that teacher and that mom have in Mariella’s case? (3) Ganiva: Sounds like it was a trusting one because the teacher got involved in that mom’s personal life (4) Mariella: The teacher’s personality is strong. She shared with the science teacher during break one of her students had just learned to read. So she’s very open, but the mom was very quiet. I think the teacher felt a little bit superior

202

placements so that class felt the urgency to work on viable ways to find a solution. Even

though Mariella’s story did not hit home for her cohort in the same way with the other

cohort of students, they were able to identify some issues in her story their future selves

might have to deal with, so they were willing to explore those aspects only. Boal knew

this well; the stories to be performed need to touch a nerve, be familiar, and to be part of

the common stories of the community—in the context of this study, the community with

which they felt identified.

SPEAKING EDUCACIÓN

The whole semester, the participants showed a wide variety of language practices

with different purposes. Owing to the fact that an open language policy was in place in

the class, the participants constructed their own translanguaging space and their practices

evolved in the process. Since I decided to use the minoritarian languages as the main

languages of instruction (Spanish, and Espanglish6) that might have indexed to the

students that was what I expected from them. This is reflected in Chapter 5 during the

first reenactments of Casos de la Vida Real, as the students used Spanish and one student

apologized for switching to English. It is also in the same chapter that the participants

realized they were to set the language policy in the class and shifted to English as the

language of the reenactments. While at first that shift seemed to have occurred due to

their comfort in English and the need for certain control over their emotions; chapter 6

6 While the term “Spanglish” is commonly used to describe a combination of English and Spanish in oral production, its anglicized spelling still places English as the language of power.

203

showed that the language practices used in the reenactments probably depended on how

the participants perceived the characters in the narratives as a strategic move and creative

element that provided more context to the scenes they played. The reenactment of

vignette B in chapter 6 resembled more accurately the participants’ language practices as

the power differentials among the language practices became more blurred.

It was clear that the more the participants felt confident in their use of Spanish the

more comfortable they appeared to display openly what they were capable of

linguistically to discuss the content of the class. Zully, elaborated on her progressive

willingness to use Spanish as she overcame her fears of judgment:

Ellos saben que en el principio del semestre no quería hablar el español porque

I'm nervous, me pongo, pone nerviosa y no quiero errores pero ahora como siento

cómoda con las personas en este salón puedo hablar el español, yo puedo hacer

errores y ellos me van a ayudar… aunque no sepan7? even if they don't know it?

(her classmates confirmed her sentence was grammatically in Spanish correct

with a loud “yes”) ah, yay!

The level of confidence and comfort, paired with a free language policy set by the

participants, allowed them to use languages playfully in classes, resulting in what Luis

called “academic codeswitching” (interview 2). This meant that the participants were able

to bridge minoritized language practices formerly reserved for intimate conversations, or

what Guerrero & Guerrero unfortunately called “kitchen Spanish” (2009, p. 62), to the 7 Translation: my classmates know that at the beginning of the semester I didn’t want to speak Spanish because I’m nervous, I don’t want mistakes but now I feel comfortable with the people in the class, I can speak Spanish, I can make mistakes and they will help me… even if they don’t know it? (her classmates confirmed her sentence was grammatically correct in Spanish with a loud “yes”) ah, yay!

204

realm of bilingual teacher education. Some of the students attributed this bridging to my

class and other classes in the program where class discussions were conducted in

Spanish. Ana Maria, for example, took notes of words recycled by the instructors or

classmates in Spanish for future use:

Cuando leiamos ciertos textos miraba las palabras (and thought) ‘oh, entonces yo

puedo usar esa palabra para decir ciertas cosas.” Yo lo agarraba (words) cuando

escuchaba a los demas platicar, cuando escuchaba a los maestros dirigir las

lecciones en español, entonces era cuando yo decia “oh así se dice ‘desarrollo’”8

(interview, February 16th 2015).

Luis would resort to translation as his strategy to both learn new vocabulary related to his

career —as most material was written in English—and as part of his preparation for

discussion previous to class;

Yo tuve que traducir porque a veces yo quería saber como se decia en español y

yo si lo traducira, especialmente cuando estabamos con los artículos en inglés9

(interview, February 16th 2015).

Luz identified modeling academic discussion in Spanish as the main reason for using

Spanish for this purpose. Luz maintained that even when it was sometimes difficult not to

revert to English, they would because they tried to emulate the model;

Yo creo que es como los niños, cuando alguien les habla en español entonces

8 Translation: When we read certain text I’d look at the words (and thought) “oh, I can use that word to say certain things.” I’d catch (words) when I listened to others discuss, when I listened to the teachers teach in Spanish’ that’s when I’d think to myself “oh, that’s how you say ‘development ‘(in Spanish).” 9 Translation: I needed to translate because I wanted to know how to say something is Spanish so I’d translate it, especially when I read articles in English.

205

contestan en español. Entonces te escuchabamos a ti hablando español y

automaticamente. Solamente si era dificil para algunos expresarse en español

volvian al inglés, el escuchar el español en clase nos hacía hablar en español

10(interview, February 16th 2015).

While Luz put me—a person who is conventionally perceived as a Spanish native

speaker—as an example of modeling what I call “speaking educación;” during a class

discussion Zully professed her admiration for one bilingual instructor who learned

Spanish as an adult since it reflected her own experience.

While it is true that discussions in Spanish were crucial for the participants’

language development, some participants noted that the freedom of language practices

and the improvisational nature of Casos de la Vida Real increased their desire to be

further prepared for the reenactments as they could be performing in either language

depending on the characters they would play;

En la clase de Dr. X teníamos que hablar español, asi que no teníamos elección,

pero aquí (the research site) es más de que de una manera es de estar preparados

para ir al frente de la clase y hablar usando un discurso académico11 (interview,

February 16th 2015).

Si no sabía una cierta palabra como decirla en español yo no queria decirla

incorrectamente. So entonces tras estos Casos de la Vida Real se ha formalizado 10 Translation: I think it’s as if we were children, when someone speaks to you in Spanish you answer in Spanish. So we listened to you speaking Spanish and automatically. Only if it was difficult to speak Spanish, we’d go back to English; by listening Spanish in the classroom we would move us to speak Spanish. 11 Translation: In Dr. X class we had to speak Spanish so we didn’t have any choice, but here (the research site) it was more a matter of being prepared to take the stage and use an academic discourse.

206

mi vocabulario más y lo he usado más12 (interview, February 16th 2015)

The prospect of going on stage and improvising a scene without knowing what they

would perform and what language the character would use, pushed Luis to prepare

himself to use academic discourse to sound professional in two languages. For Luz,

sounding professional meant using formal and accurate vocabulary in either language, so

being prepared to deliver arguments in the reenactments implicated her in becoming more

proficient in her less dominant language.

THE TRANSLANGUAGING WARS

As the participants utilized all their language practices—but especially their

minoritized languages—to improvise, discuss and write in class, they became more aware

of the development of their language proficiency in Spanish as one of their goals as

future bilingual teachers. The reenactment of the next Casos de la Vida Real provided the

chance for the participants to examine the way they engaged in the contradiction of

existing language orientations as they juxtaposed their beliefs about language separation

and their own experiences in class engaging in translanguaging practices for both content

and language learning.

Algunos maestros bilingües se oponían a que se mezclaran los idiomas. Ellos, por

haber venido de un país donde se habla español, le decían a sus estudiantes: “no

12 Translation: If I didn’t know how to say a word in Spanish, I wouldn’t want to say it incorrectly. Because of Casos de la Vida Real my vocabulary has become more formal and I’ve used it more.

207

los mezcles; no me dañen ni el uno ni el otro.” No era justo decirle eso a un niño

que está creciendo con dos idiomas que se limite a uno. Por ejemplo, ayer uno de

mis niños estaban haciendo un escrito sobre la lucha libre. El escribió “my family

like lucha libre.” No va escribir “wrestling” porque no es tan significativo para

él. No hay ningún problema con que ellos mezclan los idiomas pero uno necesita

darse cuenta que es algo propio de Texas pues aceptarlo como parte de la

cultura13 (vignette 10, October 30th 2014).

Prior to the reenactment, the class discussion focused on Flores & Schissel’s

article (2014) on double monolingualism and dynamic bilingualism. According to the

authors, these two concepts describe two different orientations towards bilingualism and

bilingual instruction based on two sets of language ideologies. The former consists of a

monoglossic stance towards bilingualism in which the individual develops each language

as separate entity with a goal to perform linguistically and academically as a native/near

native monolingual user of such languages. The latter, in contrast, embraces the fluidity

of translanguaging practices that resembles the actual practices of specific bilingual

communities without stigma; which not only allows language learning but academic

success and bicultural identity affirmation. The realization of these two ideological

approaches to bilingualism and bilingual education created a new challenge among the

participants since it pushed them to examine their language learning trajectories, their 13 Translation: Some bilingual teachers opposed language mixing. Because they came from a Spanish-speaking country, they’d tell their students: “don’t mix them, don’t damage them.” It was unfair to tell that to a child growing up with both languages to set limits. For example, yesterday one of my students was writing about wrestling. He wrote: “my family like lucha libre.” He’s not going use “wrestling” because it’s not meaningful. I don’t see any problem with language mixing but you need to understand this is a Texan practice and part of their culture.

208

observations in selected dual language classrooms, and their own future approaches to

teaching.

Some students volunteered examples of these stances in the classrooms they were

placed in for observation. Milagros, for instance, praised dynamic bilingual practices she

observed as she decided to create a translanguaging space in her future classroom. Marita

mentioned that even though the dual language classroom she observed had an official

language separation policy in place, the teacher allowed multiple language practices:

Aún cuando la maestra estaba dando instrucción en inglés, a veces usaba cambio

de código y hablaba en español. Cuando corregía, no decía que era un error usar

cambio de código o hablar español cuando ya estaba hablando inglés, solo

regresaba al inglés14 (Marita, class discussion, October 30th 2014).

For some students who had once been positive with the language policy they observed in

their placement, soon became critical as they reexamined their observations. Enrique, for

instance, noted the possible future repercussions of language separation in the confidence

of emergent bilinguals in the classroom;

Yo tampoco sabía que en algunas escuelas separan los lenguajes pero me voy

dando cuenta que muchas escuelas practican esto. Me sorprendió escuchar cómo

la maestra no aceptó la respuesta porque no era en el lenguaje indicado. Me

imagino que en el futuro los estudiantes tendrán miedo de participar en clase15

14 Translation: even when that teacher is instructing in English, she would codeswitch and speak Spanish. When she corrected she wouldn’t say it was a mistake to codeswitch. 15 Translation: I didn’t know about language separation at school but I’m more aware of that. I was surprised to hear how a teacher didn’t accept an answer because it was not done in the right language. I guess that in the future those students would be scared to participate in class.

209

(Enrique, class discussion week 10).

The discussion of the article and the participants’ connections to their initial glimpses

into dual language classrooms framed Casos de la Vida Real as a rehearsal of their future

stance. After some coaching time before the second performance—which was criticized

for lacking evidence—Roxana, Liliana, Antoinette, and Luz took the stage.

Performance 2 (1) ROXANA

Nosotros pensamos que está bien que los estudiantes no mezclen sus idiomas porque

pueden dañar el uno al otro, preferimos dejarlos separados

[We think it’s ok for the students not to mix languages because they can damage them.

We prefer separation] (2) LUZ

Recientemente han habido investigaciones que demuestran que el usar el primer

idioma para aprender el segundo resulta de mucho beneficio. Ellos están transfiriéndo su conocimiento para aprender un nuevo

lenguaje. Es la razón que nosotras dejamos que los estudiantes usen su primer lenguaje [There are recent research that shows that using the first language to learn a second i beneficial. They are transfering knowledge to learn a new language. This is why we let

students use their first language] (3) ANTOINETTE

También el concepto de codeswitching ayuda su comprensión de los conceptos y de los temas que están aprendiendo. No

hay investigación que… funcione? (to Luz) [Also codeswitching help them

understanding concepts and the subject matter they’re learning. (To Luz) There is

no research that… works?] (4) LUZ

Argument: double monolingualism affords better language proficiency. Language mixing damages both languages Counterargument: language mixing promotes learning and language learning. Counterargument: similar to Luz’ argument before overlapping

210

(to Antoinette) demuestra [(to Antoinette) shows]

(5) ANTOINETTE (to Roxana) demuestra (overlap) [(to Roxana) shows (overlap)]

(6) ROXANA Cuanto tiempo se tarda para que puedan ver que la mezcla de los dos idiomas si

funciona? No sería mejor empezar desde un principio porque van a estar

aprendiendo y van estar así, en vez de eventualmente puedan ver que sí funcionó?

(To the audience) I don't know what I’m saying (voices; otra vez, again)

[How long does it take to know whether language mixing works? Wouldn’t it be

better to start from the beginning because they’re learning and are going to be like

that, instead of eventually learn if it worked? (to the audience) I don’t know

what I’m saying (voice: do it again)] (7) LILIANA

(helping Roxana) Cómo vamos a saber si los estudiantes conocen los dos lenguajes en el mismo nivel durante este tiempo?

Porque puede mezclar las cosas pero que si es porque no saben una palabra entonces

mejor la dicen en otra (language) [(helping Roxana) How are we gonna

know if the student are proficient in both languages at the same level during that

time? They can mix things but what if it’s because they don’t know a word so they

say it in the other (language)] (8) LUZ

Porque nosotros estamos viendo que en el trabajo de los estudiantes estamos

dándonos cuenta que no están usando el primer lenguaje como "crutching,” lo están usando como una herramienta para darse a

entender y están usando el lenguaje en contexto.

[Because we can see it through students’

Luz helped Antoinette with a word Asking for evidence of effectiveness Failed attempt to create an argument Asking for evidence of effectiveness. Elaborating Roxana’s point Argument: using all language practices as a tool for learning, not a crutch

211

work, we notice they’re not using their first language as “crutching;” they’re using it as a tool to understand and they’re using

the language in context] (9) ANTOINETTE

Ustedes tienen que conocer sus estudiantes, no? Y sus habilidades en el momento

[You need to know your students, right? And their skills.] (10) ROXANA

Pero esa no es la única manera de poder conocerlos en diferentes formas, como…]

(overlap) [but that’s not the only way to get to know

them in different ways, such as…] (11) ANTOINETTE

Necesitamos un sistema de... how to... explorar, no...examinar, evaluar (overlap)

[We need to find a way to… how to… explore, evaluate… (overlap)]

(12) LILIANA Yo siento que sí conocemos a nuestros

estudiantes y es por eso que no queremos mezclar los idiomas. Como por ejemplo,

para el examen de STAAR, nada más van a estar evaluados en un idioma. Entonces por

eso queremos darle esta práctica y que separen los idiomas para que no se

confundan durante el examen [I feel we know our students, that’s why we

don’t want language mixing. For the STAAR test, for example, they’ll be

evaluated only in one language. So we want them to practice and not to mix

languages so as not to get confused during the text]

(13) ANTOINETTE Hemos visto que el transfero, el

codeswitching funciona pero al mismo tiempo los estudiantes necesitan poder

escribir y hablar. Entonces no es posible que nosotros especificar cuando los

estudiantes pueden usar los dos lenguas y

Argument: Need for getting to know students’ skills Interrupted counterargument: Interrupted argument Argument: language separation for testing success Counterargument: codeswitching supports academic achievement. A matter of linguistic rights

212

cuando no pueden. [We have notice the “transfero”,

codeswitching works but at the same time the students need to write and speak. So it’s not possible for us to tell them when

they can use both languages and when they can’t]

(14) LUZ Además han habido estudios que

demuestran que los alumnos bilingües realmente tienen una mejor… (voices:

tiene más éxito, performance, rendimiento)… tiene mejores capacidades y pueden tener mejores… calificaciones que los, comparados a los monolingües

[Besides, studies show bilingual students have a better… (voices: success,

performance, competency)… competency and can have better grades]

Counterargument: studies support the use of all language practices support for academic achievement

The class erupted in applause when this performance ended. During the post-

performance debriefing, the audience agreed that the pair the students perceived as

protagonists (Luz and Antoinette) utilized evidence in their performance. Luz claimed

that her arguments were backed up by research (turns 2 and 14), even though she did not

mention specific scholars and studies. Nevertheless, it seemed clear that all the

participants were acquainted with those arguments through the class material to consider

them valid and strong. Antoinette tried revoicing Luz’ arguments (turn 3) and asked Luz

for help with the word “demonstrate” without breaking the language she assumed her

character spoke (Spanish). Although she failed to finish delivering a couple of her

arguments (turn 5 and 11), she claimed that teachers should be able to assess students’

language skills in two languages without having to separate them (turn 9), and students’

213

linguistic rights to express themselves using all aspects of their linguistic toolkit (turn

13).

The construction of what codeswitching means is worth examining in this

performance as it framed Luz and Antoinette’s arguments. Antoinette used the word

“codeswitch” twice in her performance though in turn 13 she attempted to recall the

Spanish translation of translanguaging by saying “tránsfero.” Instead of asking for help

with the word “translinguismo”16 as she did with “demostrar (turn 3), Antoinette showed

that she was familiar with both terms and used them interchangeably. However, both

Antoinette and Luz’ use of the word codeswitching aligned more closely to what

translanguaging means. In turn 8, Luz moved away from the traditional negative

connotation that codeswitching works as a crutch by redefining that word, and at the

same time reclaiming it. The change in terms without a shift in ideologies is meaningless.

The replacement of the term “bilingual education” for “dual language program” resulted

in more acceptability by the general public to the extent that white middle class English

monolingual families have increasingly become the main beneficiaries. However, the

term change to “dual language” does little to change the de facto English-only language

policies in K-12 at a federal and local level in spite of research explored in class.

Likewise, the concerns about the faddish use of the word “translanguaging” over

others—codeswitching being one of them—among the community of bilingual education

scholars undermines an actual paradigm shift that is critically needed in order to inform

educational institutions perception of minoritized language practices, their speakers, and

16 As used in Spanish by Garcia (2012)

214

their communities. Even though the participants were exposed to both terms, the meaning

behind the use of the word codeswitching denotes the legitimization of their language

practices in class, thus a shift in how they perceived themselves and, as they participated

in the reenactments, how they perceived their future students.

In spite of the applause following the performance and the class’ identification

with Luz and Antoinette, the consensus was that they did not “win” the argument.

Although the argumentation of the damage caused by language mixing was immediately

dismissed from the start (turn 1), and despite some false starts (turn 6 and 10), two of the

arguments deployed by the students who played the perceived antagonists were

concerning. Liliana asserted the impossibility to assess language proficiency in each

language without separation (line 7), and state-mandated testing in one single language at

a time (line 12). The participants pondered their concerns about test mandates, the

repercussion against students (academic failure) and teachers (being fired); the long-term

effectiveness of translanguaging pedagogies in language acquisition, and local needs.

Instead of further discussing their concerns, I proposed a third reenactment to

“difficultate” the scene and allow a deeper examination. Ana Maria, Paola, Enrique and

Isabel took the stage.

Performance 3

(1) ANA MARIA

Es que nosotros pensamos es que debemos de separar los lenguajes. Nosotros

pensamos que debemos de platicar y tener conversaciones más de cómo debemos de

Argument: developing two languages separatedly should be the goal and focus of all discussions on instruction

215

implementar el lenguaje en clase. Pensamos que tenemos los dos lenguajes (separately] en vez de interconectarlos

[We think we need to separate languages. We think we need to have more dialogue

about how to apply language policies in the classroom. We think we have the two

languages (separately) instead of interconnecting them]

(2) ENRIQUE En la cultura de nuestros estudiantes están acostumbrados a mixtear los dos lenguajes. Si los queremos separar no se van a sentir

cómodos, como que no los estamos valorando

[due to their culture, they’re used to mixing languages. If we try to separate them, they won’t feel confortable, as if we were not

valuing them] (3) ANA MARIA

Pero el final del día si ellos comienzan a hacer esas interconexiones no van a poder diferenciar los dos lenguajes. Nos vamos a

confundir en un sentido [but at the end of the day if they don’t make those interconnections, they won’t be able to tell the languages. We’re going to get

them confused] (4) ISABEL

Pero también podemos usar su primer lenguaje para transferir al otro idioma.

Muchas veces hay, uhm, cogn… cognates? que pueden usar del español al inglés y es

lo que les ayuda porque a veces es más fácil para ellos. No que los están usando (first language) como crutch pero si lo están usando porque, porque pueden

intercambiarlos [but we can also use their first language to

transfer to the second. There are many, uhm, cogn… cognates? they can use from Spanish to English and that can help them because it’s easier for them. They’re not

Counterargument: mixing languages in the class is part of the culture of the students Argument: language mixing brings confusion and lack of awareness on when to use each language Counterargument: use of all language practices facilitates language proficiency in each language. Use of cognates as a strategy. Language mixing as a tool, not a crutch

216

using (first language) as a crutch but they’re using it because they use them

interchangeably] (5) ANA MARIA

Pero eso después puede ser algo difícil para ellos cuando empiezan a aprender el

lenguaje académico porque en vez de decir “estacionarse” a veces dicen “parquearse”

y eso es no es correcto [but then it’s going to be difficult when they start learning academic language because instead of using “parking” they will say

“parquing” and that’s not right] (6) PAOLA

(it’s also difficult) separar cognados falsos que quieres usar la idioma primaria para

ayudar al otro [(it’s also difficult) to separate false

cognates used in the first language to help the second] (7) ISABEL

Nuestros estudiantes sí saben la diferencia, Es parte de su cultura, es cómo la usan

(languages). Pero sí saben como… to do codeswithing

[our students know the difference. It’s part of their culture, that’s the way they use (languages). But they know how to… do

codeswitching] El examen no le importa que sea

culturalmente o no culturalmente como uses tu lenguaje. Les van a dar el examen a los estudiantes en un solo lenguaje; qué van

a hacer cuando lleguen ese punto? [The test do not care if you use languages in cultural ways or not. The exam is in one language. What are you going to do at that

point?] (10) ENRIQUE

Nosotros creo que pensamos más allá del examen como la vida real (laughter). Creo que los vamos a llevar al nivel del examen y creo que vamos a sobrepasar eso con el

Argument: language mixing leads to fossilization Argument: false cognates leads to fossilization Counterargument: bilingual students’ ability to know languages in different contexts Argument: monoglossic nature of testing Counterargument: language practices resemble real life communication. The use of all language practices lead to academic success

217

bilingüismo y el codeswitching [We think beyond the exams like in real life (laughter). We think we’re gonna reach the

goal and surpass expectations with bilingualism and codeswitching]

(11) ANA MARIA Queremos separar los lenguajes para que

ellos sepan exactamente qué son las habilidades que van a tener después. Esto al final los va ayudar no nada más en el examen pero como ustedes dicen los va ayudar en tener más exito en el futuro [we want to separate languages so the

students know what are the language skills they’ll have. At the end this will help them in the exam, but also—as you have pointed out—to be more successful in the future]

Argument: language separation allows students’ self assessment of language proficiency. Learning language separatedly means success beyond exams

When asked their opinions on the weight of the arguments given in performance

3, the class agreed both pairs of actors were even. Ana Maria and Paola added on to

Liliana and Roxana’s arguments in favor of double monolingualism when referring to

consequence to language mixing: confusion (turn 3) fossilization (turn 5) and the danger

of misuse false cognates (turn 6). Ana Maria dismissed conversations on dynamic

bilingualism and normalized double monolingual practices when teaching bilingual

students (turn 1). Similar to the previous performance, Ana Maria brought up testing

(turn 8), and the importance of learning languages separatedly as a factor of success (turn

10). Meanwhile, Isabel restated the redefinition of codeswitching as a tool for learning

instead of a crutch (turn 4) and added the use of cognates as an example of strategies to

bridge languages. On the other hand, Enrique argued that language separation meant

depriving students of a cultural practice, which consequences could affect students’

218

confidence. The students who reenacted the vignette claimed each argument and

counterargument pushed them to reconsider their initial position as they acknowledged

both sides.

TO SWITCH OR NOT TO SWITCH

The written class reflections provided the participants with the opportunity to

formulate how they envisioned their language policy in the classroom. All the

participants agreed on the fact that what they called codeswitching was a positive and

beneficial practice that welcomes students’ linguistic repertoires in such a way that

promotes “linguitic solidarity among students who share a similar cultural identity” (Luis,

written reflection). As mentioned before, it is important to note their redefinition of

codeswitching was similar to what Wei (2010) calls translanguaging spaces, or Flores &

Schissel (2014) call dynamic bilingualism.

To separate the languages appears to be more difficult than intertwining them.

Porque la comodidad y la seguridad son dos aspectos muy importantes de una

clase bilingüe en una escuela primaria, quiero permitir que mis estudiantes

mezclar los dos idiomas17 (Bonnie, written reflection, November 5th 2014).

Quiero hacer mis estudiantes sentir que la alternancia de codigos no es algo

negativo y que estan usando su conocimiento de los idiomas para construir y

17 Translation: To separate language seems more difficult than intertwining. Because I think being comfortable and feeling safe are very important in the bilingual classroom, I’ll allow language mixing.

219

compartir sus ideas18 (Milagros, written reflection, November 5th 2014).

Incluye el repertorio completo de los estudiantes y le permite a expresarse

completamente, ayuda a crear una solidaridad linguistica entre los estudiantes que

comparten la misma identidad cultural19 (Luis, written reflection).

Después de haber estudiado sobre los bastantes beneficios del cambio de código y

de haber aprendido que es un proceso cognitivo muy complejo que requiere de

bastante habilidad, he llegado a la conclusión que el cambio de código es algo

positivo20 (Luz, written reflection, November 5th 2014).

Creo que estas decisiones están basadas en la manera en la que maestros aprenden

a enseñar y me he dado cuenta de que con mi propia educación he tomado la

posición del lado de la mezcla de los idiomas. Algo que también me influye en

mi posición es el saber que para mi mezclar los dos idiomas es natural21 (Ganiva,

written reflection, November 5th 2014).

For some students like Guadalupe, the reenactments of vignette 10 reinforced further the

beliefs she already held in favor of what the participants called codeswitching:

En lo personal yo siempre he estado a favor de mezclar los idiomas y despues de

18 Translation: I want my student to feel that codeswitching is not negative and that they’re using their knowledge about language to build and share their ideas when 19 Translation: It includes students’ language repertoires and allows them to express themselves more thoroughly, help them develop linguistic solidarity among classmates that share similar cultural identity 20 Translation: After studying the benefits of codeswitching and that’s a very complex cognitive process that requires lots of skills, I’ve concluded codeswitching is positive 21 Translation: These decisions are based on the way teachers learn how to teach and I’ve realized that, like my own education, I’m taking sides to language mixing. Something that has influenced my position is knowing that language mixing is natural

220

ver el debate en clase mis creencias eran mas fuertes22 (Guadalupe, written

reflection, November 5th 2014).

The reenactments served as a catalyst to the classroom as it concretized and

problematized their ideas, visions, beliefs on whether “to switch or not to switch” in the

flesh of the participants who took the stage. As Enrique shared, the reenactments

provided the opportunity for some students to reconsider their position concerning

language separation; which for him, was a victory in itself:

Me sentí orgulloso de poder ver como algunos de mis compañeros reaccionaron

cuando se informaron como la mezcla de lenguajes nos beneficia porque algunos

creen en el doble monolingüismo. Yo creo que respetare sus decisiones pero si les

tratare de informar los beneficios de la mezcla de lenguajes con los estudios que

se han hecho. Me aseguraré de que mis estudiantes estén informados de todos los

beneficios de poder hablar dos idiomas simultáneamente23 (Enrique, written

reflection, November 5th 2014).

Enrique’s statement showed not only his belief on language mixing, but he went further

to assert he would actively inform other teachers and students of the benefits of

switching. Luz, on the other hand, reflected on the conflicts that she would potentially

encounter, and her preparedness to respond to the challenges to her language practices as

a teacher:

22 Personally, I’ve always been in favor of language mixing and after the debate my beliefs are stronger 23 Translation: I felt proud to see my classmates’ reactions when they learned language mixing is beneficial because I know some believe in double monolingualism. I’ll respect their decision but I’ll let them know about the benefits of codeswitching with research. I’ll make sure my students are aware of all the benefits of speaking both languages simultaneously

221

El debate me hizo pensar en los conflictos que enfrentaré debido a este tema y que

debo estar preparada para defender mi ideología de lenguaje en mi salón de clases

en una manera efectiva y professional24 (Luz, written reflection, November 5th

2014).

As Zully and Rocio shared similar views to the aforementioned students, nine

students in total declared their alliance to dynamic bilingualism as part of their future

teaching practices (Flores & Schissel, 2014). However, this tally did not mean the

remaining the thirteen participants would adhere to double monolingualism.

Thirteen students agreed that a combination of mixing and separating languages

could serve them best when teaching languages (Spanish and English) at school, a stance

that was influenced by their language trajectories and experiences. Isabel’s statement

expressed the general sentiment of the class:

Creo que sí es importante practicar los dos lenguajes por eso me gusta poder usar

los dos idiomas en una clase. Pero también sé que tengo que mejorar mi español

académico para que pueda hacer una mejor maestra bilingüe25 (written reflection,

November 5th 2014).

While Isabel experienced the use of all her linguistic toolkit as asset during the semester,

she also reached the conclusion that in order for her to become an effective bilingual

teacher, it was imperative for her to develop further her language proficiency in Spanish.

24 Translation: The debate made me think about all the conflicts I’ll face due to this issue and that I need to be prepared to defend my language ideology in my classroom in an effective and professional way 25 Translation: I think it’s important to practice both languages; this is why I’d like to use both in class. But I also know I need to improve my academic Spanish to become a better bilingual teacher

222

Sarita elaborated Isabel’s point, mentioning that as future bilingual teachers, their

language of development of Spanish during their teacher preparation was motivated by

the impact in the language development of their future students:

I feel that bilingual education should provide a child with the full experience in

BOTH languages. In our specific case, we are in a bilingual program getting

ready to give our future students the full toolbox in BOTH languages (Sarita,

written reflection, November 5th 2014, emphasis hers).

Isabel and Sarita proposed a combination of approaches depending on students’ linguistic

needs, placing more emphasis on the language that requires more development:

Como maestra bilingüe quisiera que mis estudiantes tuvieran confianza en usar

sus dos idiomas pero también necesitarían saber cómo separar cada uno porque

cuando uno está escribiendo en un contexto académico es necesario separarlos.

Para mí también depende el contexto la clase. Si nada más están practicando uno,

quisiera poner más énfasis en el que necesitan más ayuda, si es espanol o inglés.

Es importante saber los dos idiomas igualmente26 (Isabel, written reflection,

November 5th 2014).

As Isabel’s reflection shows, she understood that context should guide the language

policies in the classroom. Isabel pointed out that writing is an area in which students need

to maintain one language, probably due to the monoglossic nature of assessment. Isabel

understood that context would be decisive in the language policy in the class, as she 26 Translation: As a bilingual teacher I’d like my students to be confident when using their languages but they will need to know how to separate them because in academic settings you need to. To me it depends on the context. If they’re only practicing one, I’d like to emphasize the one that needs more help, whether it’s English or Spanish. It’s important to learn both languages equally.

223

would adjust it to create a language balance:

La maestra debe tener mucho cuidado para exponer al estudiante a la misma

cantidad de informacion en los dos idiomas. Entonces si la maestra está hablando

mayormente en español el estudiante no va a ser expuesto a niveles altos de

inglés, nada más niveles altos de español27 (Sarita, written reflection, November

5th 2014).

Although five participants stated similar beliefs as Isabel and Sarita, they agreed

that an early language separation policy during instruction would be more effective.

These participants believed that an early focus on proficiency in each language

separately—especially in terms of the formal aspects of the language—would allow

students to be able to mix languages and be better equipped to make crosslinguistic

connections. Ana Maria, Patricia and Roxana’s reflections are representative of this

stance:

El doble monolingüismo yo creo que especialmente puede ayudar a los

estudiantes que apenas están empezando la escuela y que tienen problemas

desarrollando sus lenguajes nativos, y la separación de los dos lenguajes ayudará

a los estudiantes a desarrollar bien sus primeros lenguajes antes de aprender el

otro y mezclar juntos28 (Ana Maria, written reflection, November 5th 2014)

27 Teachers need to be careful to expose students to the same amount of information in both languages. If the teacher is speaking mostly in Spanish, the students won’t be exposed to high levels of English, only high levels of Spanish. 28 Translation: double monolingualism can be used to help students who are just starting school and have difficulties learning their first language, and language separation can help them develop their first languages before learning the second and mix them

224

Creo que usar el doble monolinguismo en los primeros años sería muy importante

para establecer bases en sus dos idiomas y después conforme vaya pasando el

tiempo implementar la alternacia de códigos cuando estemos seguros que existe

un entendimiento y dominio de tanto el español como el inglés29 (Patricia, written

reflection, November 5th 2014)

While all the participants found translanguaging practices an asset in the

classroom, they were inclined to consider that those practices should be fomented in class

only after their students proved to have solid grammatical foundation in each language.

Sarita, Mariella, and Jenny referred to their own linguistic trajectory as the basis for that

argument since the language policy in place both at school and at home was of language

separation. Jenny, for instance, admitted her experiences learning languages from a

monoglossic perspective had partially changed how she viewed language mixing as she

had stopped herself from thinking of such practice from a deficit perspective:

Todos los años que fui a la escuela primaria, secundaria y la preparatoria viví con

esa regla, que la opinión de que mezclar los dos idiomas esta mal. Yo creo que

como maestra me está afectando bastante porque cuando veo a mis estudiantes

mezclando los dos idiomas no salto en tener esa opinión de que esta mal porque

así crecí yo. No podría rechazar a un estudiante o hacer disciplina injusta a un

estudiante que desea mezclar los dos idiomas porque es una política lingüística

29 Translation: I think using double monolingualism in the first years is very important to set the foundations in both, and then in time codeswitching can be added when we’re sure there is understanding and proficiency in both Spanish and English

225

que tienen ellos como individuo30 (Jenny, written reflection, November 5th 2014)

In her last line, Jenny’s stance reflected that while she still believed language separation

during the early stages of schooling was more effective, she also believed forcing

students to stop using all their language toolkit was unfair as she regarded them as

language policy makers in the classroom too.

The remaining six students maintained their decision to use double

monolingualism along with dynamic bilingualism resulted in the examination of more

recent educational experiences at the university level. These participants expressed their

wish to replicate the language policies in place in their preparation program as a model in

the future. Ursula summarized this view succinctly:

En nuestras clases este semestre maestras aceptan que mezcles los idiomas pero

ciertas asignaciones te piden que lo hagas completamente en un idioma. Esta

estrategia se puede usar en nuestra futura clase para que los estudiantes no estén

usando su segundo idioma como un muleta, sino para expandir el conocimiento

de los estudiantes en los dos lenguajes31 (written reflection, November 5th 2014)

Ursula mentioned that the purpose of language separation in certain assignments was to

push her classmates to develop not only their language proficiency but also to expand

their knowledge in the topics to be explored. María justified her language choices—to

30 Translation: I was under that rule throughout my schooling, that is, mixing languages is wrong. I think that’s affecting me a lot because when I see my students mixing languages I don’t have that opinion anymore because I was raised like that. I cannot reject my students or discipline unfairly if they want to mix languages because that’s their personal language policy. 31 Translation: this semester our instructors accept language mixing but in some classes they ask you to complete assignments in one language. This strategy can be used in our future class to have students not use their second language as a crutch but to expand their knowledge in both languages.

226

switch or not to switch—to be a matter of context, similar to the ones in place at

university:

Así como nuestra universidad usa los dos tipos (dynamic bilingualism and double

monolingualism) dependiendo del contexto y la situación, yo pienso que yo

también tendré ciertos momentos donde usaré una combinación de los dos tipos32

(written reflection)

After examining the syllabi from the five classes the participants were enrolled, two of

them were conducted only in one language: one in Spanish and one in English. Two of

them included written assignments in Spanish in the form of an online forum and lesson

planning development. Even though the texts exclusively in English used in these two

classes could be an indicator of a tacit language policy in such language, the participants

pointed out their instructors used both languages at different rates. It seems it was the

instructors’ prerogative to set language boundaries or not, both for themselves and for the

students. My syllabus—which I inherited as aforementioned—indicated the lessons were

to be conducted bilingually, and the students were required to complete assignments in

both languages. From the beginning, I adopted the stance of utilizing minoritized

language practices as the main language of instruction to legitimize both Spanish and

translanguaging as languages of academia. Regardless of my or my fellow instructors’

intentions and outcomes, the combination of language practices and exposure validated

and supported by the teacher preparation program provided a model to follow. As Liliana

32 Translation: if the university uses both (dynamic bilingualism and double monolingualism) depending on context and setting, I think I will have to use a combination of both.

227

stated; “if the university is doing it, why can’t we promote this behavior in the elementary

schools?” (written reflection, November 5th 2014)

The performances, discussions, and reflections followed left more uncertainties

than answers as the students caught a glimpse of the same challenges I do as a bilingual

teacher educator in a society with a monolingual mindset. One of these challenges

includes the use of empowering practices that elevate the status of Spanish, as the

language they need to develop as future bilingual teachers. However, the challenge is also

to provide the foundation for an ever evolving discourse that welcomes students’

linguistic practices and strategies and strives for the development of their linguistic

repertoire while pointing out the context that guides the “how, why, for what purposes,

with whom, in which varieties of language, at which stage in the individual and

community biliteracy cycle” (Cahnmann, 2003, p. 198). The question we all share is:

how to develop and preserve students’ language richness and interconnectedness, but at

the same time inspire them to move a step further and prepare them for future challenges

they will invariably face. As I do every time I teach future bilingual teachers, my students

will also walk a fine line between empowering students to be proud of all their language

practices while helping them to expand their linguistic repertoire in Spanish as a

minoritized language.

WITNESSING: QUIERO SER UN AVOCADO

One of the requirements of this class was for the participants to create a debate

making the case in favor of bilingual education in Texas by the readings, discussions and

228

class artifacts produced in class. Using Casos de la Vida Real as the model for this

assignments, the participants designed scripts for performance; some of which were

inspired by what they observed when visiting local dual language classrooms; and some

by imagining the integration of often ignored parties in the conversation for better

services for bilingual students. The participant-generated scripts showcased in the debates

are examples of the crafting of their tactics while “creating a means and a space from

whatever elements of resources are available in order to resist or subvert the strategies

of more powerful institutions, ideologies or processes” (Certeau, in Madison, 2010, p. 2;

author’s emphasis). The participants chose one of the six groups created for this

assignment, then crafted and performed their scripts on November 20th 2014.

In this section I will attempt to provide an account of the participants’ re-creation

of imagined moments as they became advocates on the stage and on their terms using

selected portions of their scripts combined with participants’ reflections—both from post

performance debriefings and interviews—and pictures capturing those moments. My

fieldnotes written then combined with my impressions in the right now provide

commentary as I try to recreate the fleeting moments of witnessing I captured during the

final debates through video recording. I choose to place all the aforementioned text in the

form of a short ethnodrama (Saldaña, 2011) to represent how advocacy was imagined and

constituted among the participants through embodiment and creativity.

In the present script, each of the participants—including myself—represent

different positions and voices we performed. For instance, myself as the joker represents

the fieldnotes written at a date close to the actual class; while myself as the researcher

229

denotes my positionality and voice during the coding and write-up stages of this work.

Likewise, I indicate the characters the participants they created and performed (teacher,

student, principal, parent) in parenthesis and place their script in the middle of the page in

single space. Scene 5, a portion of interview in which the participants recalled the

debates, is also placed in the center of the page. I distinguish the participants’ voices

during reflections by placing those texts on the left side of the page in double space and

adding “participant” in parenthesis. The photographs depict and introduce the selected

scripts along with a short commentary.

SCENE 1 BLANCA (joker): As I arrived, I noticed my students had taken care of the layout of the

classroom. While the tables created the usual semi-circle to provide room for play, this

time the center of the class was filled with a couple of tables surrounded by six chairs;

similar to a small conference room. The self-selected groups had only discussed briefly

the topic of their real-life debates with me without much detail before this class. “Let’s

warm up before we start,” I told them as they jumped to the middle—I see Jenny and

Milagros crawling on top of the tables while Paola climbs it quickly to join the circle. We

had played this game before: shaking each of our limbs sixteen, eight, four, two times as

quickly as we can until we finish the cycle. Our frenetic movements together with the

smiles and laughter releases the tensions as the first group take their place in the middle

of the class.

230

BLANCA (researcher): What if I turned down the video and see if I can recall the

feeling?

SCENE 2 LUZ (participant): Acting it out was a little the extra topping on your cake

Illustration 6.1: Jenny utilized the ruler as a prop to scold Enrique

JENNY (teacher)

Enrique, ¿qué es lo que te acabo de decir? [Enrique, what have I just told you?]

ENRIQUE (student) Ahh, ¿en español? [Oh, in Spanish] JENNY (teacher)

Español! Entonces, ¿cuál debería ser la palabra ahí? [Spanish! So, what should the word be?]

ENRIQUE (student) Marrano

231

[Pig] JENNY (teacher)

Marrano, sí, el cerdo. Ya te que dicho que hoy es el día de español. Mejor vete a la esquina para que no te vuelva a regañar

[Pig, yes, pig. I told you today is Spanish day. Go to the corner before I tell you off again] ENRIQUE (student)

Pero yo sé que significa pig, cerdo. [But I know what pig means]

JENNY (teacher) Bueno, pero lo dijiste mal Enrique, ya te habia dicho. (pointing at a corner) Y ahí se

queda hasta que le diga! (Enrique stands up and goes to the corner)

[Well, but you said it wrong Enrique, I told you already. (Pointing at a corner) Stay there until i tell you! (Enrique stands up and goes to the corner)]

ENRIQUE (participant): To be honest, I never considered myself as an advocate before

this semester because I use to think that an advocate would usually be someone who

fights to gain rights or to be treated equally. I have always felt like I have never really

had to defend any of my beliefs. After this semester, I consider myself an advocate for

bilingual education after learning about the history of bilingual education and the

importance of standing up for what you believe in. I have engaged in advocacy by

participating in Casos de la Vida Real and at times explaining to some peers why

bilingual education is very important.

232

Illustration 6.2 Zully and Enrique look at Patricia as she introduces the conflict

PATRICIA (student-teacher)

Nos dimos cuenta lo que pasó con Enrique en el salón de clase. Nosotros hemos estado aprendiendo en la escuela ahorita que usar codeswitching es bueno para los niños en el salón. Les trae cosas

positivas para que ellos puedan developing their bilingualism [We noticed what happened to Enrique in the classroom. We’ve been learning at school

that codeswitching is good for the students. It’s positive in the development of their bilingualism]

ROXANA (teacher) ¿Pero no crees que limita su vocabulario que usan?

[Don’t you think it limits their vocabulary?] ZULLY (student-teacher)

Actually, el uso de dos idiomas en el salón puede promover el desarrollo del vocabulario en los idiomas. Dicen que los estudiantes

que usan el codeswitch usualmente son más fluent en los dos lenguajes [Actually, the use of both languages in the classroom promotes the development of both

languages. Students who codeswitch are actually more fluent in both languages]

BONNIE (participant): I thought about their body language, like the way they approach

them was professional and calm. It wasn’t one side versus the other; it didn’t feel that

way. It felt like a mature professional conversation.

233

ZULLY (participant): We were able to advocate for students and children while we were

in our own classroom. We expressed ourselves in ways that will stay with us until we are

teachers and we will remember what we said, how we felt, what we thought, and how we

reacted to them.

SCENE 3

SARITA (participant): Fui a observar una clase en una escuela. No tenía suficiente dinero

para contratar otro maestro para abrir un33 monolingual English-speaking class so they

have a bilingual class with eleven students. What they did is to do a hybrid so they put

the English-speaking students with the Spanish-speaking students. It’s not a two-way

program so the English-speaking student don’t want to learn Spanish and the others

wanna learn both. So the teacher has to say everything twice. When I left, I was so

frustrated, I can’t believe this is happening. No sabía qué real era algo así.34 This was the

basis of our performance

33 Translation: I observed a class at a school. They didn’t have money to hire another teacher to open a monolingual English-speaking class 34 Translation: I didn’t know how real this situation was

234

Illustration 6.3 Sarita’s own experience as an observer shapes her performance

MARITA (bilingual teacher)

Si nosotros implementamos el programa bilingue it’s going to be too costly to duplicate the materials into two languages or more to suit the

needs of the students. So we need to take into account this cost we’re gonna have. What are we gonna do? it takes too much time and it’s costly

SARITA (bilingual teacher) Podemos hablar de costos y todo pero no es justo que tengamos que

integrar a los dos grupos de estudiantes uno en español y el otro en inglés y que tengamos que adaptarlo por el simple hecho de

que no tengamos recursos. Tenemos que cater to the needs of both populations independent from the costs

[We can talk about costs but it’s not fair to integrate both spanish and english groups and adapt them just because we don’t have resources. We need to cated to the need sof

both populations independent from the costs] NORMA (participant): Me pasó lo mismo con mi sobrina. Ella va a cumplir un año y mi

cuñada me dijo que la iba a poner en clases en inglés desde un principio. Y yo le dije “no,

no hagas eso porque no va a poder desarrollar su español académico y le va a pasar lo

mismo que a mí y yo no quiero eso. Me da coraje.

235

Illustration 6.4 Actresses and spect-actors

NORMA (principal)

Debemos considerar que ahorita muchas maestras no están considerando ser maestras bilingues , no están escogiendo esta carrera

[We need to keep in mind that lots of teachers are not choosing to be bilingual teachers] GANIVA (bilingual teacher)

Pero podemos enseñar a los maestros que están aquí, a los maestros Monolingües, con diferentes estrategias que puedan usar en su salón,

[We can teacher the teachers working here, the monolingual teachers, different strategies that they could use]

MARITA (bilingual teacher) Es una buena idea pero también tenemos que tomar en consideración

que we have to train those monolingual teachers, we have to spend time and money to give them the materials and the resources so they can

teach effectively bilingual students GANIVA (bilingual teacher)

But what do you prefer, having us spend money now and or having them then fit in the future?

MARITA (bilingual teacher) That’s a good question

GANIVA: I thought myself as an advocate in immigration but not as an advocate as a

teacher, in the classroom. It was eye opening. It gave me another identity that I can be a

236

teacher activist that I don’t have to separate my identities and that can be combined. My

placement is in my community and in my letter to the parents I was open to them and I

told them I was a DACA student, if you have any questions you can reach out to me

because I’ve been through the process and I have answers. So they not only see me as the

teacher to their children also as a resource.

SCENE 4 LUZ: It’s more meaningful to do it than just reading it because whenever you read it yes,

you have a reaction, maybe you write it as a note or you remember it. But when you role-

play you’re actually playing you thoughts out there while someone attacks them and you

have to defend your position. It makes it more meaningful and you actually remember

what you say and then you feel you’re doing something important, it’s not just a reading.

I think it made us feel we were teachers already.

Illustration 6.5. Imagined meeting with administrators, teachers and parents

237

ANTOINETTE (administrator) With ESL pull-out we have highly trained English proficient tutors who take students out

of the classroom for individualized instruction in the language. In a sense I feel they’re more equipped to tutor our students than the bilingual teachers because their native

language generally is Spanish and these tutors’ language is English so they would be able to better tutor the students

BONNIE (bilingual teacher) No estoy de acuerdo porque treinta minutos cada día es mucho tiempo y después de unas

semanas ellos van a perder una gran porción del tiempo de una clase de contenido [I don’t agree because 30 minutes is too much time and after a few weeks they’ll miss a

big chunk of content instruction time] MILAGROS (bilingual parent)

We also need to take into account they’re going to feel embarrassment because they have to get out of the class in front of their classmates and it’s going to affect them

academically because they’re going to be behind in the content, and also emotionally PAOLA (mainstream teacher)

Y también para mí me frustra un poco cuando llegan de nuevo y no saben lo que está pasando y tengo que prestar mi tiempo individualmente

[This frustrates me when they come back and they don’t know what’s going on, and then I need to give them individual time]

ANTOINETTE: Quiero ser un avocado de la educación bilingüe. Before, I wanted to

become a bilingual teacher because I knew Spanish and I wanted to travel the world and

teach. Then I realized how much I wanted to stay and do my job in this community. Why

is it that whenever I come to this class at some point due to the content I feel the urge to

cry? I feel like this is telling me something (Antoinette, written reflection)

SCENE 5

BLANCA (researcher)

Do you feel you were acting? LUIS (participant)

(pause) It’s not the fact that we were acting but it’s the fact that we wanted to know what to do at that time

BLANCA (researcher) How did you feel in el debate?

LUZ (participant) Powerful because we were debating

238

BANCA (researcher) Did you memorize the lines? ANA MARIA (researcher)

No, but I felt it was scripted. It didn’t feel as how I felt in Casos de la Vida Real LUIS (participant)

Yeah, in a way because we had time to practice LUZ (participant)

We also looked for the research that was specific to what we wanted to say. So it wasn’t like we were coming up with research as we were talking

SCENE 6

BONNIE (participant): Creo que es un poco scary because we had all this time to

prepare. You need to be ready to fight with something that makes sense and sounds

intelligent on the spot. I feel ready for it right now but if you ask me in 10 years if

someone catches me off guard and stops me in the hallway, I’ll be like ‘bilingual

education is important.’

Illustration 6.6 Guadalupe showing research to prove her point.

GUADALUPE

239

Si miran en la última página de este folder van a ver las calificaciones de algunos estudiantes y se van a dar cuenta que los estudiantes que usan el metodo de la separación

de idiomas tienen las calificaciones más bajas que los estudiantes instruidos en el bilinguismo integrado. Es por eso que este año debemos implentar el bilinguismo

integrado para ver si las calificaciones suben [If you see the last page of this file, you’ll see the grades of some of the students and

you’ll notice that the ones in classes that separate languages have lower grades than the ones in classes with integrated bilingualism. So we need to implement a integrated

bilingual stance to improve their grades]

BLANCA (researcher): What if Guadalupe would have provided research that disproved

any claim in favor of quality education and services for minoritized students? How would

they react? Her empowerment is evident by her smile and the sound the folders made

when hitting the table. Will she remember that sound? Will they keep hitting that table in

the following years?

SCENE 7

ZULLY: I'm not going to lie, I was kinda shocked because this whole semester I kind of

thought the Casos de la Vida Real were a waste of time but they really helped us learn

what kind of situations we will be in where we have to present our advocacy for bilingual

education. We were able to advocate for students and children while we were in our own

classroom.

GUADALUPE

Yo creo que sería más difícil para mí involucrarme en actividades en la comunidad

porque ser maestra significa que estaré muy ocupada y tendré mucho trabajo.

240

[I think it would be difficult to be involved in community work because, as a teacher, I’ll

be really busy and I’ll have lot of work to do]

MILAGROS

Creo que tratar de cambiar prácticas institucionales injustas será más difícil porque me

enfrentaré con mucho más oposición.

[Trying to change unjust institutional practices will be more difficult as I’ll have more

opposition]

PATRICIA

Sería difícil exponer los puntos por los cuales defendemos la educación bilingüe pone en

peligro nuestro trabajo si es que acaso el director no comparte las mismas creencias.

[It would be difficult to express my views to defend bilingual education as it would put my

work at risk if the principal didn’t share my beliefs].

ANTOINETTE

Yo he visto en mi experiencia que la implementacion de los dos verdaderamente

funciona. Yo promevere el doble monolinguismo y el codeswitching pero al fin del día la

meta del programa es más importante que mis opiniones como maestra.

[Through my own experience I’ve seen implementing codeswitching workds. I’ll promote

both double monolingualism and codeswitching but at the end of the day, the program

goals are more important than my opinions as a teacher].

LUZ

Así como hay cantidad de investigaciones que apoyan en bilingüismo y la gente los

rechaza, muchos rechazan el cambio de código a pesar de las investigaciones que

241

demuestran su valor en la vida de los estudiantes.

[The same way research that supports bilingualism is rejected, many people reject

codeswtiching in spite of the research that shows its worth in the the lives of the students]

LILIANA

A mí se me hace que el aspecto más difícil va ser que voy a ser una maestra nueva y a lo

mejor van a ver varios maestros que han estado en el distrito por muchos años. Yo pienso

que lo más difícil va ser tratar de obtener el respeto de estos maestros para que todos me

tomen en serio.

[To me, the most difficult aspect will be the fact I’ll be a novice teacher and I’ll work

with teachers with years in the school district. I think the most difficult thing is to gain

their respect to be taken seriously]

ANTOINETTE

Blanca, I wish you had got in there every once in a while and show how you would do it.

That would be so powerful for students

BLANCA (researcher): Ironies at 3:49 am. My body in inaction researching bodies in

action. Cervical problems, possible carpal tunnel, red eyes. I am a brain on a stick with T-

Rex hands glued to the keyboard, writing while watching myself play with a vibrant

group of twenty-something youth. I’m glued to a blue screen drowning in a sea of job

applications, fellowships, grants, unfinished chapters, manuscripts, lesson planning. But

then I remember her poem, months after I turned camera off:

I was sitting there. We were all sitting there.

It’s 9:15 am, these white walls couldn’t get any dingier.

242

“Okay vamos, Casos de la Vida Real.” Aye, ejole otra vez…I don’t wanna go up there but a part of me hopes she calls on me.

My stomach tightens, I hate acting, but I love speaking. I’m gonna be a teacher so I have to love acting. But is it acting if it’s really who you are. Do I really even know who I am?

The case goes up: “you’re making them not like it here in the USA.” Their passive citizenry is fading away. Provoking one critical thought at a time, one critical question,

one critical answer. Students will then be able to answer to the sultry voice of assimilations calling as she slowly works her way into every aspect of your life, she

begins to tell you: “that book, Sylvia and Aki, put it away; ese libro no contiene nada, tu historia, no contiene nada.

The text book says everything you need to know.” Students can then say, we can then say:

“Well, what does it know about Japanese internment camps Angel Island, Dolores Huerta, Diego Rivera, socialista,

La Bestia, coyotes, working class wages, white collar crime, Blingual Education, Native American boarding schools, walk-outs,

gentrification, assimilation, Chicano history? It’s the Americans tapestry, where some threads are more costly than others,

where some threads have been stretched far to thin, whose backs have been used to construct the entire blanket

and yet they have not given into asimilación, educación. “Why are you contradicting the textbooks?”

I read that last sentence; We read that last sentence. These white walls are telling me something.

Should I say something? My palms are sweaty. Our palms get sweaty. My heart beats faster. Our hearts beat faster.

Okay I’ll go, I’ll be …. Y no oigo.

My words trail off while I submerge in my thoughts. “How will I defend my students, if my colleagues think my students language should be

lost?” But then I see, I feel, I think.

Something’s not right here, some things is not right here. What were doing in here, we should be practicing out there.”

We don’t feel hopeless; in fact we feel much less intimidated by what we will confront. We are the teachers on the forefront; armed with research, our stories, our history.

I have revealed my voice, We have revealed our voice. It’s not acting if you believe in it.

243

Chapter Seven

Conclusion

Throw away abstraction and the academic learning, the rules, the map and

compass. Feel your way without blinders. To touch more people, the personal

realities and the social must be evoked—not through rhetoric but through blood

and pus and sweat. Write with your eyes like painters, with your ears like

musicians, with your feet like dancers… Write with your tongues of fire. Don’t let

the pen banish you from yourself. Don’t let the ink coagulate in your pens. Don’t

let the censor snuff out the spark, nor the gags muffle your voice. Put your shit on

the paper. We are not reconciled to the oppressors who whet their howl on our

grief. We are not reconciled. Find the muse within you. The voice that lies buried

under you, dig it up. (Anzaldua & Keating, 2009, p. 34-35)

Almost two years have passed since I stepped foot on the stage of my research,

and Zully’s voice resonates with me. “We will remember what we said, how we felt, what

we thought, and how we reacted to them.” Like her, my body has archived and witnessed

my students’ courage as they allowed themselves to be vulnerable on our imaginary

stage. I am now able to reinterpret those archives as time, space and distance provide

other nuanced layers about the process of transformation the whole class—including

myself—underwent. What happened in that space and to each of us cannot be contained

244

in the research questions designed in Spring 2014. However, as I close the last chapter of

this work, I will address those questions directly.

How did preservice bilingual teachers make sense of their future roles as

bilingual educators by performing counterstories of actual bilingual teachers? The use of

the counterstories as told by experienced local bilingual teachers provided the

participants a deeper understanding of the challenges they might face in the future during

the first semester of their professional development sequence. The vignettes illustrated

the confrontation between protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) in the stories but became

backdrops to better understand monoglossic language ideologies at school (vignette,

week 2, 6, 7b), Spanish language support neglect (vignette, week 3, 4), the hidden history

of school discrimination and advocacy among Mexican-Americans in the USA (vignette,

week 5), disrespect toward Mexican-American/Latin@/immigrant parents (vignette week

7d) racism, classism, xenophobia (vignette, week 8). The counterstories as texts provided

a sense of immediacy, urgency and closeness for the participants. Though I did not

disclose any names, I mentioned to the students I had met the bilingual teachers and

became friends with many of them at the university as they finished their master’s

degree—most of the bilingual teachers worked in the school district where the teacher

preparation program was located. The awareness by the students that the teachers

experiencing the situations portrayed may live in the same neighborhoods they lived,

work in the same schools they visited, and walked the same university hallways as they

did helped develop a connection, concern, and urgency. The participants responded to

245

and participated in the scenarios based on their knowledge (prior and subsequent),

experiences, intuition, and beliefs.

The participants’ exposure to the counterstories became experiential and sensory

episodes as they performed the pieces and embodied the teacher they were playing while

also playing the teacher they strived to become. The performances—whether the

participants took the stage or not—added another layer to their understanding of the

issues illustrated. Having to embody the characters presented in the vignette complicated

the adjustment to the several counter discourses embraced in the classroom. As

mentioned in chapter four, the research site became a place of contestation to what counts

as valid knowledge and valid knowledge transmission and production by including

counterstories, emotions, orality, and the body. The objective of this inclusion was not

meant to be a replacement or supplementation of more traditional forms of learning and

teaching, but rather to purposefully complicate, disrupt learning and “cause discomfort,

conflict, [and] deep learning” (Andreotti, 2011, p. 235) in order to learn to feel

comfortable border crossing from one’s comfort zone into unknown territories.

Feeling comfortable during this intellectual, physical, and emotional border

crossing—moving from their comfortable desks to the stage, from being students to

become teachers in rehearsal—did not occur as soon as I said “action” before each

intervention. The initial reactions to the performance of Casos de la Vida Real were

emotional as they discovered issues pertaining to bilingual education in the United States

and its racial, xenophobic, classist, and linguicist roots were both historical (through the

textbook/articles) and current (through the vignettes). Casos de la Vida Real merged the

246

historical and current through the invitation to think, verbalize and mobilize their stances,

moving the experience to the personal arena when emotions were involved. Paralysis—

both on stage as actors, or outside the stage as spectactors—was one of responses from

the participants. This paralysis was caused by the strong emotions some of the

participants experienced when exposed to the vignettes and their juxtaposition with the

facts learned in class through the textbook. The reflections written after the sessions show

these participants strongly believed the situations presented in Casos de la Vida Real

were unjust and they would want to do something about it instead of just letting the

situation continue. However, some would not venture onto the stage in fear of losing

control and appearing too emotional to the class. As the participation on stage was

voluntarily and ungraded, Rocio, Guadalupe and Roxana took the stage only after their

classmates encouraged them to perform as per the changes they requested in session 6.

On the other hand, Bonnie and Norma did not take the stage until the self-created

scenarios at the end of the semester. Nevertheless, as spectactors these two students were

able to provide feedback and support during coaching times and in whole class

discussions throughout the semester.

Outrage was also an emotion the participants dealt with during Casos de la Vida

Real. As they realized the professional context of the vignettes, participants understood

they needed to move away from reactionary and oppositional attitudes towards the

antagonist(s) of the narratives. One common figure during the initial performances was

resorting to ‘slapping’ common sense out of the antagonist so as to gain control of the

situation and ‘win’ the argument. By creating the Rules of the Game, they started

247

rehearsing their teacher selves on stage by imagining what an educator sounds and looks

like when confronting differing ideas in professional settings. They moved from thinking

of themselves as students as shown in chapter 3 to thinking of themselves and also

beginning to act like teachers when on stage and when providing/receiving feedback

during the performance debriefings. The participants also deployed the strategies (Rules

of the Game) they designed and provided feedback to one another on the effectiveness of

the use of such strategies, including providing approach critiques, offering suggestions,

and supporting one another during coaching times and in their written reflections.

Laughter, which was present throughout Casos de la Vida Real, was a signal that

reminded them that in spite of the seriousness of the vignettes and the performances, they

were in a safe place to be uncomfortable as they had the support of their peers.

The rehearsal of counterstories of experienced bilingual teachers in challenging

situations provided the participants with the opportunity to see their roles as bilingual

teacher in a different light. The counterstories disrupted the common assumption that

being bilingual teachers was similar to being a mainstream teacher but instructing in two

languages. The embodiment of the bilingual teachers in the vignettes showed the

different facets of the profession in the lives of the real-life characters the participants

played: search committee member, colleague, partner teacher, person of color, parental

liaison, local language policy-maker, cultural and language broker between parents and

schools, and advocates. I will elaborate more on the last role since it relates to the last

research question.

In what ways (if any) did preservice bilingual teachers’ discourses and languages

248

practices shift as they participate in the performance of local counterstories of the

experiences of seasoned bilingual teachers? Even though discourses and practices were

intertwined, it could be argued that a discourse shift was the result of the language

practices the participants explored during the research. While at first they were inclined

to use Spanish as the language of Casos de la Vida Real; the open language policy of the

class afforded them the choice to use English as the language in which they felt more

comfortable. As they gained confident in later performances, it was not the case that they

preferred English for the interventions, or that they lacked confidence or courage to speak

Spanish—the language most of the students believed needed more development. The

students negotiated the language in which the performance was going to be conducted. In

other words, they used the language practices choices during the performances reflected

their need for keeping the scenes congruent to how they imagined the context of the

vignettes as well as their perceptions of the characters. At the same time, there were

instances in which the actors decided to just break the logical division of language and

assigned translanguaging identities to the protagonists of the vignettes in order to avoid

the constraints of having to use just one language. This division break actually resembled

the actual language ecology of the class and reflected how translanguaging looks like and

sounds like in this particular professional setting. This language ecology in a teacher

preparation classroom disrupts the language barrier between the stigmatized and

racialized intimate language practices performed only en confianza and the language and

discourses from the ivory tower.

This is the reason why claiming some performances were done entirely in either

249

Spanish or English would ignore the way languages are intertwined in multimodal ways:

the texts they drew from to create the arguments were in English while the discussions

that reformulated, clarified and deepened the main ideas were conducted in Spanish,

and/or a combination of both. The intermeshing of two sets of socially constructed

language systems called English and Spanish was an expression of fluidity, cultural

production and ingenuity that is practiced within local contexts and communities.

Therefore, every line spoken by each of the spectactors cannot be attributed to just one

language, even if they were produced in that. What I witnessed was just the tip of a

linguistic iceberg that is founded in the fluidity of the language practices in the class.

With this unmarkedness, one should wonder where one language starts and where the

other ends even if the utterances were made in one language; or more: language queering

in its boundlessness do not admit delimitations.

However, Spanish and English do exist in the very description of their major as

bilingual teachers. Paraphrasing Shakespeare, the to switch or not to switch discourses

appeared to be a dilemma that coexisted in the same translanguaging space I described

earlier. The later one consisted of a rich array of language practices that transcends mere

linguistic examination and rather belong to a particular and contextualized way of both

being and becoming within a certain community. All the students agreed the use of all

their linguistic repertoires allowed them to learn, express themselves, and develop their

ideas without feeling judged and stigmatized. Speaking without linguistic borders became

a freeing and empowering practice, which in turn helped them “speak educación” with

confianza in different contexts and with different audiences. Moreover, the fact that some

250

of the vignettes displayed bilingual teachers using similar language practices as the ones

in the classroom—and perhaps my own discourse—provided a model of what a bilingual

teacher sounds like and legitimized those practices. Expressions taken straight out the

vignettes, such as “Some teachers say que no importa, con tal que enseñemos algo de

español” (vignette 3), “pero mis colegas me decían: why are you contradicting the

textbooks? (vignette 5), “El escribió ‘my family like lucha libre,’ no va escribir wrestling

porque no es tan significativo” (vignette10) are just some examples of the language

flexibility experienced bilingual teachers modeled for the participants, leaving the

margins and shadows into the limelight to take center stage.

Thinking about their future as bilingual teachers, all the participants agreed that

the language policy they would enforce in their future classrooms would resemble the

open language policy in the research site as they experienced its benefits first hand. That

meant for all the participants of the class to foster translanguaging spaces in their future

classrooms for learning and cultural affirmation. However, half of the participants

thought separating language instruction for a more detailed focus on language was a valid

stance they would also welcome in their classrooms simultaneously. This quest for

ideology coexistence stemmed from the fact that the more the participants identified

themselves as bilingual teachers, the more they desired to be proficient in Spanish. Their

choice to look up and/or translate phrases and words that allowed them to “speak

educación” during the performances demonstrates their eagerness to perform the

protagonist teacher as accurately as possible in Spanish. Their new understandings of the

socio-cultural-historical-political contexts of the schooling of emergent bilinguals in the

251

U.S combined with their own linguistic trajectories at school and the ones portrayed in

the vignettes promoted a new awareness and commitment to avoid the same cycle to

happen again to others. As future bilingual teachers, their goal is to provide quality

instruction in Spanish so as to help students experience academic success and to balance

out the power between English as the hegemonic language in the classroom. This

discourse was also reinforced by their personal experiences learning languages through a

separation model and the pressure for language separation depending on the bilingual

program implemented once they are hired as teachers.

Some of the participants elaborated a chronological plan for the coexistence of

both discourses: they would enforce language separation or double monolingualism

during the first years of schooling to promote mastery in each language separately and

later allow what Luis called “academic codeswitching,” believing that proficiency in each

language separately resulted in mastery in mixing both languages. Unlike the common

belief that allowing language mixing resulted in proficiency in English and/or Spanish

(depending on the goals of the bilingual program), some of the participants thought

allowing language mixing was contingent to proficiency in both Spanish and English,

thus, in a way regarding translanguaging as a sort of supralanguage among bilingual

people.

In what ways (or not) did the performance of local counterstories through Forum

Theater facilitate the development of an emergent identity as teacher-advocates among

future bilingual teachers? Initially, the majority of the participants understood advocacy

and being an advocate as someone who fights to gain rights, or to be treated equally

252

through visible and grand means. This belief of advocacy is not uncommon. Urrieta

(2009) describes the different shapes advocacy can take; moving away from the sign-

carrying demonstrator behind the picket fences, to more nuanced ways to be an advocate

and to be moved to action. From the 22 participants, six of them explicitly admitted to

belonging to different organizations for advocacy work. The kinds of advocacy in which

these participants were engaged ranged from immigration rights, gender equality, pro-life

causes, and sex education, through presentation, tutoring, and petition signing. In spite of

this, the idea that advocacy is only performed by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., may

have prevented six of the participants from recognizing their involvement in the

organizations they belonged.

Casos de la Vida Real afforded the participants the opportunity to become teacher

advocates on the stage and experiment in the flesh how it feels like to take a stand in

scenarios that may occur in their future schools. As the vignettes provided the conflict but

not the resolution to the conflict, the participants had the reigns to control the outcomes

of each vignette and, rehearsed responses on a trial and error basis without real

consequences in the real world but still having a lasting effects on themselves as human

beings and future educators. The participants took control of the emotions that prevented

them from being assertive, showing poise, and opening dialogue. This harnessing of

emotions resulted in them becoming strategic when trying to reach goals that required

them to “play the game.” This control allowed them to enrich the performances of Casos

de la Vida Real, imagine themselves as advocates by creating specific scenarios like the

ones they designed and performed at the end of the semester.

253

The scenarios the participants created reflected the shift of their views from what

advocacy initially meant for them and the situations in which they imagined themselves

as advocates. The six scripts performed in class portrayed the teacher advocate-

protagonist in dialogue with peers, parents and administrators defending the language

rights of the students. The participants played their scripts highlighting the roles of the

advocate teacher in action supporting the use of multiple language practices, the

implementation of additive bilingual programs, the increase of resources for better

materials in Spanish, the training of mainstream teachers to be linguistically and

culturally responsive, while using research to back up their proposals. The scripts

reflected the evolution of the participants’ perception of the antagonist during Casos de la

Vida Real by the mastery of their Rules of the Game as they performed confidently and

strategically on stage.

However, the main accomplishment of the performance of counterstories in the

classroom was that they took the advocacy they rehearsed in the (dis)comfort of the

classroom surrounded by peers that would provide critique with confianza and located it

in the real world. The majority of the participants informed me that they found

themselves advocating for language rights and bilingual education among their peers and

family. Specifically, they encouraged relatives to place their children in dual language

programs instead of mainstream classrooms arguing the likelihood of monolingualism

when placing emergent bilinguals in mainstream classes. Some others refuted arguments

254

against the advantages of bilingualism and one DACA1 student shared her immigration

status to her cooperating teacher and students’ parents. This immigration status disclosure

reflected this particular participants’ willingness to serve her community with her

experience and knowledge about the DACA process. In other words, the rehearsal of the

teacher-advocate through Casos de la Vida Real became a springboard for the

participants to put such emergent identity into practice in the real world and within their

circle of influence: relatives, friends, parents, and potential colleagues.

This emergent identity is not exempt from concerns by the participants. Their

main concern was connected with institutional practices and discourses that might force

them to act against their emergent teacher-activist identity and their mission as bilingual

teachers. This concern is connected with the perceived risk of work instability they felt

they would face if they become visible advocates at school. Another concern pertains to

their lack of credibility and respect as they enter their first year as teachers not only in

front of senior faculty and administrators but also in the eyes of the community. Needless

to say, all of these concerns are valid. However, the goal of rehearsing Casos de la Vida

Real was not meant to provide solutions to each of the participants’ concerns. Casos de la

Vida Real opened the space for exploration and critique of the issues presented, and as a

sort of laboratory where they could experiment with strategic game playing that might

prepare them to address the specific issues they could potentially face.

1DACAstandsforDeferredActionofChildhoodArrivals,whichallowsundocumentedindividualstoobtaina2-yearworkpermitwithoutfacingdeportation.

255

THE PEDAGOGICAL IS THE POLITICAL

Here I am trying to figure out what's on my mind, a war is being fought here, a

war against the people in power whose wish is to deprive people of their own

culture and language. And here is my last issue: "us". Who are the "us"? Should I

take part in this fight too? Am I brown like the people I'm aiming to teach and

support? This issue concerns me as well and it's time to take sides. I have the

power to change things, to change myself too as I have never fought for anything

like that, for a minority, which is where I belong here in the USA. (Personal

journal, September 15th, 2007)

My earliest memory as a newly minted graduate student, fresh off the plane was a

bit of a shock. I witnessed my classmates—all of them bilingual teachers—venting and

wishing they had been better prepared to face the institutional violence against people

who look and sound like us. Six years later, nothing has changed: the bilingual teachers I

interviewed narrated similar horror stories. However, both sets of teachers also shared the

way they learned to speak up, and the instances in which they found their voices and

raised them to resist and fight the battles they felt were worth fighting. Most of them felt

cheated, as their preparation program did not provide them with the tools to be able to

walk in the minefield called bilingual education. As Korthagen (2004) argues, it takes

more than mastery in subject matter, and a bag of instructional strategies—and

proficiency in two languages—to be a bilingual teacher. Fostering political clarity needs

256

to be at the forefront of teacher preparation programs in order for prospective teachers to

recognize the complexities of becoming a teacher of linguistically, racially and culturally

diverse students in high needs areas. A technocratic approach to teacher preparation

delays future teachers’ conscientization and their ability to engage in praxis. It also

cheapens their experience by means of a rushed decontextualized banking preparation

system that benefits the corporations that profit from the burgeoning educational business

market—a multibillion dollar industry.

This study offers an exploration of a pedagogy that has the potential to imprint in

the body—as well as in the intellect— a developing political clarity. The merging of

counterstorytelling and performance through Theater of the Oppressed as a pedagogy of

the memory blurs the lines between the lessons learned from inherited past narratives and

the rehearsal of future stories to carry on the legacy of struggle and resistance against

erasure inherent to bilingual education in the U.S. As Korthagen’s Onion Ring model

(2004) suggests, a pedagogical approach of this caliber reaches the core as it may

influence in the development of a salient professional identity as advocates committed to

a mission for social justice for racial and linguistic minoritized the Mexican-

American/Latin@ population.

The purpose of this study is to examine the steps taken towards the goal of using

theatrical tools that help balance the pre-service bilingual teachers’ willingness to be

vulnerable as they embrace contradictions and complexities that could challenge their

own preconceived notions and assumptions. More importantly, this study showed how

future teachers are more willing to explore the complexities of their role(s) as bilingual

257

teachers as they find themselves in the middle of a conflicting situation. Self-reflection on

how they would proceed in instances shown in the vignettes might help them rethink the

scope of their work beyond the classroom and their relationships with administrators,

parents, and at the same time the direct connection of policies that are apparently

disconnected from the everyday school environment. The action of reflecting on who

they are and what their mission is as bilingual teachers is an important step for future

Bilingual teachers as they are more likely to engage in praxis by finding ways to “play

the game,” and/or redefining the game through more engagement—for instance, in

curriculum design, language policy, mentorship—in spite of standardized testing, school

mandates and constraints. The participants took the first steps by imagining and

recreating those scenarios as they performed their future selves as agents of change at

schools, writing in the present their future stories.

Likewise, this study calls for the rethinking aspects of bilingual teacher

preparation programs—and teacher preparation programs in general—that prepare future

teachers for the realities and demands of educating Mexican-American/Latino/a emergent

bilingual students whether they are placed in bilingual programs or are part of

mainstream classes. As this study shows, the use of Theater of the Oppressed

techniques—especially Forum Theater—in the preparation of future teachers, has the

potential to provide a non-threatening space where students can explore their own views

and stances in a collaboratively and non-judgmental environment. The inclusion of

similar embodied/art-based pedagogical approaches where the personal becomes political

might help future teachers to recognize themselves as cultural workers and advocates

258

committed to serve students and their families (see Chappell & Faltis, 2013). This kind of

pedagogy offers safe spaces for teachers to show respect for students’ and families’

cultural and linguistic backgrounds as well as an awareness of the socio-political climate

that invokes anti-immigration, linguicist, and anti-Latino sentiments. The fostering of this

kind of commitment towards culturally diverse minoritized students requires being aware

of how discriminatory practices affect students’ every day lives and actively seeking to

find ways to transform those conditions within their circle of influence.

It is worth mentioning that the previous professor taught again this class with a

different cohort using a variation of Casos de la Vida Real to adjust to her own pedagogy

and needs. After trying it and getting her students’ feedback, she believed the use of this

drama-based pedagogy was a success. However, I do not claim this pedagogy is the

panacea for the transformation of teacher preparation programs and its responsibility to

form teachers ready to deal with “the realities of everyday practice” (Korthagen, et al,

2006, p. 1021) and also deal with issues commonly identified as diversity and cultural

responsiveness towards emergent bilingual students. The pedagogy reflected in this

research is based on my own life trajectory, knowledges, understandings, and political

commitments, which cannot be packaged. I agree with Freire (1998) and his critique of

methods fetishization when he said: “it is impossible to export pedagogical practices

without reinventing them” (p. xi). To be able to reinvent critical pedagogy as Freire

requested, a shortcut is not possible. Similar to initial ‘arrebato’ and ‘nepantla’

(Anzaldua, 2000) stages the participants underwent, those who dare to educate teachers

need to go through their own scarification process (Wilson, 2008). I may have started that

259

process in September 2007 but I am still embarking on this neverending quest for

unlearning and liberation.

DECOLONIZING LANGUAGE IN BILINGUAL EDUCATION

The implications regarding language in the preparation of future teachers are

intertwined with the need for a decolonial approaches to language from the point of view

of the speakers engaged in marginalized language practices. Despite the initial constraints

within language boundaries and insecurities, the participants were able to create a

translanguaging space as they reclaimed their right and freedom to express how they

wanted. Mexican-American/Latin@s in the USA are trapped in a sort of double language

colonialism: the hegemony of English and its neocolonial pervasiveness in every aspect

of social life, and Spanish as the old colonizing language that replaced indigenous

languages in the Americas. The use of Tex-Mex, codeswitching, Spanglish, Pocho are

reclamations and contestation to both colonizing languages and concepts of “standard”

(be it in English or Spanish). This reclamation involves the right of naming their

language practices as evidenced by Luis, who called his language practice “academic

codeswitching.” This naming resembles Anzaldua’s account of the languages she spoke

(1987), and Martinez (2010) who honored the way his participants called their language

practice: Espanglish. Reclaiming their language rights also implies the right to use all the

language practices in-between as identification with a community of speakers.

Translanguaging practices then, belong to the intimate experience, and during this

research the language of their preparation as bilingual teachers.

260

Future bilingual teachers inevitably confront the monoglossic/colonial ideology

that requires teaching languages separately, taking certification exams in each language at

a time, and lingering feelings of inadequacy due to the pervasive ‘native speaker’

discourse. For bilingual teacher educators, the question is: how do we move students who

feel linguistically inadequate in using Spanish to acquire Spanish to communicate

comfortably as a member of a community of educators in spite of the tacit assumption

that English is the official means to communicate and produce knowledge? How do we

challenge English as the hegemonic language of academia in ways that legitimize other

language practices as sources of knowledge production? This is especially crucial since

another form of language colonization—this time in Spanish—needs to be challenged as

well. As a teacher educator and the one who is in charge of enforcing policies in the

classroom (both overtly and covertly), I need to be especially careful in setting the

example by challenging the language hegemony of the educational discourse of the

classroom, fostering the development of Spanish language to erase feelings of inadequacy

and affirm their identities as bilingual individuals, while utilizing translanguaging

practices at the center of the instruction, inviting the participants to take part without

similar negative consequences to the ones they experienced during K-12.

THE BODY AND THE RESEARCH

“Nothing happens in the ‘real’ world unless it first happens in the images in our

heads”

(Anzaldua, 1987; p. 109)

261

Since Theater of the Oppressed was the cornerstone of this research, the centrality

of the body in the process of becoming pushed me to look for alternative modes of

inquiry that reflected and evoked movement and change. Serendipity led me to find

methodologies, research tools and approaches that not only helped me construct my own

identity as a researcher, but also helped me hold myself accountable and to embrace the

unknown and my own vulnerabilities. While discourse analysis and, in a certain way,

action research afforded me a relatively comfortable position; performance ethnography

challenged me to expose myself under my own magnifying glass as I performed my

initial findings in front of some of my participants during a local bilingual education

conference in Spring 2015. The acceptance of my performance/story by the bilingual

teacher community in that session, the faces of approval from my students, and my

beating heart became my real graduation and my first steps toward becoming the kind of

scholar I imagine myself to be.

262

Appendix I Syllabus

Universidad of Texas at Austin

EDC 340F Foundations of Bilingual Education (09520) Fundamentos de la Educación Bilingüe

Fall 2014/Otoño 2014 Thursdays/Jueves 1-4 / SZB 312

Instructor: Blanca Caldas Phone: 2089491171 Office: SZB 518F (appointment only) Email: [email protected] Course Description This course is designed to give you an opportunity to learn about and discuss vital issues related to the education of linguistically and culturally diverse populations. It is an introduction to the profession of bilingual education teaching; our primary focus will be on issues related specifically to the role of bilingual educators in the lives of bilingual and immigrant children, and on the history, politics, theory, and programs for bilingual education in Texas and the United States. The goal of this class is to understand the types of bilingual education programs and of the policies that impact bilingual education; the historic trends and current theory behind bilingual education in the United States; the characteristics of the language and culture of the student populations served in bilingual programs; the various approaches, methods, and techniques related to the teaching of language and content to linguistically diverse students; the basic concepts concerning the relation between language and culture; national, state, and local assessment requirements; of the issues related to bilingual special education; and the benefits of school-home relationships to the bilingual student’s academic success. Pre-requisite Admission to the Bilingual Education EC-6 Cohort and expected beginning Fall 2014. (Note: Course is part of the Foundations semester for Bilingual Education majors. Cultural Diversity Flag This course carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of the American cultural experience. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization. Required Texts

De Jong, Ester J. (2011) Foundations for Multilingualism in Education: From principles to

practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-934000-06-9.

263

Electronic articles available in CANVAS Course Expectations

1. Attendance • Attendance of scheduled classes is required for completion of this course. In

order to be considered present for the class, you must arrive on time, sign the roster, and remain for the entire class period. Tardiness will be considered an absence after a total of 60 minutes of missed class time. You are responsible for notifying me in advance if you will be absent, and you must obtain all class work, assignments, handouts, etc. missed, due to absence. Unexcused absences will lose you points towards your final grade. An excess of unexcused absences will result in your being asked to drop the class.

• If you are ill, a doctor’s note will excuse your absence.

• According to University policy, "A student who is absent from class or an examination for the observance of a religious holy day may complete the work missed within a reasonable time after the absence if proper notice has been given. Notice must be given at least fourteen days prior to the classes scheduled on the dates the student will be absent. For religious holy days that fall within the first two weeks of the semester, notice should be given on the first day of the semester." Please give me notice if you will be absent due to religious holy days; these of course would be excused.

2. Quality of Work Written work will be accepted either in class, or as a word document attachment in an email. All written work submitted must: • Be of professional quality, neatly presented, grammatically correct, and free of

spelling and punctuation errors • Be prepared on a computer, using 12 point font, double spacing, PAGE

NUMBERS, and a standard print style (e.g. Times, Geneva, Times New Roman). • Include your name, course number/name, date, and assignment title at the top of

the first page. • Be stapled, if submitting a paper copy. • Have your name and assignment title in subject heading, if submitting

electronically. • Use APA writing style for any references (see http://apastyle.apa.org/ for more

info) • Be ON TIME. Late or incomplete assignments will not earn full credit. • Written work will earn full points if it is superior in every way: thoughtful,

makes connections between theory and practice, demonstrates deep understanding of course ideas/concepts, takes risks, indicates growth and learning. (note: Often assignments can be re-done for a revised grade with my consent.)

• Failure to meet all these requirements will result in reduction of points.

264

3. Language of Instruction This class will be conducted bilingually. During each class period, we will \ discussions/activities in both Spanish and English, and you are expected to submit some of your written work in Spanish (see notes below). Please respect the language of instruction, and do your very best to participate in Spanish during Spanish discussion times. Because we are all striving to be bilingual, we will endeavor to create a safe community in which all of us can improve our language and literacy skills in Spanish and English while we learn together about important concepts for your future profession.

4. CANVAS Use You will need access to CANVAS for weekly questions on readings and periodic announcements, to access handouts, readings, and other class materials outside of class. http://canvas.utexas.edu. You need a valid UT EID to log on. A copy of this syllabus can also be found on CANVAS.

5. Classroom Conduct Students are expected to demonstrate professional conduct during class sessions. In order to minimize distractions, please do not leave the room during class unless an emergency arises. We will have a ten-minute break in the middle of each class period during which you may use the rest room, make phone calls, etc. Please also refrain from engaging in individual conversations during lectures or class discussions, and from using laptops for any purpose other than those directly connected with the class activity. There is NO texting permitted during class. And PLEASE turn off cell phones when class begins.

University Policies Special Accommodations “Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 (voice) or 471-4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.”

Plagiarism Addendum As a research university, UT takes plagiarism very seriously. Plagiarism means using another’s words, ideas, materials or work without properly acknowledging and documenting the source. Do not risk getting involved in a plagiarism infraction – the consequences aren’t worth it. Always cite your sources, and when in doubt consult a professor or librarian. You may read more about plagiarism at the Student Judicial Services website: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php. Inappropriate conduct or violation of academic integrity policy will result in disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the university. Description of Course Assignments

265

1) Class Participation, Preparedness and Attendance (20 points)

It is expected that you will attend the sessions in a timely manner and will thoughtfully engage in both small and large group discussions. All readings for class session must be brought to class and read beforehand. Each unexcused absence will lose you 1 point, each tardy will lose you half a point toward your final grade.

2) Weekly Canvas Questions on Readings (20 points) Each week there will be questions posted on the Canvas Discussion Board. You will need to respond to these questions on Wednesdays by midnight. Some questions will be in Spanish, others in English. ¡SI LAS PREGUNTAS SE PRESENTAN EN ESPAÑOL, CONTESTA EN ESPAÑOL! Your answers should be thorough, reflective, and demonstrate your understanding of readings. After you post your own responses, I expect you to read your classmates’ responses and respond to at least ONE other person’s post. This is so you can get an idea of what others think of the readings, and it will help advance our class discussions. We will grade your postings individually (and privately) directly on Canvas, 2 points for complete and thoughtful responses, half point lost if you do not read/respond to others. Late postings will be graded down (but still count; better late than never).

3) 6 hours Classroom Observation: Logs and Reflections (15 points)

You will carry out a minimum of six (6) hours of classroom observations in two classrooms at two different grade levels (3 hours in each). You are responsible for selecting a school and teacher from a list provided and appropriately contacting the classroom teacher to make arrangements for the observations. A formal, professional-quality email or voicemail message please! You will complete and turn in a contact log that documents each classroom observation. Classroom observation logs will be provided, as well as information and guidelines for conducting classroom observations. You will hand in two observation logs and write up two reflections, one for each classroom in which you observe. Reflections should be divided into three parts: “What I saw/Lo Que Ví,” “My Reactions/Mis Reacciones,” and “Connections/Conexiones.” They should be at least 4 pages in length and one should be in English and one in Spanish. I’ll provide you with more detailed instructions for your reflections separately. Due: 10/16 and 11/13.

4) Participate Professional Development/BESO (10 points)

One of the goals of this course is to become engaged in the profession of bilingual education. The Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO) is an excellent opportunity for you to begin this process. BESO will be holding meetings every other week at 5:30-6:30 in SZB 422 on Tuesdays. The president is Jessica Manzano, [email protected] . This is your organization, and is an excellent opportunity to make connections with fellow majors and future bilingual teachers. It is also an opportunity for professional growth and development and exploration of

266

the field. I consider your participation to be part of the experience of this course. I am requesting you to attend meetings and participate as much as you are able in BESO activities. I’d like you to attend 5 BESO regular meetings for a total of 10 points (but you can earn them any way you’d like). Join the UT BESO facebook group to stay up to date on meetings and activities. Note: If you are unable to participate in BESO activities, there will be several opportunities to attend other speakers or events throughout the semester, write up short summaries of your participation, and receive 1 point of class credit toward Professional Development/BESO.

5) Group Presentation Bilingual Education Debate (20 points)

You will work together with a small group to prepare a presentation in which you must make the case for keeping bilingual education programs in Texas schools. Use evidence from our readings and discussions, as well as other sources, to make your case. Presentation and all materials should be in two languages; you should imagine you are presenting to an audience that includes monolingual English and Spanish speaking people (Rubrics and further info will follow). Date: November 20th.

6) Final Exam (15 points)

The exam will include T/F, short answer and essay questions. I will provide you a list of covered topics; it will be comprehensive (i.e. the whole semester). For short answer and essay questions, you will respond in English and in Spanish. Date: December 4th.

Assignment Grading

Attendance & Participation: 20 points Canvas Participation: 20 points Group Presentation: 20 points Class Observations: 15 points Final Exam: 15 points Professional Development/BESO: 10 points Total: 100 points

Grading Scale

A = 91-100 B = 81-90 C = 71-80 D = 61-70 F = <61

267

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS/READINGS/CLASSES Fall 2014

Date Topics Assignments (Due by the day listed)

Week 1 8/28

Introduction: Discuss course syllabus, course format, and course requirements.

In Class: Read Chapter 29, Texas Education Code; and California Ed Code Section 300-340. (handout; PDF)

Week 2 9/4

Role of Bilingual Teachers: We Make Multilingualism the Norm and Goal in an Increasingly Diverse World

Key Topics: Linguistic Diversity around world and in

Texas Language Ideologies: pluralist vs.

assimilationist discourses Teachers Make Language Policy in the

Classroom Advantages of bi(multi)lingualism Language and identity

Chapters 1-2 of de Jong (textbook) Bialystok (2009) Bilingualism: the

good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(1), 3-11.

(filmore eliminated)

Week 3 9/11

Bilingual Students: Multilingual Development, Linguistic Diversity and Globalization

Key Topics: Language revitalization; indigenous

languages Language maintenance, shift, and loss Biliteracy development Identification/Placement/Redesignation Cummins: interdependence hypothesis,

social vs. academic language Global/world Englishes

Read: Chapter 3-4 de Jong (Benjamin et al eliminated)

Week 4 9/18

Language Policy in Education and the push for Academic Language

Key Topics:

Read: Chapter 5 de Jong Anzaldúa “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Ovando/Combs Ch.2 (pp.47-58)

268

Language and power Language Policy Language Ideologies “Academic Language” vs. Home

Language Practices Modern English-Only Movement: Unz

Laws

Guerrero & Guerrero “Discurso del español académico en una zona fronteriza (tan eliminated)

Week 5 9/25

History of Bilingual Education in Texas and the United States

Key Topics: History of Bilingual Education in US and Texas Key laws: Bilingual Education Act, ESEA Court cases: Lau v. Nichols, Castañeda v. Pickard NCLB, RTTT

Read: Chapter 6 de Jong Blanton, C. “Strange Career of

Bilingual Education in Texas” exerpts

Peleato, I.V. (2013) Políticas y modelos de educación bilingüe en la atención a la diversidad lingüistica en Estados Unidos. Revista de Educación, 360, 685-696.

[Skim for background] Ovando/Combs Ch.2 (pp.58-89)

Week 6 10/2

Program Models and Outcomes for Bilingual/ESL Education

Key Topics: Program Models: ESL, Sheltered

English, Transitional Bilingual Education, Developmental Bilingual Education, Dual Language Education

Read: Chapter 7 de Jong Gomez, Freeman & Freeman “Dual

Language Education: A Promising 50-50 Model”

Ovando/Combs “Program Models” pp.35-45

Potowski, K. (2008) "Bilingüe”: Una palabra tabú en la educación pública. Revista ContraTiempo, 58, 28 septiembre.

Week 7 10/9

Effectiveness Debate: What do we know about teaching EL students? Why don’t we (always) do it? Key Topics Effectiveness debate Effective features

Read: Rolstad, Mahoney & Glass (2006?)

Language Policy. Hakuta, K. (2011) Educating language

minority students and affirming their equal rights: research and practical perspectives. Educational Researcher 40(4), 163-174.

Gandara, P., & Rumberger, R. W. (2009). Immigration, Language, and Education: How Does Language Policy Structure Opportunity? Teachers College Record, 111(3), 750–782

269

Week 8 10/16

Chapter 8: Principles for Multilingual Schools

Key Topics: Educational Equity Social Justice in Bilingual Education Affirming Identities, Promoting

Bi/Multilingualism, Structuring for Integration

Read: Chapter 8 de Jong Foley, N. (2008) “Becoming Hispanic:

Mexican Americans and Whiteness” in Rothenberg, P. White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, Third Ed. Worth Publishers. Pp. 55-65

DUE: First Observation log and Reflection (covering 1st 3 hrs)

Week 9 10/23

Affirming Identities and Funds of Knowledge in Multilingual Schools Key Topics Funds of Knowledge (FOK) Parent Engagement Cultural Relevance in the Curriculum Guest Speaker

Read: Chapter 9 de Jong Moll, Amanti, Neff, Gonzales “Funds

of Knowledge for Teaching” Ladson-Billings “ But that’s just

good teaching” (eliminated falk & blumenreich)

Week 10 10/30

Promoting Additive Bi/Multilingualism and Structuring for Integration

Key Topics: Language Status Translanguaging Differentiation vs. Integration

Read: Chapters 10-11 de Jong Flores & Schissel: “Dynamic

bilingualism as the norm” (Eliminated palmer/chavez/cancino-

johnson Eliminated texas monthly)

Week 11 11/6

Critical Pedagogy: Teaching for Social Justice in the Content Areas

AND Bilingual Special Education Key Topics: Critical Pedagogy Social Justice

Bell hooks critical thinking (Eliminated Gustein “Chicanos have

Math in their Blood” and “Math, Maps, and Representation” from Rethinking Mathematics)

Ovando & Combs Ch. 9 (eliminated crossing borders from the line between us)

270

Week 12 11/13

Assessment/Accountability: a social justice issue

Key Topics: LEP

Identification/Placement/Redesignation

NCLB for ELLs STAAR Testing High Stakes Accountability Standardized vs. Alternative Assessment

Read: Ovando & Combs, Ch.8 Christensen, L. “High Stakes Harm” Peterson, B. & Neill, M. “Alternatives to Standardized Tests” DUE: Second Observation log and reflection (covering 2nd 3 hrs)

Week 13 11/20

Moving Forward: Becoming Advocates and Activists

Key Topics: Advocacy Community/School Partnership Bilingual Education Debates

Read: Chapter 12 de Jong (eliminated villenas) Dubetz advocacy Due: Group Presentation Materials

Week 14 12/4

EXAM – MEET IN TECHNOLOGY LAB

271

Appendix II Vignettes

Week 2 Hoy en la mañana tuvimos una discusión porque estábamos buscando educadores bilingües en mi escuela pero resulta que a la mayoría de los niños en clases bilingües se les ha sido enseñado solamente en inglés el año pasado. Entonces, varios del comité decían: “para qué necesitamos un maestro bilingüe! Contratemos un maestro monolingüe porque el año pasado les enseñaron todo en inglés” Terminé saliendo de la reunión porque esas personas eran gente con mente cerrada; yo creo que mi motivación ha sido por la injusticia. Muchos de estos niños tienen un gran potencial pero por el hecho de que no tienen el inglés o que la escuela no visualiza el bilingüismo como una ventaja, terminan siendo estigmatizados. Week 3 As bilingual teachers, we don't reach for richer word in Spanish. Hay maestros que aren't teaching that. I feel that the Spanish we're teaching isn’t rich enough. Some teachers say que no importa, con tal que enseñemos algo de español. Por ejemplo, hacer que los students usen la palabra “producir” en vez de “hacer.” We shouldn’t leave their Spanish as is but enrich it. Not all the teachers have the same level of Spanish. Week 4 Me di cuenta de que pensaban hacer la transición de clases bilingües a solo ingles comenzando con el tercer grado y me desesperaba que los estudiantes más listos que estuvieron conmigo en segundo los ponían en tercero a tomar el examen en ingles. Recuerdo a una niña en especifico y les decía “porque me la sacan a ella del programa bilingüe? Ella tenía todas las bases académicas en las matemáticas y ciencias y yo decía “déjenla que siga en el programa bilingüe y que mas adelante se puede transferir.” Y yo no sabia nada de teoría pero para mi se me hacia lógico que no la transicionaran todavía. Week 5 Cuando enseñé a mis estudiantes el libro Silvia & Aki, a las maestras no le gustaba que yo enseñara la historia que realmente los maestros bilingües no sabemos, como la inmigración. Es muy importante que los estudiantes puedan aprender lo que estaban sufriendo estos niños en California. Ese caso de Westminster es the most crucial thing that could have happened to Mexican Americans. Por ese caso estamos right here. Le dije a mis niños, you know, I didn’t know about this, nobody taught me this. You need to educate yourself. Pero los maestros around me didn’t think it was necessary. Ellos dicen: “you’re making them not like it here in the USA.” En cuarto grado estudiamos la historia de Texas and I told them: “you have to be really careful with the story of Texas, your sources.” I’m not afraid to tell them that books can be inaccurate pero mis colegas me decían: why are you contradicting the textbooks? Week 6

272

"Cuando vamos a preparar los grupos que van a pasar de pre-kinder a kinder yo asumí que mi grupo y el grupo de inglés pasan intactos. Mi compañera y yo fuimos a hablar con las maestras de kinder para hacerles sugerencias de cómo trabajar nuestro grupo, para darles más información sobre los niños que iban a enseñar el año siguiente. Pero ellas nos dijeron: “nosotras ya mezclamos a todos los niños y los niños bilingües no van a pasar al dual language two way. Los niños tienen que tener tienen que mezclarse mejor y hasta que los niños estén en primer grado recién estarán oficialmente en el dual language two way. Así se van a beneficiar todos. Les dije que todos se beneficiarían si abrimos más grupos de dual language two way, no mezclando a los niños del programa dual con los mainstream a la conveniencia de los niños americanos. Los niños americanos van a continuar recibiendo íntegros sus servicios toda su educación pero los míos van entrar y salir del programa y algunos van estar en one-way un año y two-way en el otro . Según las maestras de mi escuela que los dos programas son lo mismo que los niños no se van a afectar. Ellas nos dijeron que así se había decidido aún cuando Gomez y Gomez sostiene que el one-way y el two-way son programas distintos y recomiendan los niños en el two-way deben permanecer juntos para mejores resultados" Week 7 a) "Cuando vamos a preparar los grupos que van a pasar de pre-kinder a kinder yo asumí que mi grupo y el grupo de inglés pasan intactos. Mi compañera y yo fuimos a hablar con las maestras de kinder para hacerles sugerencias de cómo trabajar nuestro grupo, para darles más información sobre los niños que iban a enseñar el año siguiente. Pero ellas nos dijeron: “nosotras ya mezclamos a todos los niños y los niños bilingües no van a pasar al dual language two way. Los niños tienen que tener tienen que mezclarse mejor y hasta que los niños estén en primer grado recién estarán oficialmente en el dual language two way. Así se van a beneficiar todos. Les dije que todos se beneficiarían si abrimos más grupos de dual language two way, no mezclando a los niños del programa dual con los mainstream a la conveniencia de los niños americanos. Los niños americanos van a continuar recibiendo íntegros sus servicios toda su educación pero los míos van entrar y salir del programa y algunos van estar en one-way un año y two-way en el otro . Según las maestras de mi escuela que los dos programas son lo mismo que los niños no se van a afectar. Ellas nos dijeron que así se había decidido aún cuando Gomez y Gomez sostiene que el one-way y el two-way son programas distintos y recomiendan los niños en el two-way deben permanecer juntos para mejores resultados" b) Llegaron los resultados del último examen en español y los resultado de los niños que estaban las clases de español bilingüe estaba más bajos. Lo primerito que dijeron algunas de las personas en mi equipo fue que es culpa de los niños y no se debe enseñar ciencias y matemáticas en español. Ellos decían que a los niños que necesitan más ayuda debemos ponerlos en la clase de inglés. Por qué? Creen que los maestros bilingües son incapaces? El pensamiento es que el maestro bilingüe sólo enseña español y que no sabemos nada más, que somos brutos y que sabemos demasiado español para enseñar inglés. c) My colleagues will always tell me: "data shows, data shows; and research says” and I was like “where this data come from?” I knew a little bit about research but I didn't know

273

much about educational research. So every time I had an argument they would tell me: “data shows this” then, for them, it's true. I felt very disempowered, frustrated and disillusioned. That's why I did my masters in Bilingual Ed. to try to figure that out because what I knew what I believed in education was common sense. d) Durante las juntas con los maestros, mi subdirectora de vez en cuando dice que los estudiantes hispanos tienen dificultades de leer y escribir porque la culpa la tienen básicamente los padres de familia y que es una cuestión cultural. Hay varios maestros a su alrededor y nadie dice nada, entonces cómo uno puede entrar en ese diálogo para tratar de modificar esas ideas de una manera lógica y amable sin convertirlo en un ataque personal? Y hay un silencio en el salón muy incómodo los maestros no saben qué decir. Alguien debe romper la regla del silencio. Una vez dije algo y cuando la reunión terminó algunos maestros se acercan en privado y me dicen: “estamos de acuerdo con usted y qué bueno que usted lo dijo.” Y yo me quedé pensando pero por qué no dijeron en la junta cuando todos estamos allí? No se atreven a salir de la zona de confort Week 8 The other day una maestra vino y me dijo: I know that you were absent yesterday. One of my students lost his jacket and I think one of your students stole it. I was puzzled. She told me she waited to talk to me because he didn't understand English. I told her that student has been here for 4 months in the United States. So I asked her: “how do you know he stole it?” She said: “because it says Abercrombie on it, your student can't afford Abercrombie.” Week 9 Al empezar mi horario escolar, mi rutina fue interrumpida por la secretaria de la escuela quien encaminaba a mi salón a una alumna nueva. Detrás de ella, se escondía Sonia, una tímida niña firmemente agarrada de la mano de su papa. Ella se veía asustada y no muy animada de estar en la escuela. Con una sonrisa de bienvenida, extendí mi brazo para saludarla a ella y a su padre. A las cuantas horas y a pesar de mis esfuerzos por calmar su intranquilidad, me di cuenta de que Sonia todavía no se sentía en confianza. Es mas, aun después de varios días, seguía cohibida y con muy poco involucramiento en clase. A los pocos días, su papá se presentó en la mañana para hablar conmigo, “Maestra, por favor tenga paciencia con mi hija porque yo no le puedo ayudar, yo no se leer ni escribir.” Week 10 Algunos maestros bilingües se oponían a que se mezclaran los idiomas. Ellos, por haber venido de un país donde se habla español, le decían a sus estudiantes: “no los mezcles; no me dañen ni el uno ni el otro.” No era justo decirle eso a un niño que esta creciendo con dos idiomas que se limite a uno. Si traen dos idiomas, que las usen como ellos mas les convenga, eso no es un daño. Por ejemplo ayer uno de mis niños estaban haciendo un escrito sobre la lucha libre. El escribió “my family like lucha libre,” no va escribir wrestling porque no es tan significativo para el porque es la palabra que usa todo el tiempo. No hay ningún problema con que ellos mezclan los idiomas pero uno necesita darse cuenta que es algo propio de Texas pues aceptarlo como parte de la cultura

274

Week 11 Yo veía fotos de los centros y los libros que usaban algunos de mis colegas bilingües. Ellos me decían que todo lo hacían en español. Yo me preguntaba cómo tus materiales son relevantes culturalmente, how are you fostering who they are. Showing books on Cinco de Mayo or tamales isn't fostering who they are. Se debe hablar sobre issues, about reality, about struggles and political history Week 12 “Maestro, no podemos empezar el baile todavía, mi mama no ha llegado”. Le dije a Josefina que mirara con cuidado para ver si su mama no estaba en las filas de atrás. “No maestro, no la veo”, me respondió, “yo tampoco veo a mi mama”, dijo Ricardo. “Ni yo!”, dijo Julieta. Me di cuenta de que algo andaba mal. Pensé que a los padres se les había olvidado la hora del programa, pero tantos ausentes me pareció sospechoso. Habíamos practicado muchas tardes después de la escuela para que el baile saliera perfecto y sus padres estuvieran orgullosos. Rápidamente le pedí a la maestra que estaba a un lado del escenario que investigara la situación. Unos minutos después regrese diciendo que muchos padres habían sido enviados de regreso a sus casas por no tener una identificación que les permita pasar por el sistema de seguridad nuevo de la escuela. Esa tarde mis estudiantes de 3ro y 4to grado bailaron y cantaron decepcionados, a sabiendas de que sus padres se habían perdido la función. Cuando se termino el programa del 5 de Mayo y los estudiantes se fueron a casa, fuimos algunos maestros y yo a preguntar en la oficina que había pasado. La secretaria dijo que como se han establecido las nuevas medidas de seguridad, a personas que no puedan mostrar identificación o credencial de Texas no se les cede el paso. La indignación y tristeza que sufrimos, tanto maestros como niños bilingües, fue muy grande y algo que jamás olvidare.

275

Appendix III Defense Script

Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher: Drama-Based Interventions for Future Story-

Making Part I: Context Newsbites (0:00 – 1:19) Part II: Oral Stories (1:22 – 1:59) Conference scholar: (raincoat, high heels, bandaids with labels on arms) Welcome another conference on bilingual education, thank you all for coming. As a researcher and a bilingual teacher educator, the qualities of an effective bilingual teachers are… (audio with actual voices of bilingual teachers superimposed interrupts) (1:59- 2:50 Blanca: Juan, David, Nancy, Julia, Manuel… The stories of struggle of these bilingual teachers are tired of being whisperings in my ears. They want to take shape in your own body, that their words are your words, that you can complete their unfinished sentences; that you can do the things they couldn’t do, to follow their steps and go beyond. You, new teacher, the fight is yours. Try their shoes; try your new shoes. What would you do? What would I do? (takes off one high heel and put on one low heel and practices walking. Walks around audience, stumbles, gives away business card. Puts the jacket at the back of the chair and sits down, takes off shoes) Part III: Emotions (2:50 – 3:53) (Infovideo playing in the backgroud. After the short clip is done, Vignette 2 appears [enough Spanish]. Student in a pony tail, sitting right center texting, surprised by what she saw, stops and stares uncomfortable) Student: (3:53- 3:48) It’s sad they forget the reason why they became bilingual teachers. oyes esas respuestas y nomas quieres cachetearlas, quieres cachetearles como what are you thinking. They are bilingual teachers, they’re supposed to be supporting Spanish and English y no lo estan haciendo. (Stands up walk around the chair from right to left, undo the pony tail and put on the shoes, hold the jacket) Blanca they might not feel comfortable about performing Casos de la Vida Real; not that they don't like playing, they might be uncomfortable about standing up and doing in. One day, before a performance, the students asked to divide the classroom in protagonist and antagonist so that they could discuss the arguments for and against before the performance. This changes forum theater but that’s what they want to do. (Offering the jacket to the audience) What would you do? (4:48 – 7:05) (Infovideo plays. Leave shoes on centerstage. Takes the jacket on the chair and move center. Put on the glasses, make the half pony tail. Vignette 8 appears [Abercrombie]. Then a video of an actual performance. Student goes to front center, puts on the shoes and rehearses poses. After the text is over she speaks. )

276

Student: are you going to be their teacher? Do you speak Spanish? If she has a question about math or science will you be able to help her? … (gives up) me senti bien nerviosa pero a pesar de estar bien nerviosa, como my mind went blank porque you’re just so angry at the situation that your mind doesn’t like think about all the examples you can provide, all the research, because we’ve done a lot of reading (as if talking to the student, takes off glasses, shoes still on. ) Blanca: I can understand those feeling (moves to get the jacket and is about to put them on but instead takes card out of a pocket and throw the jacket to the side). To choke up and not being able to talk without yelling/crying. Yeah, this is frustrating but I want you to feel hopeful too. How to keep cool, as you mature? How to play this game?. Am I making you in the class feel helpless? (checks her pockets and reads the card). Henry Giroux says: “When students are told that all that matters for them is feeling good and that feeling uncomfortable is alien to learning itself, the very nature of teaching and learning is compromised.” Part IV: Language (7:05 – 9:50) Infovideo plays before vignette 10 [language separation] appears. (During this time, leave coat on the chair student sits on the chair and puts on boxing gear, stands up and practices moves frantically. While mentioning the rules, moves become more defined) Tus ideas no van a ser válidas si no puedes mantener tu calma. Evita gritos y faltas de respeto. Cuida tu tono; eres una profesional. Mente abierta. Escucha. Usa teorías y estudios como los de Krashen, Cummins, Bialystok. Sé lógica y amable y encuentra soluciones, no name-calling, Question people about their beliefs/thoughts; this makes people think of what they are saying. (Calm down, breathes in. Read the dialogue with Luis)

Luis Nosotros pensamos que está bien que los estudiantes no mezclen sus idiomas porque pueden

dañar el uno al otro, preferimos dejarlos separados Student

Recientemente han habido investigaciones que demuestran que el usar el primer idioma para aprender el segundo resulta de mucho beneficio. Ellos están transfiriéndo su conocimiento para

aprender un nuevo lenguaje. Es la razón que nosotras dejamos que los estudiantes usen su primer lenguaje. También el concepto de codeswitching ayuda su comprensión de los conceptos y de los

temas que están aprendiendo. Luis

Cómo vamos a saber si los estudiantes conocen los dos lenguajes en el mismo nivel durante este tiempo? Porque puede mezclar las cosas pero que si es porque no saben una palabra entonces

mejor la dicen en otro lenguaje Student

Porque nosotros estamos viendo que en el trabajo de los estudiantes estamos dándonos cuenta que no están usando el primer lenguaje como "crutching,” lo están usando como una herramienta

para darse a entender y están usando el lenguaje en contexto. Luis

277

Yo siento que sí conocemos a nuestros estudiantes y es por eso que no queremos mezclar los idiomas. Como por ejemplo, para el examen de STAAR, nada más van a estar evaluados en un idioma. Entonces por eso queremos darle esta práctica y que separen los idiomas para que no se

confundan durante el examen Student

han habido estudios que demuestran que los alumnos bilingües realmente tienen una mejor mejores capacidades y pueden tener mejores calificaciones comparados a los monolingües

(takes off the Boxing gear during the quote) (9:50 – 10:22) Quote on screen: this semester our instructors accept language mixing but in some classes they ask you to complete assignments in one language. This strategy can be used in our future class to have students not use their second language as a crutch but to expand their knowledge in both languages. if the university uses both (dynamic bilingualism and double monolingualism) depending on context and setting, I think I will have to use a combination of both. Part V: Class created scripts/performances (10:24-10:34) Time lapse video (places a table in the middle of the space and a chair. Sits in front of a computer, headphones on typing and sitting as always, arched body, face near the computer. Stops and takes off the headphones) Blanca: What if I turned down the video and see if I can recall the feeling? (10:34 – 11:04) (play the video with audio. Sit like Enrique. When he ends turn around while sitting) To be honest, I never considered myself as an advocate before this semester because I use to think that an advocate would usually be someone who fights to gain rights or to be treated equally. I have always felt like I have never really had to defend any of my beliefs. After this semester, I consider myself an advocate for bilingual education after learning about the history of bilingual education and the importance of standing up for what you believe in. I have engaged in advocacy by participating in Casos de la Vida Real and at times explaining to some peers why bilingual education is very important. (11:44 – 12:24) (Still scene 3: table as in the performance. Sits like the student) Fui a observar una clase en una escuela. No tenían suficiente dinero para contratar otro maestro para abrir un monolingual English-speaking class so they have a bilingual class with eleven students. What they did is to do a hybrid so they put the English-speaking students with the Spanish-speaking students. It’s not a two-way program so the English-speaking student don’t want to learn Spanish and the others wanna learn both. So the teacher has to say everything twice. When I left, I was so frustrated, I can’t believe this is happening. No sabía qué real era algo así. This was the basis of our performance (play the video while I mimic)

278

(12:24 – 13:24) Podemos hablar de costos y todo pero no es justo que tengamos que

integrar a los dos grupos de estudiantes uno en español y el otro en inglés y que tengamos que adaptarlo por el simple hecho de

que no tengamos recursos. Tenemos que cater to the needs of both populations independent from the costs

(13:24 – 14:20) (Play video in silence while speaking). It was eye opening. It’s more meaningful to do it than just reading it because whenever you read it yes, you have a reaction, But when you role-play you’re actually playing you thoughts out there while someone attacks them and you have to defend your position. It makes it more meaningful and you actually remember what you say and then you feel you’re doing something important. It gave me another identity. My placement is in my community and in my letter to the parents I was open to them and I told them I was a DACA student, if you have any questions you can reach out to me because I’ve been through the process and I have answers. Part 6: Advocacy (14:20 - (Info video and vignette Sylvia and Aki) Student slam poem (notebook in hand)

I was sitting there.

We were all sitting there. It’s 9:15 am, these white walls couldn’t get any dingier.

“Okay vamos, Casos de la Vida Real.” Aye, ejole otra vez…I don’t wanna go up there but a part of me hopes she calls on me.

My stomach tightens, I hate acting, but I love speaking. I’m gonna be a teacher so I have to love acting. But is it acting if it’s really who you are. Do I really even know who I am?

The case goes up: “you’re making them not like it here in the USA.” Their passive citizenry is fading away. Provoking one critical thought at a time, one critical question, one critical answer.

Students will then be able to answer to the sultry voice of assimilations calling as she slowly works her way into every aspect of your life, she begins to tell you: “that book, Sylvia and Aki,

put it away; ese libro no contiene nada, tu historia, no contiene nada. The text book says everything you need to know.”

Students can then say, we can then say: “Well, what does it know about Japanese internment camps

Angel Island, Dolores Huerta, Diego Rivera, socialista, La Bestia, coyotes, working class wages, white collar crime,

Bilingual Education, Native American boarding schools, walk-outs, gentrification, assimilation, Chicano history?

It’s the Americans tapestry, where some threads are more costly than others, where some threads have been stretched far to thin,

whose backs have been used to construct the entire blanket and yet they have not given into asimilación, educación.

279

“Why are you contradicting the textbooks?” I read that last sentence; We read that last sentence.

These white walls are telling me something. Should I say something? My palms are sweaty. Our palms get sweaty.

My heart beats faster. Our hearts beat faster. Okay I’ll go, I’ll be ….

Y no oigo. My words trail off while I submerge in my thoughts.

“How will I defend my students, if my colleagues think my students language should be lost?” But then I see, I feel, I think.

Something’s not right here, some things is not right here. What were doing in here, we should be practicing out there.”

We don’t feel hopeless; in fact we feel much less intimidated by what we will confront. We are the teachers on the forefront; armed with research, our stories, our history.

I have revealed my voice, We have revealed our voice. It’s not acting if you believe in it.

Blanca: main fears about being advocates (hand cards to read – pass some to read) Card 1 Yo creo que sería más difícil para mí involucrarme en actividades en la comunidad porque ser maestra significa que estaré muy ocupada y tendré mucho trabajo. Card 2 Creo que tratar de cambiar prácticas institucionales injustas será más difícil porque me enfrentaré con mucho más oposición. Card 3 Sería difícil exponer los puntos por los cuales defendemos la educación bilingüe pone en peligro nuestro trabajo si es que acaso el director no comparte las mismas creencias. Card 4 Así como hay cantidad de investigaciones que apoyan en bilingüismo y la gente los rechaza, muchos rechazan el cambio de código a pesar de las investigaciones que demuestran su valor en la vida de los estudiantes Card 5 A mí se me hace que el aspecto más difícil va ser que voy a ser una maestra nueva y a lo mejor van a ver varios maestros que han estado en el distrito por muchos años. Yo pienso que lo más difícil va ser tratar de obtener el respeto de estos maestros para que todos me tomen en serio. Blanca: Will I be taken seriously too? In the world of educational research, will I be taken seriously as I conduct a performance ethnography? Fuck it, I’ll do it anyway.

280

Bilbliography

Adams, D. (1988). Fundamental considerations: The deep meaning of native American

schooling, 1880-1900. Harvard Educational Review, 58(1), 1-28.

Ahora Sí: Austin news in Spanish http://www.statesman.com/s/ahora-si/

Alim, H. S., American Dialect Society. (2004). You know my steez: An ethnographic and

sociolinguistic study of styleshifting in a Black American speech community.

Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press for the American Dialect Society.

Allen, J. M. (2009). Valuing practice over theory: How beginning teachers re-orient their

practice in the transition from the university to the workplace. Teaching and

Teacher Education, 25, 5, 647-654.

Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands: The new mestiza: La frontera. Chicana studies. San

Francisco, Calif: Aunt Lute Books.

(1990). Haciendo caras, una entrada. In G. Anzaldúa (Ed.), Making face, making

soul: Creative and critical perspectives by feminists of color (pp. xv-xxviii). San

Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.

(2002). Now let us shift . . . the path of conocimiento . . . inner work, public acts.

In G. Anzaldúa & A. Keating (Eds.), This bridge we call home: Radical visions

for transformation (pp. 540–578). New York, NY: Routledge.

Anzaldúa, G., Keating, A. L. (2009). The Gloria Anzaldúa reader. Durham: Duke

University Press.

Armbruster-Sandoval, R. (2005). Is another world possible? Is another classroom

possible? Radical pedagogy, activism, and social change. Social Justice, 32(2),

281

34-51.

Andreotti, V. (2011). Actionable postcolonial theory in education. New York: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Apple, M. W. (2006). Educating the “right” way: Markets, standards, God and

inequality. (pp. 1-33). (second edition). New York: Routledge.

(2011). Global crises, social justice, and teacher education. Journal of Teacher

Education, 62, 2, 222-234.

Athanases, S. Z., de Oliveira. L. C. (2008). Advocacy for equity in classrooms and

beyond: New teachers' challenges and responses. Teachers College Record, 110

1, 64-104.

Athanases, S. Z., Martin, K. J. (2006). Learning to advocate for educational equity in a

teacher credential program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 6, 627-646.

Bailey, B. (2007). Heteroglossia and boundaries. In M. Heller (Ed.), Bilingualism: A

social approach (pp. 257-276). Basingstoke, UK:Palgrave.

Bakhtin, M. M. (2008). The problem with speech genres. In A. Jaworski & N. Coupland

(Eds.). The discourse reader. London: Routledge, 121- 132.

Bakhtin, M. M., Iswolsky, H. (1984). Rabelais and his world. Bloomington: Indiana

University Press.

Bartolome, L. (1994). Beyond the methods fetish: toward a humanizing pedagogy.

Harvard Educational Review, 64, 2, 173-94.

Bartolome, L. Balderrama, M.V. (2001). The need for educators with political and

ideological clarity: Providing our children with “The Best.” In M.L. Reyes and J.

282

J., (Eds.), The best for our children: Critical perspectives on literacy for Latino

students (pp. 48-64). New York: Teachers College Press.

Becker, A.L., (1988). Language in particular: a lecture. In: Deborah, Tannen (Ed.),

Linguistics in Context. Ablex, Norwood, NJ, pp. 17–35.

Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. C., Verloop, N. (2004). Reconsidering research on teachers'

professional identity. Teaching & Teacher Education: an International Journal of

Research and Studies, 20, 2, 107-128.

Bell, L. A. (2010). Storytelling for social justice: Connecting narrative and the arts in

antiracist teaching. New York: Routledge.

Beverley, J. (2000). Testimonio, subalternity and narrative authority. In N. K. Denzin &

Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.) 555-565.

Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism:

Language and Cognition, 12, 1, 3-11.

Boal, A. (2000). Theater of the oppressed. London: Pluto.

(2006) The Aesthetics of the Oppressed. London, UK: Routledge.

(1995). The rainbow of desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy. London:

Routledge.

(1992). Games for actors and non-actors. London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information,

16, 6, 645-668.

(1990). The logic of practice. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

283

Brown, K., Gillespie, D. (1999). Responding to moral distress in the university: Augusto

Boal's Theater of the Oppressed. Change: the Magazine of Higher Learning, 31,

5, 34-39.

Bucholtz, M., Hall, K. (2008). All of the above: New coalitions in sociocultural

linguistics. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12, 4, 401-431.

Cahnmann, M. (2003) To correct or not to correct bilingual students’ errors is a question

of continua-ing reimagination. In N. Hornberger, (Ed.). Continua of biliteracy: An

ecological framework for educational policy, research, and practice in

multilingual settings, pp 187-206. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Cahnmann, M., Rymes, B., & Souto-Manning, M. (2005). Using critical discourse

analysis to understand and facilitate identification processes of bilingual adults

becoming teachers. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 2, 4, 195-213.

Cahnmann, M., & Varghese, M. (2005). Critical advocacy and bilingual education in the

United States. Linguistics and Education, 16, 1, 59-73.

Cahnmann, M. (2003) To correct or not to correct bilingual students' errors is a question

of continua-ing reimagination. In N. H. Hornberger (Ed.), Continua of biliteracy:

An ecological framework for educational policy, research, and practice in

multilingual settings (pp. 187-204). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Calhoun, C. J. (1994). Social theory and the politics of identity. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Callahan, R. M., Gandara, P. C. (2014). The bilingual advantage: Language, literacy and

the US labor market. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Cazden, C. B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

284

Cervantes-Soon, C. G. (2012). “Testimonios” of life and learning in the borderlands:

subaltern Juarez girls speak. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45, 3, 373-391.

Chappell, S. Faltis, C. (2013). The arts and emergent bilingual youth: Building critical,

creative programs in school and community contexts. New York: Routledge.

Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE

Publications.

Cho, S. (2012). Critical pedagogy and social change: Critical analysis on the language

of possibility. London: Routledge.

Coady, M., Harper, C., de Jong. E. (2011). From preservice to practice: Mainstream

elementary teacher beliefs of preparation and efficacy with English language

learners in the state of Florida. Bilingual Research Journal, 34, 2, 223-239.

Cockrell, K., Placier, P., Burgoyne, S., Welch, S., Cockrell, D. (2002) Theater of the

oppressed as a self-study process: Understanding ourselves as actors in teacher

education classrooms. In C. Kosnic, A. Freese, A. Samaras. (Eds), Making a

difference in teacher education through self-study proceedings of the fourth

international conference of the self-study of teacher education practices, 1, 43-47

Queen’s University, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England.

Coffey, A., & Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data: Complementary

research strategies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Cohran-Smith, M (2009) Toward a theory of teacher education for social justice.

Springer International Handbooks of Education, 23, pp 445-467

Conkling, W. (2011). Sylvia & Aki. Berkeley: Tricycle Press.

285

Conquergood, D. (2002). Performance studies: interventions and radical research. Tdr:

the Drama Review, 46, 2, 145-156.

(1995) Of caravans and carnivals performance studies in motion. The Drama

Review, 39, 4 (T148).

(1985) Performing as a moral act: Ethical dimensions of the ethnography of

performance. Literature and Performance. 5, 2, 1-13

(1991).Rethinking Ethnography: Towards a Critical Cultural Politics.

Communication Monographs, 59, 179-194.

Crawford, J. (1989). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory, and practice. Trenton,

N.J: Crane Pub. Co.

Creese, A., Blackledge, A. (2011). Ideologies and interactions in multilingual education:

What can an ecological approach tell us about Bilingual pedagogy? In C. Hélot,

M. Ó Laoire (Eds). Language policy for the multilingual classroom: Pedagogy of

the possible (pp. 3-21). Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.

(2010). Translanguaging in the Bilingual Classroom: A Pedagogy for Learning

and Teaching?. Modern Language Journal, 94, 1, 103-115.

Christensen, L. (2012) ‘High-Stakes' Harm. In W. Au & M. Bollow (Eds.) Rethinking

Schools, 169- 174.

Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and special education: Issues in assessment and

pedagogy. San Diego, CA: College-Hill Press.

Dantas-Whitney, M., Dugan, W. (2009). Moving toward critical cultural consciousness in

ESOL and bilingual teacher education. Bilingual Research Journal, 32, 1, 60-76.

286

Darder, A. (2011). A dissident voice: Essays on culture, pedagogy, and power. New

York: Peter Lang.

(2012). Culture and power in the classroom: Educational foundations for the

schooling of bicultural students. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

Davis, D., O'Sullivan, C. (2000). Boal and the shifting sands: the un-political master

swimmer. New Theatre Quarterly, 16, 3.

de Jong, E. (2011). Foundations for multilingualism in education: From principles to

practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Pub.

Delgado, R. (1989). Storytelling for oppositionists and others: A plea for narrative.

Michigan Law Review, 87, 8, 2411-2441.

Della Porta. D., Diani, M. (2006). Social movements. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Denzin, N. K. (2003). Performance ethnography: Critical pedagogy and the politics of

culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

(2006). Pedagogy, performance, and autoethnography. Text and Performance

Quarterly, 26, 4, 333-338.

Doxtater, M. G. (2005). Indigenous knowledge in the decolonial era. American Indian

Quarterly, 28, 618-633.

Dressman, M. (1998) Confessions of a methods fetishist: Or, the cultural politics of

reflective nonengagemen. In R. Chavez, J. O'Donnell & C. Sleeter (Eds.).

Speaking the Unpleasant. The Politics of (non)Engagement in the Multicultural

Education Terrain. SUNY Series, The Social Context of Education. State

University of New York Press. Pp. 108- 126.

287

Dubetz, N.E. (2014) Enacting advocacy-oriented visions of bilingual education: Lessons

from experienced bilingual educators. NABE Journal of Research and Practice; 5,

1-26

Dubetz, N. E., de Jong, E. (2011). Teacher advocacy in bilingual programs. Bilingual

Research Journal, 34, 3, 248-262.

Edelsky, C. (1996). With literacy and justice for all: Rethinking the social in language

and education. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Erickson, F. (2004). Talk and social theory: Ecologies of speaking and listening in

everyday life. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Escamilla, K. (2014). Biliteracy from the start: Literacy squared in action. Philadelphia:

Caslon Publishing.

Fairclough, N. (2001). The discourse of new labour: critical discourse analysis. In S.

Yates, S. Taylor & M. Wetherell, M. (Eds.). Discourse as data: A guide for

analysis, pp 229-266. London: SAGE.

(1995) Critical Discourse Analysis. Longman. London.

(2003) Analysing Discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York and

London. Routledge.

(2008) Linguistic and intertextual analysis within discourse analysis. In A.

Jaworski & N. Coupland (Eds.). The discourse reader. London: Routledge, 183-

211.

Fillmore, L. W. (2000). Loss of family languages: Should educators be concerned?.

Theory into Practice, 39, 4, 203-10.

288

Fishman, J. A. (2001). Why is it so hard to save threatened languages? In J.A. Fishman

(ed.) Can threatened languages be saved? pp. 1-22. Clevedon: Multilingual

Matters.

Fitts, S., Weisman, E. M. (2010). Exploring questions of social justice in

bilingual/bicultural teacher education: Towards a parity of participation. Urban

Review, 42, 5, 373-393.

Flores, N., Schissel, J. L. (2014). Dynamic bilingualism as the norm: Envisioning a

heteroglossic approach to standards-based reform. TESOL Quarterly, 48, 3, 454-

479.

Foley, N. (2008) “Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Americans and whiteness” in

Rothenberg, P. (Ed.) White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of

Racism, Third Ed. Worth Publishers. Pp. 55-65

Foley, D. (1990). Learning capitalist culture: Deep in the heart of Tejas. Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press.

Foley, D., Valenzuela, A. (2000). Critical ethnography: The politics of collaboration. In

N. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research

(3rd ed., pp. 217–234). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Freire, P. (2005). Teachers as cultural workers. Letters to teachers who dare teach.

Cambridge: Westview Press.

(1973). Education for Critical Consciousness. New York: The Seabury Press.

(1985). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation. Granby, Mass:

Bergin & Garvey.

(1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.

289

Freire, P., Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word & the world. South Hadley,

Mass: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.

Freire, P., Macedo, D., Koike, D., Oliviera, A. (1998). Teachers as cultural workers:

Letters to those who dare teach. Colorado: Westview Press.

Gandara, P., Rumberger, R. (2009). Immigration, language, and education: How does

language policy structure opportunity? Teachers College Record, 111(3), 750–

782

García, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century.

In Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. In A.

Mohanty, M. Panda, R. Phillipson, T. Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds). New Delhi: Orient

Blackswan (former Orient Longman), pp. 128-145.

(2012). El papel del translenguar en la enseñanza del español en los Estados

Unidos. In D. Dumitrescu (Ed.) Español en los Estados Unidos: E Pluribus

Unum? Enfoques multidisciplinarios (353-373). New York: Ediciones ANLE.

Greene, M. (2001). Variations on a blue guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute lectures on

aesthetic education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Geiger S. N. G. (1986). Women's life histories: Method and content. Signs: Journal of

Women in Culture and Society, 11, 2.

Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of education.

NY: Routlege.

(2014). Academic madness and the politics of exile. Truth-out. Retrieved on

December 2014 from http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27501-henry-a-

giroux-academic-madness-and-the-politics-of-exile#

290

Glesne, C. (1997). That rare feeling: Re-presenting research through poetic transcription.

Qualitative Inquiry, 3, 2, 202-221.

Godley, A. J., Sweetland, J., Wheeler, R. S., Minnici, A., Carpenter, B. D. (2006).

Preparing teachers for dialectally diverse classrooms. Educational Researcher,

35, 8, 30-37.

Gomez, L., Freeman, D., Freeman, Y. (2005). Dual language education: A promising 50-

50 model. Bilingual Research Journal, 29, 1, 145-164.

González, N., Moll, L. C., Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practice

in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum

Associates.

Gorter, D., Cenoz, J. (2015). Translanguaging and linguistic landscapes. Linguistic

Landscape, 1, 54-74.

Gounari, P. Macedo, D. (2009). Language as racism: A new policy of exclusion. In C.

Mitakidou (Ed.) Beyond pedagogies of exclusion in diverse childhood contexts:

Transnational challenges. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 31-46

Guerrero, M. D. (2003a). "We have correct English teachers. Why can't we have correct

Spanish teachers? It's not acceptable". International Journal of Qualitative

Studies in Education, 16, 5, 647-668.

(2003b). Acquiring and participating in the use of academic Spanish: Four novice

Latina bilingual education teachers' stories. Journal of Latinos & Education, 2, 3,

159-181.

291

Guerrero, M. D., Guerrero, M. C. (2013). El discurso del español académico en una zona

fronteriza: Un caso de colonización benevolente. Journal of Latinos and

Education, 12, 4, 239-253.

(2009). El (sub)desarrollo del español académico entre los maestros bilingües:

¿Una cuestión de poder? Journal of Latinos and Education, 8, 1, 55-66

Hakuta, K. (2011) Educating language minority students and affirming their equal rights:

research and practical perspectives. Educational Researcher 40(4), 163-174.

Hall, B. L. (2005). In from the cold? Reflections on participatory research from 1970-

2005. Convergence, 38, 1, 5-24.

Hardcastle, M.-A., Usher, K., Holmes, C. (2006). Carspecken's five-stage critical

qualitative research method: An application to nursing research. Qualitative

Health Research, 16, 1, 151-161.

Hasson, D. J. (2006). Bilingual language use in Hispanic young adults: Did elementary

bilingual programs help?. Bilingual Research Journal, 30, 1, 45-64.

Herr, K., Anderson, G. L. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide for students

and faculty. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.

Holland, D., Lachicotte, W. (2007). Vygotsky, Mead and the new sociocultural studies

of identity. In The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky, ed. H. Daniels, M. Cole

and J. Wertsch, 101-135. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D. Cain, C. (2003). Identity and agency in cultural

worlds. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Holland, D., Lave, J. (2001). History in person: Enduring struggles, contentious practice,

intimate identities. Santa Fe, N.M: School of American Research Press.

292

hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. New York: Routledge.

Hornberger, N. H. (2004). The Continua of biliteracy and the bilingual educator:

Educational linguistics in practice. International journal of Bilingual education

and Bilingualism, 7, 155-171.

Howard, G. (2006). We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial

school. New York: Teachers College Press.

Howard, L. A. (2004). Speaking theatre/doing pedagogy: re-visiting theatre of the

oppressed. Communication Education, 53, 3, 217-233.

Illich, I. (1970). Deschooling society. New York: Harper & Row.

Jeffery, P., Whatman, S. (2007). Wis Wei Youpla Health – The methodology and

research protocols behind an investigation into community participation into

health education decision making for Torres Strait Islander girls. AARE.

Jones, J. L. (2002). Performance ethnography: The role of embodiment in cultural

authenticity. Theatre Topics, 12, 1, 1-15.

(2006) Performance and ethnography, performing ethnography, performance

ethnography. In D. S. Madison & J Hamera (Eds). The Sage handbook of

performance studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Z

Jonsson, C. (2005). Code-switching in Chicano theater: Power, identity and style in three

plays by Cherríe Moraga. Umeå: Institutionen för moderna språk, Umeå

universitet.

Kanter, J. (2007). Disciplined bodies at play: Improvisation in a federal prison. Cultural

Studies - Critical Methodologies, 7, 4, 378-396.

293

Kelley, R. D. G. (1993). We are not what we seems”: Rethinking Black working-class

opposition in the Jim Crow south. Journal of American history 80, 75-112

Kirshner, D., Whitson, J. A. (1997). Situated cognition: Social, semiotic, and

psychological perspectives. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum.

Kincheloe, J. L., Steinberg, S. R. (1997). Changing multiculturalism. Buckingham

[England: Open University Press.

Kincheloe, J., McLaren, P. (2005). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In

N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (3rd. edition).

London: Sage. 303-342.

Kohl, H. R. (1994). I won't learn from you: And other thoughts on creative

maladjustment. New York, NY: New Press.

Korthagen, F. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: Towards a more holistic

approach in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education. 20: 77–97.

Korthagen, F., Loughran, J., Russell, T. (2006). Developing fundamental principles for

teacher education programs and practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22,

8, 1020-1041.

Korthagen, F., Vasalos, A. (2005). Levels in reflection: core reflection as a means to

enhance professional growth. Teachers and Teaching, 11, 1, 43-72.

Kramsch, C. (2003). Identity, role and voice in cross-cultural (mis)communication. In J.

House, G. Kasper, & S. Ross (Eds.), Misunderstanding in social life: Discourse

approaches to problematic talk (pp. 129–153). London: Pearson Education.

Krashen, S. D., & ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. (1997).

Why bilingual education?. Charleston, WV (P.O. Box 1348, Charleston 25325-

294

1348: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, Appalachia

Educational Laboratory.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that's just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant

pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34, 3, 159-65.

(2001). Crossing over into Canaan: The journey of new teachers in diverse

classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lather, P. (1986). Issues of validity in openly ideological research: between a rock and a

soft place. Interchange, 17, 4, 63-84.

Lave, J., Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation.

Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.

Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice. New York: The

Guilford Press.

Lorde, A. (1997). Age, race, class, and sex: Women redefining difference. In A.

McClintock, A. Mufti, E. Shohat, E., & Social Text Collective (Eds). Dangerous

liaisons: Gender, nation, and postcolonial perspectives. Minneapolis: University

of Minnesota Press, pp. 374-380)

Macedo, D., Freire, A. M. A. (2005). Foreword of P. Freire. In Teachers as cultural

workers. Letters to teachers who dare teach (pp. vii-xxvi). Cambridge: Westview

Press.

Madison, D. S. (2007). Co-performance witnessing. Cultural Studies, 21, 6, 826-831.

(2005). Critical ethnography: Method, ethics, and performance. Thousand Oaks,

Calif: Sage.

(2010). Acts of activism: Human rights as radical performance. Cambridge:

295

Cambridge University Press.

Mahon, M. (2004). Black like this: Race, generation, and rock in the post-civil rights era.

In L. Baker (Ed) Life in America: Identity. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Major, E. M., Perreault, G. (2004). Preparing teachers for critical social consciousness:

Issues of engagement and resistance. Teacher Education and Practice. 17 (3),

255-278.

Marín, C. (2007). A Methodology rooted in praxis: Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)

techniques employed as arts-based educational research methods. Youth Theatre

Journal, 21, 1, 81-93.

Marsh, M. M. (2003). Examining the discourses that shape our teacher identities.

Curriculum Inquiry, 32, 4, 453-469.

Martinez, R. A. (2010). Spanglish as Literacy Tool: Toward an Understanding of the

Potential Role of Spanish-English Code-Switching in the Development of

Academic Literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45, 2, 124-149.

Medina, Y. (2012). Critical aesthetic pedagogy: Toward a theory of self and social

empowerment.

Menchaca, M. (2011). Naturalizing Mexican immigrants: A Texas history. Austin:

University of Texas Press.

Mertens, D. M. (2010). Research and evaluation in education and psychology:

Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Los

Angeles: Sage.

(2009). Transformative research and evaluation. The Guilford Press: New York,

London.

296

(2007). Transformative paradigm. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1, 3, 212-

225.

McLaren, P. (2006). Rage + hope: Interviews with Peter McLaren on war, imperialism,

+ critical pedagogy. New York: P. Lang.

McLaren, P., Jaramillo, N. (2007). Pedagogy and praxis in the age of empire: Towards a

new humanism. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Mick, C. (2011). Heteroglossia in a multilingual learning space: approaching language

beyond “lingualisms.” In C. Hélot, M. Ó Laoire (Eds). Language policy for the

multilingual classroom: Pedagogy of the possible (pp. 21-41). Buffalo, NY:

Multilingual Matters.

Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching:

Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into

Practice, 31, 1, 132-41.

Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing

solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press.

Moraga, C., Anzaldúa, G. (1981). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical

women of color. Watertown, Mass: Persephone Press.

Mosley, M., Cary, L. J., Zoch, M. (2010). Becoming culturally responsive a review of

learning in field experiences for prospective literacy educators. In D. Wyse, D., R.

Andrews, J. V. Hoffman (Eds.). The Routledge international handbook of

English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 282-293). London: Routledge.

297

National Association for Bilingual Education (U.S.). (1992). Professional standards for

the preparation of bilingual/multicultural teachers. Washington, D.C: The

Association.

Norris, J. (2009). Playbuilding as qualitative research: A participatory arts-based

approach. Walnut Creek, Calif: Left Coast Press.

Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational

change. Harlow, England: Longman.

Ortiz-Franco, L, (2013) Chicanos have math in their blood. In Peterson, B., E. Gutstein

(Eds.). Rethinking mathematics: Teaching social justice by the numbers. 70-75

Osterlind, E. (2008). Acting out of habits - Can theatre of the oppressed promote change?

Boal's theatre methods in relation to Bourdieu's concept of habitus. Research in

Drama Education, 13, 1, 71-82.

Otheguy, R., García, O., Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing

named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics

Review 6(3): 281-307.

Palos, A. L., McGinnis, E., Fifer, S. J., Bricca, J., Amor, N., Dos Vatos Productions,

Independent Television Service,, ... Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (2011).

Precious knowledge. Arizona?: Dos Vatos Productions.

Pattillo-McCoy (1999) Black picket fences: Privilege and peril among the Black middle

class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Peleato, I.V. (2013) Políticas y modelos de educación bilingüe en la atención a la

diversidad lingüistica en Estados Unidos. Revista de Educación, 360, 685-696.

298

Perez, E. (2005). Gloria Anzaldua: La Gran Nueva Mestiza Theorist, Writer, Activist-

Scholar. NWSA Journal, 17, 2, 1-10.

Perez, B., Bustos, B. Strecker, S. (2003) Biliteracy teacher education in the US

southwest. In N. Hornberger (Ed) Continua of biliteracy: An ecological

framework for educational policy, research, and practice in multilingual settings.

Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters (pp.207-231)

Peterson, R., O’Neill, M (2012). Alternatives to standardized tests. In W. Au & M.

Bollow (Eds.) Rethinking Schools, 218- 228.

Picher, M-C. (2007). Democratic process and the Theater of the Oppressed. New

Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2007, 116, 79-88.

Pimentel, C. ( 2011). The Color of language: The racialized educational trajectory of an

emerging bilingual student. Journal of Latinos and Education, 10, 4, 335-353.

Portes, A., Rumbaut, R. G. (2001). Legacies: the story of the immigrant second

generation (2nd Ed.). University of California Press

Potowski, K. (2008) "Bilingüe”: Una palabra tabú en la educación pública. Revista

ContraTiempo, 58, 4-5.

Prisioneros (Musical group). (1986). Pateando piedras. Santiago, Chile: Emi

Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and

planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4, 2, 196-213.

(2005). Problems with the “language-as-resource;” discourse in the promotion of

heritage languages in the U.S.A. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9, 3, 348-368.

Rodriguez, A. D. (2007). Prospective bilingual teachers' perceptions of the importance of

their heritage language. Heritage Language Journal, 5, 1, 172-187

299

Rogers, R., Mosley, M. (2006). Racial literacy in a second-grade classroom: Critical race

theory, whiteness studies, and literacy research. Reading Research Quarterly, 41,

4, 462-495.

Rogoff, R., Paradise, R., Mejia Arauz, R., Correa-Chavez, M., Angelillo, M. (2003).

First hand learning through intent participation. Annual review of Psychology,

54:175-203.

Rolstad, K., Mahoney, K., Glass, G. V. (2005). The big picture: A meta-analysis of

program effectiveness research on English Language Learners. Educational

Policy, 19, 4, 572-594.

Rymes, B., Cahnmann-Taylor, M., Souto-Manning, M. (2008). Bilingual teachers'

performances of power and conflict. Teaching Education, 19, 2, 93-107.

Said-Mohand, A. (2005). La enseñanza del discurso academico a estudiantes bilingues en

los Estados Unidos: Reflexion y estado de la cuestion. Bilingual Research

Journal, 29, 3, 699-710.

Saldaña, J. (2011). Ethnotheatre: Research from page to stage. Walnut Creek, CA: Left

Coast Press.

Sánchez, P. Ek, L. (2008). Escuchando a las maestras/os: Immigration politics and

Latina/o preservice educators. Bilingual Research Journal, 31(1), 1- 24.

Sanders, M. (2005). Urban odyssey: Theatre of the Oppressed and talented minority

youth. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 28, 2, 218-241.

Scapp, R. (2006). Managing to be different. New York: Routledge.

Schaedler, M (2010). Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed and how derail real-life tragedies

with imagination In D. Sommer, A. Sanín (Eds), 141-151. Cultural agents and

300

creative arts. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

Schepens, A., Aelterman, A., & Vlerick, P. (2009). Student teachers' professional identity

formation: Between being born as a teacher and becoming one. Educational

Studies, 35, 4, 361-378.

Shannon, S. M. (1995). The hegemony of English: A case study of one bilingual

classroom as a site of resistance. Linguistics and Education, 7, 175–200.

Sheets, R. H. (1999) Human development and ethnic identity. In R. H. Sheets & E. R.

Hollins (Eds.), Racial and ethnic identities in school practices: Aspects of human

development (pp. 91-101). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Sleeter, C. E., Grant, C. A. (2003). Making choices for multicultural education: Five

approaches to race, class, and gender. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.

Sleeter, C. E. (2008) Preparing white teachers for diverse students. In M. Cochran-Smith,

S. Feiman-Nemser, & J. McIntyre (Eds.). Research in Teacher Education:

Enduring Issues in Changing Contexts, 3rd ed. (pp. 559-582). Routledge.

Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples.

London: Zed Books.

Solórzano, D. G., Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as

an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8, 1, 23-44.

Soltero-Gonzalez, L., Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S. (2012). Changing teachers' perceptions

about the writing abilities of emerging bilingual students: Towards a holistic

bilingual perspective on writing assessment. International Journal of Bilingual

Education and Bilingualism, 15, 1, 71-94.

Sutterby, J. A., Ayala, J., Murillo, S. (2005). “El Sendero torcido al espanol” [The twisted

301

path to Spanish]: The development of bilingual teachers' Spanish-language

proficiency. Bilingual Research Journal, 29, 2, 435-452.

Sweet, S. (1998). Practicing radical pedagogy: Balancing ideals with institutional

constraints. Teaching Sociology, 26, 2, 100-11.

Urrieta, L. (2009). Working from within: Chicana and Chicano activist educators in

whitestream schools. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Teacher prep rankings U.S. News & World Report 2014. Retrieved on January 2014 from

http://www.usnews.com/education/nctq

Tejano History Curriculum Project https://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/tejano-history-

curriculum-project

The University of Texas at Austin Accountability Report – January 2015. Retrieved on

January 2014 from

http://www.txhighereddata.org/Interactive/Accountability/UNIV_Complete_PDF.

cfm?FICE=003658

Thomas, W. P., Collier, V. P., Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence.

(2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students'

long-term academic achievement. Washington, DC: Center for Research on

Education, Diversity & Excellence.

Thomas, W. P., Collier, V. P., Educational Resources Information Center (U.S.). (1997).

School effectiveness for language minority students. Washington, DC:

Disseminated by National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, the George

Washington University, Center for the Study of Language and Education.

302

Title II 2014 Report for Higher Education Act. Retrieved in January 2014 from

https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx

Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is never equal: The story of Sylvia Mendez & her family's

fight for desegregation. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Varghese, M. (2004). Professional development for Bilingual teachers in the United

States: A site for articulating and contesting professional roles. Bilingual

Education and Bilingualism, 47, 130-145.

(2006). Bilingual teachers-in-the-making in Urbantown. Journal of Multilingual

and Multicultural Development, 27, 3, 211-224.

Villenas, S. (2001). Latina mothers and small-town racisms: Creating narratives of

dignity and moral education in North Carolina. Anthropology & Education

Quarterly, 32, 1, 3-28.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity.

Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press.

Wiley, T. G. (2007). Accessing language rights in education: A brief history of the

U.S. context. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 61, 89-107

Wiley, T. G., Wright, W. E. (2004). Against the undertow: Language-minority education

policy and politics in the ‘‘age of accountability’’. Education Policy, 18(1), 142–

168.

Williamson, J. (2005). Community control with a Black nationalist twist: The Black

Panther Party’s educational program. In W. Watkins (Ed.), Black protest thought

and education. (pp. 137-158). New York: Peter Lang.

303

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Black Point,

N.S: Fernwood Pub.

Zeichner, K. (1996). Educating teachers for cultural diversity. In K. Zeichner, S. Melnick,

and M.L. Gomez (Eds.), Currents of reform in preservice teacher education (133-

175). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Zentella, A. C. (1997). Growing up bilingual: Puerto Rican children in New York.

Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

(2005) Hablamos Spanish and English. In H. Luria, T Smoke, D. Seymour (Eds.)

Language and linguistics in context: reading and application for teachers.

Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum. Pp. 85-89.

Zwerling, P. (2008). After-school theatre programs for at-risk teenagers. Jefferson, N.C:

McFarland & Co.