This qualitative sociolinguistic research study examines Latino/a students' use of language in a science classroom and laboratory. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States that serves an economically depressed, predominantly Latino population. The object of study was a 5th-grade bilingual (Spanish/English) class.…

Although biliteracy plays a vital role in academic achievement, there has been little research on the unique needs of female and male English language learners. Becoming biliterate is a complex process, compounded by other variables such as 1st-language background, class, culture, and gender. Among these variables, gender has been the least…

This article examines how bilingual programs are often guided by larger social constructs of race and language ideologies that give rise to the often inconsistent, and even contradicting, perceptions of Latina/o, Spanish-speaking students' academic preparedness and abilities. I examine a number of language ideologies as they manifested in a case…

This article reports on a teacher education program's preparation of bilingual paraeducators during a period of conflicting educational reform of structured English immersion in Massachusetts. Drawing on nexus analysis of discourses (R. Scollon & S. W. Scollon, 2004), we discuss factors faced by Latino educators. These include competing…

This piece presents a teacher's reflections on her experiences working with Latino English language learners with and without disabilities. The author's voice narrates her journey as a teacher, researcher, and teacher educator preparing professionals to work with bilingual populations. The beliefs and factors she identifies as influencing her…

To examine factors predictive of successful 4th-grade 2nd language reading, I used a hierarchical multiple regression equation that included Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Reading percentile rank as the criterion variable. The equation tested 5 predictor variables: English language proficiency, years of U.S. schooling, and 3…

Latino immigrant parents were interviewed in an urban California school district post Proposition 227. Approximately half had placed their English-learner children into bilingual classes. The others had children in English-only classes. Guided by sociohistorical psychology, the study explores the parents' motivations for the goal of preserving the…

This article examines the efforts of a school in a Mexican community in Chicago to help children and parents capitalize on the language and culture of their 2 worlds. It builds on the concepts of border crossings and hybridity, metaphors used to describe the sociocultural and linguistic reality of people living transnationally. Some US communities…

Drawing from sociocultural and anthropological perspectives, I present 3 case examples of bilingual, Mexican-origin students enrolled in a transitional bilingual educational program in an urban elementary school. By using the theoretical constructs of figured worlds, authoring, and "formas de ser" (ways of being), I examine how student identities…

This study examined the ways that 5th graders and their teachers constructed third spaces in bilingual and bicultural communities of practice in a dual-language school. Students and teachers used students' funds of knowledge to connect with and transform academic tasks and discourses and to create third spaces. In transformational third spaces,…

This article looks at the competing language ideologies that preschool children negotiate in "Mi Clase Magica" (MCM), a Spanish-English bilingual/bicultural after-school program in San Diego. It examines children's language choice in interactions with peers and adults taking place at computer and "tareas" (homework) activities. Data comes from…

Throughout the United States, deficit perspectives contribute to Latino students' failure in terms of school success. This happens because many educators still regard bilingualism as a deficit. We examined the discourse of one family to better understand how deficit, assimilationist discourse affected them and their two children. We came to…

This study examined acculturation among Latino bilingual education teacher candidates to identify psychosocial distinctions among 3 identified groups: 1st-generation college students, 2nd-generation paraprofessionals, and immigrant "normalistas" (normal school foreign-trained teachers). Using acculturation scales, we observed overall group and…

The promise of dual language education has spurred a movement in the field of bilingual education to shift from remedial programs to enrichment forms of bilingual education. Although research supports the effectiveness of such programs, many programs do not maintain their level of implementation and quickly revert to their original remedial form.…

Three hundred sixty-six parents of children enrolled in a school-wide English-Spanish two-way bilingual program participated in this study. They were asked to answer a survey that attempted to elicit information about their degree of satisfaction with the program, as well as the reasons that led them to select it, and their perception of and…