ERIC Number: EJ1164890
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0017-8055
EISSN: N/A
How the Word Gap Argument Negatively Impacts Young Children of Latinx Immigrants' Conceptualizations of Learning
Adair, Jennifer Keys; Colegrove, Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki; McManus, Molly E.
Harvard Educational Review, v87 n3 p309-334 Fall 2017
Early childhood education in grades preK-3 continues to contribute to future school success. Discrimination, however, can still be an obstacle for many children of Latinx immigrants because they often receive less sophisticated and dynamic learning experiences than their white, native-born peers. In this article, Jennifer Keys Adair, Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove, and Molly E. McManus detail how this type of educational discrimination is perpetuated by educators' acceptance of the "word gap" discourse. Drawing on empirical work with more than two hundred superintendents, administrators, teachers, parents, and young children, they recount how caring, experienced educators explained that Latinx immigrant students could not handle dynamic, agentic learning experiences because they lacked vocabulary and how the children in those classrooms said that learning required still, obedient, and quiet bodies. Rather than blaming educators, the authors share this empirical evidence to demonstrate the harm that can come from denying young children a range of sophisticated learning experiences, especially when institutionally and publicly justified by deficit-oriented research and thinking. Using the work of Charles Mills, the authors argue that such a denial of experience to children of Latinx immigrants and other marginalized communities is discriminatory and, too often, the status quo.
Descriptors: Hispanic American Students, Immigrants, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Primary Education, Barriers, Social Bias, Educational Discrimination, Teacher Attitudes, Vocabulary, English Language Learners, Student Needs, Student Experience, Educational Quality, Ethnography, Video Technology, Grade 1, School Readiness, At Risk Students, Administrator Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A