ERIC Number: EJ1052192
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1747-7506
EISSN: N/A
From Global Jobs to Safe Spaces: The Diverse Discourses That Sell Multilingual Schooling in the USA
Dorner, Lisa M.
Current Issues in Language Planning, v16 n1-2 p114-131 2015
While much research has demonstrated that English-only rhetoric negatively affects bilingual education for the children of US immigrants, few studies have examined the local negotiations and discourses that shape the development of multilingual programming for English-speaking students. Across the USA, educational leaders and policy-makers today struggle to develop language programs and explain the benefits of multilingualism. To examine these challenges at the local level, this study analyzed data from an 18-month ethnography documenting the development of an elementary (K-5) language immersion school in a predominantly monolingual city. Framed by neo-institutional theory, analyses focused on leaders' and parents' cultural scripts, or the discourses they employed during bottom-up planning processes. Findings demonstrate that the majority of leaders and diverse parents valued multilingualism as a right and resource for all students; however, parents' discourses also stressed the importance of language as a marker of identity, as well as the importance of having quality academics and safe, secure schooling. In other words, cultural scripts beyond those about multilingualism shaped the implementation of--and parents' choices for--language schools. Such results have implications for how school leaders establish, and sell, multilingual programming.
Descriptors: Multilingualism, Self Concept, Educational Benefits, Second Language Learning, Immersion Programs, Ethnography, Elementary School Students, Discourse Analysis, Administrator Attitudes, Parent Attitudes, School Safety, Educational Quality, School Choice, Cultural Influences, Decision Making, Civil Rights, Educational Policy, Language of Instruction, Second Language Instruction, Grounded Theory, Participant Observation, Semi Structured Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A