The Future of Education
“It Plays a Huge Role”: Examining Dual Language Teachers’ Conceptions of Language, Culture & Sociocultural Competence
Giselle Martinez Negrette, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (United States)
Abstract
This paper examines how two dual language teachers see language and culture shaping and reflecting the educational experience. In addition, it explores how these teachers’ understandings of the relationship between language and culture influence their mediation of sociocultural competence in their classrooms. This qualitative study employs critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2011) to study in detail participants’ narratives seeking to uncover their perspectives on the “politics” (Gee, 2011) surrounding language use and cultural understandings in their school contexts. Study findings show that these educators are not only keenly aware of the pivotal role that language and culture play in multilingual students’ learning journeys, but they have identified the sociolinguistic “games” taking place in their classrooms. I contend these understandings are pivotal for the critical development of sociocultural competence, a primary goal of dual language programs. This study provides dual language educators with important conceptual and pedagogical insights regarding the intersection between language and culture in their classrooms and seeks to encourage them to analyze their roles as supporters or opponents of transformative rupture opportunities to contest inequities in multilingual
education settings.
Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, language, culture, sociocultural competence
REFERENCES
Gee, J. P. (2011). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method (3rd ed.). Routledge.
