A Qualitative Study of the Positioning of Emergent Bilinguals during Formal and Informal School-Based Interactions

Abstract

The education of emergent bilinguals in the United States is overtly and covertly shaped by social, political, and institutional ideologies about languages and speakers of languages other than English. Using a multiple case study design, this study sought to explicate the often-complicated intersection of outsider institutional and societal ideologies with the insider lived experiences of emergent bilinguals in schools. The population of the school under study uniquely positioned emergent bilinguals as not only the linguistic minority but also the numeric minority, a population dynamic notably underrepresented in the literature. Using a positioning theory framework that focused on the normative constraints that support meaning making during social interactions, this study explored how primarily monolingual English-speaking teachers and peers interactionally positioned three fourth grade emergent bilinguals, as well as how these emergent bilinguals reflexively positioned themselves. Data collection efforts consisted of multiphase observations of classrooms including the creating of sociograms and fieldnotes, interviews with emergent bilinguals, teachers, and key peers, as well as a localized artifact analysis. Findings suggested that the emergent bilinguals unique backgrounds contributed to their variable reflexive positioning, as well as teachers' variable interactional positioning. Additionally, peer positioning and institutional norms contributed to emergent bilinguals having limited access to academic language development opportunities.