Translanguaging Pedagogy as an Enactment of Authentic Cariño and an Antidote to Subtractive Schooling

This article explores translanguaging pedagogy through the lens of the politics of caring, subtractive schooling, and authentic cariño (composed of intellectual, familial, and critical cariño). We begin with a broad overview of translanguaging and situate it in the theoretical frameworks of the politics of caring, subtractive schooling, and authentic cariño. We ground our approach in the notion that educators must hold heteroglossic language ideologies. We draw upon examples from literacy instruction in bilingual and ESL fourth grade classrooms to argue that translanguaging pedagogy can be seen as an enactment of intellectual, familial, and critical cariño. We conclude with a call for teacher educators to consider enacting authentic cariño and translanguaging pedagogy in their university classrooms by making space for bi/multilingual pre-service teachers to use their full linguistic repertoires. In this way translanguaging pedagogy, politically aware authentic caring, and authentic cariño can be viewed as part of a broader program of preparing teachers to value authentic ways of bilingual languaging and biliteracy development.

Literacy practices as social: relational-keys in literacy events

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to work toward more fully conceptualizing literacy practices as social by theorizing the combined relational and intellectual context for learning. This context is created through students’ and their teachers’ uses of language. In particular, the quality of language that creates this intellectual relational context is relational-keys that are inherent to any talk between people. Building upon Hymes (1974) conceptualization of key, relational-keys can be described as the emotional mood or spirit of a conversation, but they are much more than that per se. They are constitutive of the complex, multi-layered relationships that people have with each other, with themselves and with the material environment through their uses of language. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon a classroom ethnographic study in a first-grade classroom and using discourse analysis of classroom interactions, the author uses data from instructional conversations to illustrate how students and their teachers collaboratively perform relational-keys. Findings Findings reveal that students and their teacher perform relational and intellectual stances toward reading and toward each other through relational-keys, that frame the act of reading and their experience of doing it together. Originality/value The concept of relational-key provides literacy researchers with another tool to analyze what happens in instructional conversations. It also provides teachers with a curricular resource to identify relational-keys that are enacted. Therefore, teachers are able move away from the enaction of relational-keys that contribute to subtractive schooling, and toward relational-keys that nurture empowering stances in students toward reading and their relationships.

How Community College Staff Inflict Pervasive Microaggressions: The Experiences of Latino Men attending Urban Community Colleges in Texas

In this qualitative research study we illustrate how implicit biases held by college personnel hinders the educational success of Latino men attending urban community colleges in Texas. In particular, we identify how often well-intentioned educators are (un)aware of how often they perpetrate racial microaggressions against Latino men. Interviews with community college faculty, staff, administers, as well as Latino men were conducted in order to triangulate findings. Findings illustrate racial microaggressions and subtractive schooling were evident through deficit based assumptions educators held about Latino men, their family and culture.

Exploring Involvement Expectations for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Parents: What We Need to Know in Teacher Education

In the United States parental involvement is an important part of a child’s education, and teachers often rely on parents to boost student achievement. This qualitative analysis employs a two-step process, first examining the data with regards to parental involvement and then using critical theories in education to examine the intersections between parental involvement findings and subtractive schooling practices in order to highlight how educational praxis, teacher perspectives, and school climate impact both parental involvement and school achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students.

From “Americanization” to “Latinization”

While Mexican-origin children and other racial/ethnic and language-minority children were once forced to undergo Americanization programs that urged them to assimilate into a white mainstream, the remnants of these policies still influence the workplace culture that Latina teachers encounter daily, but “majority–minority” schools allow for a different scenario. This chapter situates the study in the literature from various disciplines, drawing from theories about workplace inequities and educational disenfranchisement. It relies on classical and contemporary educational theories to detail the history of segregation Latino youth faced in the U.S. educational system and in southern California schools. It connects cultural deficit and subtractive schooling theories to argue that these perspectives linger, influencing the measures Latina teachers take once in their jobs. It explains how Latino ethnic culture is a powerful asset that Latina teachers bring to their workplaces to promote educational attainment.

Developing Transformative Space for Student Resistance: Latina/o Students’ Interruption of Subtractive Schooling Practices

Social reproduction scholars and the literature on critical race theory and student resistance contend that schools are not neutral institutions existing in a vacuum free of the political and social struggles for rights and resources (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Fine, 1991). Instead, schools can be institutions that reproduce dominant ideologies and oppressive hierarchies or arenas from which to challenge power and status-quo policies (Freire, 1970). Drawing from two years of participant observations at Hillcrest High School, this study explores how Latina/o students in collaboration with their teacher engage in transformational resistance to subtractive schooling. I document how co-leadership in the classroom between teacher and students supports the co-creation of a transformative space for critical reflection. Similar to activist groups creating spaces to cultivate youth political engagement, classrooms can be reconstructed to foster the development of students as agents of change. This article presents the process through which Latina/o students gain critical reflection of social inequalities and systems of oppression that enables them to advocate for more inclusive and just schooling practices.