From Monolingual to Bilingual: Educator Language Ideologies and a New Dual Language Program
Abstract
The present dissertation study explores the language ideologies of teachers and administrators at one public school, pseudonym PS NYC, that was required to implement a Spanish-English dual language program. Language ideologies are deeply held beliefs about language use and are often considered “common sense” ideas by those who espouse them. I utilize a continuum of three language ideologies which are subtractive/assimilationist, additive, and holistic/dynamic to understand and classify the informants. This study employs a qualitative case study methodology and utilizes a questionnaire and two interviews for each of the nine informants during data collection. There were three administrators, including the principal, and six teachers who participated, all with diverse license areas and backgrounds. The findings suggest that there is potential for a divergent ideological landscape at PS NYC during the time of implementation of a new bilingual program. Furthermore, educators employ their complex language ideologies at different times and within different roles in the school. In addition, there was much variation within the language ideologies of the educators, even for those who I classified with same ideology. All of these findings were explored through the two theories constructivism and critical theory, which provide the framework for the study. Recommendations for practice are that the ideologies of local educators should be taken into consideration when implementing bilingual programs. Last, further research should be conducted that includes the voices of the families of students in bilingual programs in order to expand on the present study’s description of the ideological landscape of the school.
Subject Area
Education|Bilingual education|Multicultural Education|Language
Recommended Citation
Madison Dronne, Natalie, "From Monolingual to Bilingual: Educator Language Ideologies and a New Dual Language Program" (2023). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30485170.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30485170
