(Re)mixin’ & flowin’: Examining the literacy practices of African American language speakers in an elementary two-way immersion bilingual program

Frieson, Brittany Lashone

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Description

Title

(Re)mixin’ & flowin’: Examining the literacy practices of African American language speakers in an elementary two-way immersion bilingual program

Author(s)

Frieson, Brittany Lashone

Issue Date

2019-04-16

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Murillo, Luz A

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Murillo, Luz A

Committee Member(s)

• Dyson, Anne H.
• Dixson, Adrienne D.
• Smith, Stephanie C

Department of Study

Curriculum and Instruction

Discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

African American Language, Critical Race Theory, Raciolinguistics, bilingual education, dual-language programs

Abstract

This dissertation examined the ways in which African American Language (AAL) speakers utilized AAL in various discursive contexts in an elementary two-way immersion (TWI) Spanish/English dual-language program. In this study, I problematize the notion of TWI programs as an additive program for AAL speakers by investigating the phenomenon from three critical frameworks that ungirded the study: Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), Raciolinguistics (Alim, Rickford, & Ball, 2016; Flores & Rosa, 2015; Rosa, 2016), and Ethnography of Communication (Hymes, 1972). More specifically, these frameworks were utilized to understand the ways in which AAL speakers utilized AAL, how teachers included and excluded AAL, and how the structure of the dual-language program can operate to dismiss or repress AAL with monoglossic language policies and insufficient teacher preparation. This ethnographic case study was situated in three, TWI kindergarten and first grade classrooms that were located in a mid-sized, Midwestern community, near a large public university. Data was collected over the course of about two academic calendar years and included a variety of data sources: audio and video-recorded observations, field notes, informal conversations with the teachers, and print and digital marketing materials that were used for the advertisement of the dual-language program. Data was analyzed using open coding with a critical lens. Findings demonstrated that AAL speakers exercised student agency as they utilized AAL in a variety of discursive contexts, as they did not let the monoglossic language policies discourage them from fluidly moving throughout their linguistic repertoires. Data also showed that the TWI program often operated to repress AAL with language separatism that forced teachers and students in a position of policing AAL language use. Implications for bilingual education and teacher preparation programs are shared and a call for progressive strides towards the inclusion of AAL in multilingual spaces is recommended.

Graduation Semester

2019-05

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Brittany L. Frieson

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