ABSTRACT

This study explores language policies in “almost-bilingual” classrooms, in which most but not all students share a home language. Teachers who are bilingual face a dilemma in these settings. Should they draw on shared linguistic expertise to benefit the majority while excluding a few, or should they forego significant benefits for most in the interest of equity? This qualitative study examines the classroom language policies and practices of one English-as-a second-language (ESL) teacher at a majority-Latino high school. Drawing on field notes, interviews, and systematic teacher reflection, the authors identify a collection of multilingual practices across ESL and sheltered content courses: translated texts, “translanguaging from the students up,” and concurrent translation. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of these policies for Spanish speakers and “singletons”—students with no same-language peers—to offer pedagogical and policy insights for meeting the diverse and sometimes-conflicting needs of students in multilingual classrooms.

摘要

这项研究探索了“几乎双语”的教室中的语言政策，其中大多数（但不是全部）学生共享一种母语。在这些情况下，会双语的教师会面临困境。他们是否应该利用共享的语言专业知识来使大多数人受益而排除少数人受益，还是为了公平而放弃大多数利益？这项定性研究考察了大多数拉丁美洲裔高中的一名英语作为第二语言（ESL）老师的课堂语言政策和做法。借助现场笔记，访谈和系统的教师反思，作者确定了跨ESL和隐蔽内容课程的多种语言实践的集合：翻译文本，“从学生那里翻译过来的语言”和同时翻译。