“Research shows”: Authoritative discourse in dual language bilingual education across two school districts

Abstract

In this article, we synthesize ethnographic data from two studies in US school districts that were implementing dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in order to remediate the standardized test scores of students from Spanish-speaking families. While educators in both districts commonly cited “the research” to justify DLBE implementation, our ethnographic exploration of local research discourse highlights some ideological contradictions within DLBE that are often obscured by advocacy imperatives.