Critical Translingual Perspectives on California Multilingual Education Policy

Abstract

Policies restricting bilingual education have yielded to policy frameworks touting its benefits. This shift corresponds with evolving lines of debate, focusing now on how bilingual education can best support racialized bilingual learners. One element of this new debate is the perspective on language underlying curriculum in bilingual programs, with a focus on translanguaging– normalization of the language practices of bilingual communities and positing that bilinguals draw from a singular linguistic repertoire. This article examines initiatives undertaken in California between 2010 and 2019 using Critical Policy Analysis. The work highlights that while opportunities for translanguaging have arisen, tensions between heteroglossic perspectives and the impulses toward standardization and commodification of language undermine such possibilities, and that notable gaps remain between teacher preparation frameworks and intended pedagogical practice.