Over the last few decades, the United States of America (USA) has experienced an increase in the number of K-12 students due to increasing waves of immigrants and the high birth rate of immigrant families. Most of today's K-12 classes reflect a diversity of non-English speaking (NES) students whose English proficiency challenges their academic…

In this article, the author focuses specifically on how what she calls non-specialist teachers (i.e., those who are neither bilingual nor ESL teachers) can benefit from the practices of bilingual and ESL teachers, and how teacher educators can incorporate this knowledge in their curriculum and pedagogy. To do so, she uses examples from research…

This study explores how bilingual teachers with an immigrant background construct professional identity in the context of initial literacy and second language teaching of adults. Specifically, the study seeks to understand what the teachers' membership of different work-related communities means for their professional identity and what capital the…

Presently, across the nation, immigration headlines grip the public's attention with negative messages, under the assumption that immigrants are stereotyped as either individuals with criminal intent or people who are unpatriotic to the United States. Under this thought, politicians scramble to meet the needs of their state by protecting their…

Bilingual education can promote a sense of school belonging for students through a shared valuing of students' home languages and cultures. This article explores how bilingual education contributes to sense of belonging for students who have more than one home language and are becoming trilingual in school. This qualitative study examines how a…

From a sociocultural perspective, identity is understood as constructed through active negotiations with others (Gee, 2006; Lantolf, 2009). Language constitutes a mediation tool used to create meanings in new social and cultural contexts as individuals become members of new communities of practice (CoP). In doing so, an ongoing process of sharing…

Bilingual teachers' professional identity inquiry may open up possibilities for agency and equality in U.S. dual language contexts. Deploying Borderland, Agency, and Position theories, this article narrates the life histories of three "nepantlera" Chicanx/Latinx dual language bilingual teachers--Jessica, Roberto, and Marta--who work in…

Leadership takes on a tone of urgency when we are struggling for justice. At the same time, the right to lead -- the agency to embrace a leadership identity -- can also feel more distant when we are marginalized by the dominant society. For bilingual education teachers working with immigrant communities, the development of critical consciousness,…

The following reflective essay describes the literal journey of an undocumented immigrant who left his family in Jalisco, Mexico, as a teenager and eventually became a bilingual educator who earned two master's degrees and a Ph.D. in the United States. Within this narrative, the author not only describes the challenges in crossing into the U.S.…

Freire (2005) encourages people to take "critical ownership of the formation of ourselves" (p. 44) in order to be able to act upon the world in what he (1993) calls "praxis." This praxis consists of the development of critical consciousness leading to transformative action. Critical consciousness and praxis should be conceived…

Latino students now make up 1 in 4 public school students in the United States and are a rapidly growing population in nontraditional settlement areas. Yet persistent racial and ethnic disparities in educational achievement and attainment are cause for grave concern, as high school graduation and postsecondary-education are increasingly necessary…

Research has established the connection between the academic success of culturally and linguistically diverse students, and their schools' ability to recruit and retain teachers that reflect such diversity (Shirrell et al., 2019). Studies have also highlighted the criticality of the students' home language use as a way to enhance academic growth…

Via a multi-domain, multi-response classroom observation instrument, we observed and analyzed treatment and control teachers' pedagogical differences when applying cooperative, collaborative, and peer-tutoring (CCP) strategies in Grade 1 bilingual classrooms with English learners (ELs). We found that with the support of ongoing, structured, and…

Language usage in US K-12 classrooms and beyond continues to be an issue of equity (Navarro Martell, 2021; Palmer et al., 2019). Teachers expect racialized students who appear to be Latinx to know and perform as if their native language is Spanish, mientras a otros se les celebra sus intentos de usar el espan~ol; otro idioma colonizador. Some…

This study explores how Latinx teachers engage in social justice agendas for their Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students, specific barriers and support systems these Latinx teachers encounter in their social justice work, and the educational strategies Latinx teachers value in their role as advocates in their social justice work. The…