The increase and popularity of dual language (DL) or two-way immersion programs nationally, and specifically in California, is due to the acceptability of bilingual programs that are inclusive of students whose first language is English, and who are typically of a White, middle-class background. This phenomenon can be explained through the idea of…

Emerging from nearly two decades of language suppression wrought by Proposition 227, a "Bilingual Education Renaissance" is underway in California as new programs proliferate at a much faster clip than the state can produce certified bilingual teachers. California's policy shift is built upon an officially stated view of bilingualism as…

In 2016, California voters overturned a 1998 law that curtailed bilingual instruction throughout the state. After nearly 20 years of "English only" programs, what will it take to restore the schools' capacity to provide a broader range of services to English Learners, including dual language immersion and other forms of bilingual…

Exploring parent, student, and teacher language moves is essential to develop and implement strategies that cultivate Spanish use in support of dual-language engagement. We used Lareau's concerted cultivation framework to explore language use at a K-8 dual-language immersion school. A case-study design integrating content analysis was used to…

This article draws from historical, political, theoretical, and practice perspectives that provide a comprehensive analysis of how bilingual teacher education programs have strategically navigated around and through anti-immigrant sociopolitical ideologies to survive the incessant attacks on Latinx student populations, notably in the two decades…

California's Proposition 227, or the Unz Initiative, had as its main focus the requirement that English learners be taught only in English, based on the belief that these children could learn English in one year. This led to the dismantling of many bilingual programs in K-12 schools across California. A team of faculty from California State…

Using the frameworks of critical discourse analysis, representation theory, and legitimization theory, this study examines the political discourse of the campaign for Proposition 227 in California--particularly, the key social representations of languages, their speakers, and the main political actors in the campaign. The analysis examines the…

Using a student's native language, either as a medium of instruction or as a scaffolding technique, has been used effectively in many classrooms throughout the U.S. In the past, many schools provided native language instruction to meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). However, with the advent of antibilingual education proposals such…

Latino immigrant parents were interviewed in an urban California school district post Proposition 227. Approximately half had placed their English-learner children into bilingual classes. The others had children in English-only classes. Guided by sociohistorical psychology, the study explores the parents' motivations for the goal of preserving the…

CThe article is a study of Latino immigrant parents' agency toward primary language (L1) instruction in the face of restrictionist language policy. Certain attitudes and characteristics were associated with advocacy for Spanish L1 instruction. Interviews conducted in an urban California school district among parents with different background…

This case study of reading activity in third-grade bilingual classrooms at a state-sanctioned "successful" school examines the influences of the California accountability framework--Proposition 227, No Child Left Behind, and the federal Reading First program--on shifting beliefs and practices around what "counts" as reading.…

The principal objective of this study was to investigate the long-term (35-36 years) effects of a K-3 bilingual-multicultural programme by studying the former Mexican-American participants and controls as adults in their 30s and 40s. The controls were enrolled in an English immersion programme and were matched to the experimental programme…

Teachers in traditional bilingual settings confront strict program requirements under the guise of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), excessive assessment demands (state, district and program assessments in both English and Spanish), and negative attitudes about bilingual education from many in the political and public spheres. Since 1998, the passage…

Two-way bilingual immersion programs are noteworthy within the context of US public education because, in them, the children of immigrants are essential assets. Language-minority and English-speaking pupils are grouped together, starting in kindergarten or earlier and extending at least through grade five, with a goal of bilingual proficiency and…

Drawing from multiple data sources collected during two ethnographic studies in a Latino immigrant community in Los Angeles, this study analyzes community members' perspectives on bilingualism and language uses--views that have largely been neglected in recent policy debates about bilingual education. (Author/VWL)