Deborah Palmer is a Professor in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity in the School of Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A former two-way dual language fourth/fifth grade teacher in California, she earned her doctorate in Language, Literacy and Culture in Education at UC Berkeley in 2004. Previously, she was Associate Professor and director of the Bilingual/Bicultural Education Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She teaches courses in the Foundations of Bilingual Education, Discourse Analysis, Biliteracy, ESL Methods and bilingual/second language acquisition. Her research interests include bilingual education policy and politics, two-way bilingual education, supporting biliteracy development in bilingual classrooms, and teacher agency/leadership in bilingual/ESL education. She was the director of the Proyecto Maestría Collaborative (2007-2013), a National Professional Development Project at UT Austin that aimed to build teacher leadership and capacity in bilingual/ESL education in the Austin region. She works with teachers to define and build equitable learning spaces in diverse bilingual/multilingual classrooms. Supervisors: Lily Wong Fillmore and Eugene E. Garcia Address: School of Education - UCB 249 Boulder, CO 80309-0249
Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 2017
This article is framed by the notion of educación and how it influenced the narratives of resista... more This article is framed by the notion of educación and how it influenced the narratives of resistance of 12 seasoned bilingual teachers (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Using an oral narrative approach, we share participants’ descriptions of the connections between their educación within their families and communities and how this educación has helped them navigate, resist, and even “play the game” (Urrieta, 2009) during their educational K-16 trajectories, and in their interactions with colleagues, parents, and children as seasoned bilingual teachers.
Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testi... more Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testimonio to explore one Latinx bilingual teacher's literacy and literacy teaching experiences. We wanted to know what motivated her at the start of her career, what led to burnout, and what kept her going. We interrogate the “two-worlds pitfall,” arguing that a third “world” – of the home language and culture – is meaningful and supportive for Latinx bilingual teachers. Based on this, we advocate for teacher preparation programs that bridge gaps between pre-service university experiences, classroom teaching, and cultural/linguistic wealth in the home and community.
Mariana and her classmates were students in a dual language classroom learning to read, write, li... more Mariana and her classmates were students in a dual language classroom learning to read, write, listen, and speak in both Spanish and English. This type of instructional context, in which bilingualism and biliteracy are the explicit goals, is one kind of pathway to biliteracy. But this particular pathway is the exception in the United States, not the rule. It is most often the case, in fact, that bilingual students in the United States find themselves in classrooms that do not cultivate their biliteracy and/or in learning situations that rely on the support of family and friends in out-ofschool settings, including their homes, to nurture their biliteracy (see Song, this issue).Within schools, transitional bilingual education and English immersion represent the most common pathways to biliteracy for bilingual children. However, because the end goal of these instructional models is not to help students learn to read, write, listen, and speak in two languages, significant obstacles to b...
Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnat... more Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnational Language Learners (TLLs) in bilingual education spaces and policies (Valdez et al. in Educ Policy 30(6):849–883, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904814556750 ). We argue this is an extension of coloniality (Mignolo in Local histories/global designs: coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000/2012): as two-way bilingual education (TWBE) policies are enacted, they are shaped by globalizing, neoliberal, and monoglossic discourses that have a history of dispossessing and erasing minoritized peoples and languages. Taking a critical constructivist grounded theory approach, this study brings together three unique data sets from the US Midwest, Southeast, and Texas to question: How does gentrification manifest in TWBE across policy scales and contexts? And how are stakeholders responding to or resisting gentrification and its underlying coloniality? Regardless of the varying state policy and local contexts, each TWBE program in our study experienced gentrification. Specifically, TLLs and their Spanish language(s) were replaced or diminished as TWBE policy enactment intersected with district and state policies, particularly those shaping enrollment, transportation, course scheduling, and teacher and student recruitment. While the analysis focuses on gentrification processes through policy enactment, we also detail spaces of consciousness where stakeholders recognized and resisted them and conclude with a discussion on how coloniality is both manifested and can be challenged in language policy enactment.
This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly procla... more This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly proclaimed and exponentially growing model of bilingual education: two-way immersion (TWI). There is increasing evidence that TWI programs are not living up to their ideal to provide equal access to educational opportunity for transnational emergent bilingual students. Through a synthesis of research from related fields, we will offer guidelines for program design that attend to equality and a framework for future research to push the field of bilingual education toward creating more equitable and integrated multilingual learning spaces. Specifically, this review leads to a proposal for adding a fourth goal for TWI programs: to develop “critical consciousness” through using critical pedagogies and humanizing research.
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2017
ABSTRACT Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identit... more ABSTRACT Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding of bilingualism undermines children’s bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and children are encouraged to engage in only one language at a time. Few studies have explored how a translanguaging pedagogy supports the development of positive identities when learning through two languages. This article explores the co-construction of identities of emergent bilingual children whose teacher embraced dynamic bilingualism. We carried out a close discourse analysis, drawing on the sociocultural linguistic framework of Bucholtz and Hall of children’s interactions in a two-way bilingual education classroom. Our data revealed that translanguaging offered equitable, empowering educational and language learning opportunities to minoritized, bilingual students. A translanguaging pedagogy resulted in greater metalinguistic awareness, while developing bilingual identities.
ABSTRACT This article explores the placement practices of students into different educational pro... more ABSTRACT This article explores the placement practices of students into different educational programs in PreK–first grade, including two bilingual education programs and an ESL “mainstream” classroom. We then examine the discourse practices of four third-grade teachers and the school principal. Our findings suggest that initial program placement resulted in a perception that students were tracked by ability, and educator discourses on student ability reflected long-term consequences of these initial placement practices. We conclude with both theoretical implications and practical suggestions for the development of equitable dual language bilingual education program implementation.
TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 43, No. 2, June 2009 177 Middle-Class English Speakers in a Two-Way Immersio... more TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 43, No. 2, June 2009 177 Middle-Class English Speakers in a Two-Way Immersion Bilingual Classroom: “Everybody Should Be Listening to Jonathan Right Now . . . ” DEBORAH K. PALMER University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas, United States ...
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2015
ABSTRACT Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are framed to reflect pluralist discou... more ABSTRACT Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are framed to reflect pluralist discourses (de Jong, E. [2013]. “Policy Discourses and U.S. Language in Education Policies.” Peabody Journal of Education 88 (1): 98–111) and affiliated language ideologies. The continued expansion of DLBE programs not surprisingly brings to light the diverse and ever-changing landscape of educator language ideologies. This survey-based study used inferential statistics and qualitative thematic analysis to explore the language ideologies of a random sample of administrators and teachers involved in a district-wide, top-down implementation of a DLBE program in a large urban school district. The following three research questions guided our investigation: (1)What are prevalent educator language ideologies in DLBE schools? (2) How and to what extent do these language ideologies vary by: participation in the DLBE, level of teaching experience, educator's home language, and degree of DLBE training? (3) How do educators perceive the attempted program shift to DLBE? Eight language ideologies including languages other than English (OTE) as endowments and multiple languages as a problem accounted for 46% of the variance in the data. All four experiential variables differentiated ideological orientation. Educators reported that ideological tensions and lack of support influenced their implementation.
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 2015
This paper presents findings from a year-long study of pair work and bilingual development in a h... more This paper presents findings from a year-long study of pair work and bilingual development in a hybrid developmental bilingual pre-kindergarten classroom. Grounded in sociocultural theory and developed using ethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis, the researchers analyzed how a master bilingual teacher scaffolded pair work and peer teaching. Findings revealed an association between teacher modeling of language use and behavior, and student language use and behavior in pair work. How the teacher scaffolded both the structure and processes of pair work and the resulting student interaction and peer scaffolding contributes both practical teacher strategies and a deeper theoretical understanding of how teachers can create spaces for young students to engage in their non-dominant language.
This review poses an increasingly common—and increasingly urgent—question in the field of teacher... more This review poses an increasingly common—and increasingly urgent—question in the field of teacher education: How can teachers best be prepared to educate Latina/o bilingual learners? The answers that we offer here challenge some of the prevailing assumptions about language and bilingualism that inform current approaches to teacher preparation. To work effectively with bilingual learners, we argue, teachers need to develop a robust understanding of bilingualism and of the interactional dynamics of bilingual classroom contexts. Unfortunately, the conceptions of language and bilingualism portrayed in much of the teacher-directed literature fall short of offering teachers access to such understandings. In this review, we will make the case for developing materials for teachers that reflect both more up-todate theoretical understandings of language practices in bilingual communities and a more critically contextualized understanding of the power dynamics that operate in bilingual classroom contexts. We recognize that helping teachers come to these more robust understandings of bilingual language practices and the interactional dynamics of bilingual contexts implies an ideological shift for educators—and teacher educators—in the United States. Having made the case for rethinking how we talk to teachers about bilingualism in classroom contexts, we will venture to explore why this matters: What will teachers be better positioned to do once equipped with these understandings? It is our contention that such understandings will better position teachers to manage their classrooms for equity and learning for all students. Indeed, these more robust understandings of language and interaction are necessary if teachers are to capitalize on the flexibility and intelligence displayed by bilingual students as they engage in hybrid
Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 2017
This article is framed by the notion of educación and how it influenced the narratives of resista... more This article is framed by the notion of educación and how it influenced the narratives of resistance of 12 seasoned bilingual teachers (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Using an oral narrative approach, we share participants’ descriptions of the connections between their educación within their families and communities and how this educación has helped them navigate, resist, and even “play the game” (Urrieta, 2009) during their educational K-16 trajectories, and in their interactions with colleagues, parents, and children as seasoned bilingual teachers.
Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testi... more Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testimonio to explore one Latinx bilingual teacher's literacy and literacy teaching experiences. We wanted to know what motivated her at the start of her career, what led to burnout, and what kept her going. We interrogate the “two-worlds pitfall,” arguing that a third “world” – of the home language and culture – is meaningful and supportive for Latinx bilingual teachers. Based on this, we advocate for teacher preparation programs that bridge gaps between pre-service university experiences, classroom teaching, and cultural/linguistic wealth in the home and community.
Mariana and her classmates were students in a dual language classroom learning to read, write, li... more Mariana and her classmates were students in a dual language classroom learning to read, write, listen, and speak in both Spanish and English. This type of instructional context, in which bilingualism and biliteracy are the explicit goals, is one kind of pathway to biliteracy. But this particular pathway is the exception in the United States, not the rule. It is most often the case, in fact, that bilingual students in the United States find themselves in classrooms that do not cultivate their biliteracy and/or in learning situations that rely on the support of family and friends in out-ofschool settings, including their homes, to nurture their biliteracy (see Song, this issue).Within schools, transitional bilingual education and English immersion represent the most common pathways to biliteracy for bilingual children. However, because the end goal of these instructional models is not to help students learn to read, write, listen, and speak in two languages, significant obstacles to b...
Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnat... more Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnational Language Learners (TLLs) in bilingual education spaces and policies (Valdez et al. in Educ Policy 30(6):849–883, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904814556750 ). We argue this is an extension of coloniality (Mignolo in Local histories/global designs: coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000/2012): as two-way bilingual education (TWBE) policies are enacted, they are shaped by globalizing, neoliberal, and monoglossic discourses that have a history of dispossessing and erasing minoritized peoples and languages. Taking a critical constructivist grounded theory approach, this study brings together three unique data sets from the US Midwest, Southeast, and Texas to question: How does gentrification manifest in TWBE across policy scales and contexts? And how are stakeholders responding to or resisting gentrification and its underlying coloniality? Regardless of the varying state policy and local contexts, each TWBE program in our study experienced gentrification. Specifically, TLLs and their Spanish language(s) were replaced or diminished as TWBE policy enactment intersected with district and state policies, particularly those shaping enrollment, transportation, course scheduling, and teacher and student recruitment. While the analysis focuses on gentrification processes through policy enactment, we also detail spaces of consciousness where stakeholders recognized and resisted them and conclude with a discussion on how coloniality is both manifested and can be challenged in language policy enactment.
This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly procla... more This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly proclaimed and exponentially growing model of bilingual education: two-way immersion (TWI). There is increasing evidence that TWI programs are not living up to their ideal to provide equal access to educational opportunity for transnational emergent bilingual students. Through a synthesis of research from related fields, we will offer guidelines for program design that attend to equality and a framework for future research to push the field of bilingual education toward creating more equitable and integrated multilingual learning spaces. Specifically, this review leads to a proposal for adding a fourth goal for TWI programs: to develop “critical consciousness” through using critical pedagogies and humanizing research.
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2017
ABSTRACT Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identit... more ABSTRACT Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding of bilingualism undermines children’s bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and children are encouraged to engage in only one language at a time. Few studies have explored how a translanguaging pedagogy supports the development of positive identities when learning through two languages. This article explores the co-construction of identities of emergent bilingual children whose teacher embraced dynamic bilingualism. We carried out a close discourse analysis, drawing on the sociocultural linguistic framework of Bucholtz and Hall of children’s interactions in a two-way bilingual education classroom. Our data revealed that translanguaging offered equitable, empowering educational and language learning opportunities to minoritized, bilingual students. A translanguaging pedagogy resulted in greater metalinguistic awareness, while developing bilingual identities.
ABSTRACT This article explores the placement practices of students into different educational pro... more ABSTRACT This article explores the placement practices of students into different educational programs in PreK–first grade, including two bilingual education programs and an ESL “mainstream” classroom. We then examine the discourse practices of four third-grade teachers and the school principal. Our findings suggest that initial program placement resulted in a perception that students were tracked by ability, and educator discourses on student ability reflected long-term consequences of these initial placement practices. We conclude with both theoretical implications and practical suggestions for the development of equitable dual language bilingual education program implementation.
TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 43, No. 2, June 2009 177 Middle-Class English Speakers in a Two-Way Immersio... more TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 43, No. 2, June 2009 177 Middle-Class English Speakers in a Two-Way Immersion Bilingual Classroom: “Everybody Should Be Listening to Jonathan Right Now . . . ” DEBORAH K. PALMER University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas, United States ...
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2015
ABSTRACT Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are framed to reflect pluralist discou... more ABSTRACT Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are framed to reflect pluralist discourses (de Jong, E. [2013]. “Policy Discourses and U.S. Language in Education Policies.” Peabody Journal of Education 88 (1): 98–111) and affiliated language ideologies. The continued expansion of DLBE programs not surprisingly brings to light the diverse and ever-changing landscape of educator language ideologies. This survey-based study used inferential statistics and qualitative thematic analysis to explore the language ideologies of a random sample of administrators and teachers involved in a district-wide, top-down implementation of a DLBE program in a large urban school district. The following three research questions guided our investigation: (1)What are prevalent educator language ideologies in DLBE schools? (2) How and to what extent do these language ideologies vary by: participation in the DLBE, level of teaching experience, educator's home language, and degree of DLBE training? (3) How do educators perceive the attempted program shift to DLBE? Eight language ideologies including languages other than English (OTE) as endowments and multiple languages as a problem accounted for 46% of the variance in the data. All four experiential variables differentiated ideological orientation. Educators reported that ideological tensions and lack of support influenced their implementation.
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 2015
This paper presents findings from a year-long study of pair work and bilingual development in a h... more This paper presents findings from a year-long study of pair work and bilingual development in a hybrid developmental bilingual pre-kindergarten classroom. Grounded in sociocultural theory and developed using ethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis, the researchers analyzed how a master bilingual teacher scaffolded pair work and peer teaching. Findings revealed an association between teacher modeling of language use and behavior, and student language use and behavior in pair work. How the teacher scaffolded both the structure and processes of pair work and the resulting student interaction and peer scaffolding contributes both practical teacher strategies and a deeper theoretical understanding of how teachers can create spaces for young students to engage in their non-dominant language.
This review poses an increasingly common—and increasingly urgent—question in the field of teacher... more This review poses an increasingly common—and increasingly urgent—question in the field of teacher education: How can teachers best be prepared to educate Latina/o bilingual learners? The answers that we offer here challenge some of the prevailing assumptions about language and bilingualism that inform current approaches to teacher preparation. To work effectively with bilingual learners, we argue, teachers need to develop a robust understanding of bilingualism and of the interactional dynamics of bilingual classroom contexts. Unfortunately, the conceptions of language and bilingualism portrayed in much of the teacher-directed literature fall short of offering teachers access to such understandings. In this review, we will make the case for developing materials for teachers that reflect both more up-todate theoretical understandings of language practices in bilingual communities and a more critically contextualized understanding of the power dynamics that operate in bilingual classroom contexts. We recognize that helping teachers come to these more robust understandings of bilingual language practices and the interactional dynamics of bilingual contexts implies an ideological shift for educators—and teacher educators—in the United States. Having made the case for rethinking how we talk to teachers about bilingualism in classroom contexts, we will venture to explore why this matters: What will teachers be better positioned to do once equipped with these understandings? It is our contention that such understandings will better position teachers to manage their classrooms for equity and learning for all students. Indeed, these more robust understandings of language and interaction are necessary if teachers are to capitalize on the flexibility and intelligence displayed by bilingual students as they engage in hybrid
Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testi... more Given the high attrition rate of teachers of color in the United States, this study employs testimonio to explore one Latinx bilingual teacher's literacy and literacy teaching experiences. We wanted to know what motivated her at the start of her career, what led to burnout, and what kept her going. We interrogate the “two-worlds pitfall,” arguing that a third “world” – of the home language and culture – is meaningful and supportive for Latinx bilingual teachers. Based on this, we advocate for teacher preparation programs that bridge gaps between pre-service university experiences, classroom teaching, and cultural/linguistic wealth in the home and community.
This article presents a basic interpretive qualitative study that examined how two students, a do... more This article presents a basic interpretive qualitative study that examined how two students, a dominant Spanish speaker (Joel) and a dominant English speaker (Carter) used languages during their microinteractions in pair work in a dual language kindergarten classroom. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between language choice and power. Data sources included field notes and video/audio recordings collected during a Spanish day and an English day of instruction, with particular attention to the interactions of this bilingual pair. The authors conducted critical discourse analysis drawing on the notion of power as product and power in discourse. Findings reveal that despite the expressed intention of the dual language program that all children would have the opportunity to be bilinguals, there are more opportunities in this classroom for language development in English than in Spanish. Only the teacher’s direct intervention appears to influence children’s language use during their interactions.
Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnat... more Bilingual education as a whole has been gentrifying, as more privileged students replace Transnational Language Learners (TLLs) in bilingual education spaces and policies (Valdez et al. in Educ Policy 30(6):849-883, 2016. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 08959 04814 556750). We argue this is an extension of coloniality (Mignolo in Local histories/global designs: coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000/2012): as two-way bilingual education (TWBE) policies are enacted, they are shaped by globalizing, neoliberal, and mono-glossic discourses that have a history of dispossessing and erasing minoritized peoples and languages. Taking a critical constructivist grounded theory approach, this study brings together three unique data sets from the US Midwest, Southeast, and Texas to question: How does gentrification manifest in TWBE across policy scales and contexts? And how are stakeholders responding to or resisting gentrification and its underlying coloniality? Regardless of the varying state policy and local contexts, each TWBE program in our study experienced gentrification. Specifically, TLLs and their Spanish language(s) were replaced or diminished as TWBE policy enactment intersected with district and state policies, particularly those shaping enrollment, transportation, course scheduling, and teacher and student recruitment. While the analysis focuses on gentrification processes through policy enactment, we also detail spaces of consciousness where stakeholders recognized and resisted them and conclude with a discussion on how coloniality is both manifested and can be challenged in language policy enactment.
Bilingualism, Biliteracy, Biculturalism, and Critical Consciousness for All: Proposing a Fourth Fundamental Goal for Two-Way Dual Language Education, 2019
Two-way dual language (TWDL) bilingual education programs share three core goals: academic achiev... more Two-way dual language (TWDL) bilingual education programs share three core goals: academic achievement, bilingualism and biliteracy, and sociocultural competence. This article proposes a fourth core goal: critical consciousness. Although TWDL programs are designed to integrate students from diverse language, culture, and race backgrounds, equity is unfortunately still a challenge in TWDL classrooms and schools. We argue that centering critical consciousness—or fostering among teachers, parents, and children an awareness of the structural oppression that surrounds us and a readiness to take action to correct it—can support increased equity and social justice in TWDL education. We elaborate four elements of critical consciousness: interrogating power, critical listening, historicizing schools, and embracing discomfort. We illustrate these elements with examples from TWDL research and practice. In addition, we describe how critical consciousness impacts and radicalizes the other three core goals, in turn supporting the development of more successful, equitable, and socially just TWDL schools.
This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly procla... more This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly proclaimed and exponentially growing model of bilingual education: two-way immersion (TWI). There is increasing evidence that TWI programs are not living up to their ideal to provide equal access to educational opportunity for transnational emergent bilingual students. Through a synthesis of research from related fields, we will offer guidelines for program design that attend to equality and a framework for future research to push the field of bilingual education toward creating more equitable and integrated multilingual learning spaces. Specifically, this review leads to a proposal for adding a fourth goal for TWI programs: to develop " critical consciousness " through using critical pedagogies and humanizing research.
This chapter examines curriculum integration (CI) efforts to adapt teacher education courses from... more This chapter examines curriculum integration (CI) efforts to adapt teacher education courses from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) to a study abroad (SA) context in Antigua, Guatemala. UT is a top public research institution in Texas, a state where approximately 33% of children (2.3 million) live in families with one parent born outside the US, with 80% coming from Latin America (Texas Kids Count, 2015). Texas' unique cultural and linguistic landscape means that all new teachers need to be prepared to work with immigrant Emergent Bilingual (EB) students and do language teaching , regardless of their assigned grade level or subject. A core requirement of the teacher preparation program at UT are Applied Learning and Development (ALD) courses in Sociocultural Influences on Learning (ALD 327) and Acquisition of Languages and Literacies (ALD 329). Since 2010 and 2014, respectively, ALD 327 and 329 have been offered as part of the “Language, Diversity, and Education” (LDE) SA program at UT’s Casa Herrera, a center for the study of Mayan languages and cultures in Antigua, Guatemala. In this chapter we provide a history of curriculum development for these courses, and explore the challenges and opportunities of adapting Texas-based courses to the social, cultural, linguistic, and economic contexts of Guatemala and to the benefit of UT students studying abroad.
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Papers by Deb Palmer