Abstract
Using interviews, artifacts, email correspondences, and lesson plans collected from six white, female, preservice teachers during their student teaching, this chapter focuses on the stories that shaped their ideologies of the emergent bilingual children in their classrooms. The findings indicate the preservice teachers, while having diverse lived experiences, held some common majoritarian stories concerning English learners. In addition to those majoritarian stories already established in the field, there were three additional stories uncovered in this study that significantly influenced the ideologies of emergent bilingual students. The chapter concludes by encouraging teacher educators to unpack story and use it as a vehicle for addressing teacher ideology of emergent bilingual students.
TopIntroduction
We are shaped by story. Stories told to us during our childhood, stories reinforced or ignored in our own education and stories we hold in our professional lives as educators impact us. Not only do these stories shape us, they are also fundamental in how we make sense of the world and our ‘Others’ (Bell, 2010). These collective stories, often subconsciously, make and influence our teaching ideology (Marx, 2009). As teachers, the power of our stories affects students in our classrooms. The purpose of this study is to understand the stories six White, female, preservice teachers held in reference to emergent bilingual children in their student teaching placements. The findings indicate the preservice teachers were influenced by their stories. In addition to eight stories already established in the research, there were three additional stories uncovered that significantly impacted the ideologies of emergent bilingual students. This is of importance as the racial, linguistic and potential ideological disconnect between teachers and their multicultural, multilingual, diverse students may remain masked and unexamined.
Story and Power
Language and storytelling is not simply a means of expressing an idea or a tool to communicate; language is an instrument of power (Bourdieu, 1977; Motha, 2014). The power behind story can support and reinforce the status quo, or can challenge it. When considering stories that have contributed to the ideologies of teachers, we need to examine two types of story; majoritarian and counterstories. Majoritarian stories are multilayered stories that “privilege Whites, men, the middle and/or upper class, and heterosexuals by naming these social locations as natural or normative points of reference” (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 28). It is widely documented that preservice teachers enter classrooms with mainstream, majoritarian stories that contribute to deficit thinking about their students of color. Eight common majoritarian stories documented in the literature (Bell, 2010; Herrera & Morales, 2009; Howard, 2006; Love, 2004; Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari, 2003; Marx, 2000; Mitchell, 2012; Mitchell, 2013) include:
- (a)
colorblindness/post-racial society reflects the idea that race does not impact society, (Atwater, 2007; Gordon, 2005; Nieto, 2000);
- (b)
difference is deficit suggests the perceived difference between individuals create deficits, (Mitchell, 2013; Shapiro, 2014; Valencia, 2010);
- (c)
English is ALL that matters is a belief that a teacher’s highest responsibility is to teach English, (Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari, 2003; Mitchel, 2013);
- (d)
equal opportunities in schooling reflects the idea that everyone is given an equal chance and opportunity to succeed in school, (Delgado, Bernal & Villalpando, 2002; Love, 2004);
- (e)
fairness in the classroom takes into account the idea that assignments, assessments and instruction are inherently fair for all student, (Valencia, 2010; Viesca, Torres, Barnatt & Piazza, 2013);
- (f)
meritocracy and the American dream notes individuals can rely on hard work along to become successful, (Viesca, Torres, Barnatt & Piazza, 2013; Love, 2004);
- (g)
nativism is privileging the interests of native born citizens over immigrants, (Howard, 2006; Huber, 2011; Huber, Lopez, Malagon, Velez, Solórzano, 2008);
- (h)
save emergent bilingual students from their first language assumes first languages are a detriment to students, (Furumoto, 2008; Thiong’O, 1986; Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari, 2003; Marx, 2009).
These stories are a result of a history of privilege and function to maintain these systems of oppression as simply ‘natural’ (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 28).
In contrast, counterstory telling is defined as “a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told (ie, those on the margins of society)...a tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege” (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 32). These stories emerge from the margins of society and challenge the normative beliefs. Often as a means of survival, counterstory telling is centered in the experiences, struggles and triumphs of communities of color. Additionally, counterstories often expose injustice, transform individuals and challenge the validity of majoritarian stories.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Intersectionalities: The convergence of multiple aspects of one’s identity such as, but not limited to; race, gender, language, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, citizenship, ability, age, religion, education, and geographic region.
Counterstories: Narratives that privilege the voices of individuals and communities that are marginalized.
Ideology of Monolingualism: The belief that speaking one language is normative.
Deficit Thinking: A set of beliefs that assumes that marginalized populations experience struggle due to their own weakness, decisions or intrinsic work ethic.
English Learner (EL): A person learning English as another language.
Teacher Ideology: The explicit and implicit beliefs that teachers hold which impact classroom practice.
Majoritatian Stories: Often unexamined narratives that reflect the dominant culture as the ideal.