Teaching Emergent Bilingual Students With Dis/Abilities

Grounded in authentic teaching and learning experiences, this book shows elementary school educators how to create spaces that more respectfully and humanely address the needs of emergent bilinguals with disabilities. While the fields of bilingual education and disability studies have been traditionally kept separate, Martínez-Álvarez argues that many of the constructs researchers and educators employ in their respective fields can be combined to improve instruction. This book establishes a dialogue among important constructs such as issues of assimilation and ableism, and the expansion of identity, agency, and humanistic pedagogies. It then looks at how these constructs can be used to better understand children who have been assigned inflexible labels that do not cohesively represent their bilingual/bicultural identities and their varied ways of learning. The text explores the limitations of categorizing children into “boxes,” particularly those of minoritized backgrounds, and focuses on actual practices that will engage and empower learners.

Book Features:

• Combines the fields of bilingual education and disability studies so that bilingual students with disabilities can be understood and taught from a strengths-based perspective.
• Includes activity invitations to help teachers create high-quality learning spaces.
• Provides sample work from diverse elementary school–aged children, as well as children’s responses to the learning activity.
• Proposes curriculum to expand what identity and agency look like in schools embracing more humanistic pedagogies.

Patricia Martínez-Álvarez is an associate professor and director of the Bilingual/Bicultural Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

“This is an exciting and important volume that challenges educators to explore the multiple identities and ways of learning of bilingual students with dis/abilities in order to expand their opportunities to learn. Martínez-Álvarez calls on teachers to humanize education for bilingual learners with dis/abilities by recognizing the unique differences they bring to the classroom—not simply as individual differences but as avenues for understanding them better and tools for enhancing their development in school. It takes our thinking about individual differences in education to a brand new plane.”
—Fred Genesee, professor emeritus, McGill University

“‘But what does it really look like?’ is the question most frequently asked by educators charged with implementing effective, evidence-based instructional practices for emergent bilinguals with disabilities. Dr. Martínez-Álvarez does a masterful job of answering this question, using authentic examples of teaching and learning in inclusive bilingual education settings. At the same time, she debunks misconceptions that have historically deprived emergent bilinguals of the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential and of their right to become bilingual, bicultural, biliterate citizens. This text is an excellent resource for researchers who study the intersection of language, culture, and disability, and for teacher educators charged with preparing candidates to meet the complex needs of emergent bilinguals with disabilities.”
—Alba A. Ortiz, professor emerita, The University of Texas at Austin

“Patricia Martínez-Álvarez provides a heartening portrait of emergent bilinguals with disabilities—one that showcases their strengths, talents, and complex identities. Through vivid accounts of an after-school program, Martínez-Álvarez shows teachers how they can challenge assimilation and ableism in their classrooms and embrace asset-based understandings of emergent bilinguals with disabilities.”
—Sara E.N. Kangas, associate professor, Lehigh University

Contents

Preface  ix

List of Abbreviations  xv

Acknowledgments  xvii

1.  Tensions Surrounding the Education of Bilingual Children With a Disability  1
Cultural Historical Tensions in Teaching and Learning With Bilingual Children  3
Issues of Disability Identification Disproportionality and Consequences of Labels  4
Lack of Teacher Preparation Programs for Inclusive Education in Bilingual Contexts  6
Lack of Inclusive Approaches for Bilingual Education  8
Bilingual Education: A Space Inclusive of Children With a Disability  10

2.  Assumptions and Theories in the Varied Ways of Knowing Project  13
Assumptions Grounding the Varied Ways of Knowing Project  15
Theoretical Ideas Guiding the Project: A Hybrid Afterschool Program Space  15
The Varied Ways of Knowing Project  22

3.  Documenting the Varied Ways of Knowing Project  25
The Role of the Institution of Higher Education  26
The Varied Ways of Knowing School Context  26
Varied Ways of Knowing Project: Children and Teacher Candidates  27
Documenting Learning With Bilingual Children With and Without a Disability  28
Exploring the Work of the Children and the Teacher Candidates  29
Reflecting on Roles When Working in Bilingual Contexts  30
Relevant Questions and Organization of the Chapters  31

4.  The Issue of Ableism in Bilingual and Bicultural Education  35
Metaphors Driving Bilingual Teachers to Enact Ableist Practices  37
The Learning Identities of Bilingual Children With a Disability  40
Conclusion  51

5.  Teaching Children With Multiple Labels: Manifestations of Assimilation and Turning Points  53
Parallel Processes of Assimilation: Being Bilingual and Having a Disability  53
Assimilationist Processes Impacting Children of Immigrant Background  54
Assimilationist Processes Impacting Children Labeled With a Disability  55
Interrupting Processes of Assimilation  57
Children’s Experience: Expansive Views Crossing Identities and Cultures  58
A Contrasting Experience: Susana’s Agency and Learning Identity  68
A Turning Point: “(Susana) Is a Very Strong Girl for Sharing That With All of Us”  73
Conclusion  76

6.  Humanistic Perspectives in Inclusive Bilingual Education  79
The Significance of Humanistic Perspectives With Bilingual Children With a Disability  79
The Capas y Escudos (Capes and Shields) Project  85
Playful Spaces as Tools for Humanizing Pedagogies  85
Conclusion  96

7.  Exploring Disability With Bilingual Children  98
Identity and Disability  99
Bilingual and Bicultural Identity  100
Multiple Identities and Bilingual Children With a Disability  101
Teaching About Disability and the Disability Rights Movement  103
Learning and Disability Identity Through a CHAT and DSE Lens  104
Exploring the Disability Civil Rights Movement and the Rights of People With a Disability  106
Agency and Collective Learning While Exploring Disability  106
Conclusion  122

8.  Science Learning With Bilingual Children: Learning In-Between Boundaries in a Hybrid Space  126
Science Education and Emergent Bilinguals  127
Science Education and Children With a Disability  129
Exploring Science With Bilingual Children With and Without a Disability  130
The Relevant Contexts for Science and Landforms Unit  131
Learning at the Boundary of Knowledges, Disciplines, and Formal/Less Formal Spaces  132
Conclusion  145

9.  Artifact-Mediated Science Content Learning in Inclusive Bilingual Contexts  148
The Importance of Mediators When Teaching Children With a Disability  150
The Importance of Mediators When Teaching Bilingual Children  152
Mediating Science Content Learning With Bilingual Children With a Disability  153
The Earthquakes, Plate Tectonics, and the Ring of Fire Unit  154
Artifacts and the Way They Mediate Learning in Inclusive Bilingual Contexts  155
Children’s Volitional Actions: Re-mediating Using Artifacts and Various Knowledges  156
Language as an Artifact: Tensions Addressing Content Learning and Language Learning  166
Conclusion  172

10.  The Varied Ways of Knowing Project: Teaching Bilingual Students With a Disability  175
Ableist Practices in Bilingual Education and Implications  177
Historical Assimilationist Practices and Implications for Bilingual Education  179
Humanistic Perspectives for Inclusive Bilingual Education  180
Learning About Disability With Bilingual Children  185
A Hybrid Space for Science Learning In-Between Boundaries  186
Conclusion  189

Epilogue  191

References  193

Index  213

About the Author  222

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