Disrupting Equilibrium: Working for Equity and Social Justice in Education for English Learners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v19i1.1274Keywords:
autoethnography, teacher education, English language learners, LatCrit, interest convergenceAbstract
Many states in the western United States have seen an increase in the immigrant population. One state, in particular, has seen its foreign-born population increase 64.7% from 2000 to 2013. This increase in cultural and linguistic diversity foregrounds the 2013 passage of a specific Senate bill that “enacts provisions providing English language learning for students” in this state. The Senate bill also calls for the creation of a council to make recommendations to the appropriate governing boards on how best to meet the instructional needs of English Learners (ELs) in the state. LeChatelier’s principle of equilibrium and Bell’s interest convergence are used to analyze the recommendations. In addition, I use autoethnography and Latino critical race theory to interrogate the complexity of my dual membership, as an EL and an academic, in a cultural, political, and educational context.