UC Santa Barbara

Although there is an outward embrace of multiculturalism and multilingualism, monolingual ideologies that privilege White ways of languaging have persisted in K-12 schools. In this study, I provide the framework of “multicultural monolingualism” to describe how monolingual ideologies are sustained by and work in conjunction with neoliberal multiculturalism. Multicultural monolingualism can be observed in contemporary policies and guidance for practices regarding linguistically minoritized students such as Newcomer students and students designated as English learners. Newcomer students and students designated as English learners are often segregated from English-speaking peers into Structured/Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) programs on the basis of their linguistic difference; their social and linguistic isolation in these spaces disregards evidence that consistent opportunities to use the target language to make meaning is required for language development. Furthermore, guidance for teachers of these students includes engagement in culturally and linguistically responsive practices while still advocating for their acquisition of standardized/Academic English. It is unclear how equity-oriented educators contend with these contradictions within a culture of multicultural monolingualism; it is even more unclear what impact this ideological mismatch has on the teachers themselves. Drawing on this theoretical framework which is grounded in critical theories of language, race, culture, and schooling from socio(cultural)linguistics and education, I engaged in critical, collaborative ethnography to investigate the experiences of one teacher of Newcomer students in SEI for English Language Development (ELD). Specifically, I aimed to answer the following research questions: 1) How does an experienced, equity-oriented English language educator recognize and respond to “multicultural monolingualism” in her teaching context?; 2) What is the relationship between an equity-oriented educator’s pedagogical orientation and the language ideologies in her environment?; and 3) How does an equity-oriented educator understand her role as an English instructor in the larger “multicultural monolingual” landscape of schooling? In collaboration with a research-teacher partner, “Ms. E,” I participated in and observed her classroom and school activities for twelve months, writing fieldnotes and conducting 20 interviews with Ms. E, which included teaching reflections and longer (1-2 hour) in-depth semi-structured interviews (roughly 16 hours). In this dissertation, I present a discourse analysis of interviews and observations that examines how an experienced teacher maintained her commitment to equitable teaching in the ideological climate of SEI/ELD. Through the analysis, I found that Ms. E was motivated into agentive action via ideological awareness to interrupt monolingual practices in her school site, but also encountered multiple obstacles that were situated in the larger school ecology, namely, neoliberal ideologies about language education that challenged her agency and action. The findings not only demonstrate that multicultural monolingualism is a pervasive reality that manifests at multiple levels of a teacher's teaching context, but also reveal that neoliberal discourses about language teachers exclude advocacy and justice work from their role. In addition, multicultural monolingualism created a paradox wherein Ms. E contradictorily evaluated her teaching practices by her own equity-oriented stance as well as by the stance of the White-perceiving subject of schooling. This paradox led to feelings of frustration, inadequacy, and emotional distress when she did not meet either standard. Finally, reflections upon her experiences in SEI/ELD revealed that she perceived sustainability in this professional role as requiring adherence to the White, monolingual norms by adopting a “savior” and “English supremacy mindset,” and alternative ways of being within the multicultural monolingual environment felt overwhelming and exhausting without promise of structural change. Fortunately, a positive outcome of this collaborative ethnographic work was that in our shared reflection of teaching, we also engaged in reciprocal coaching and learning that led to the identification of the paradox she was working under and strategies for maintaining an equitable approach in the classroom. Based on these findings, I discuss the contributions of this study which include two major conceptual implications: the need to center humanizing practices in all areas of teaching and the need to end segregation of Newcomer students and students designated as English learners. After discussing these takeaways, I propose the following interrelated recommendations for research, policy, and practice: 1) building common capacity for working with Newcomer students; 2) investment in curricular materials that are designed for diverse, multilingual students; 3) decreasing classroom sizes; and 4) humanizing conditions of the teaching profession. I also review this study’s limitations and suggest potential avenues for future research.