Challenging Linguistic Purism in Dual Language Bilingual Education: A Case Study of Hebrew in a New York City Public Middle School

Abstract

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs, in which students are taught language and academic content in English and a partner language, have dramatically grown in popularity in U.S. schools. Moving beyond the teaching of Spanish and Chinese, DLBE programs are now being offered in less commonly taught languages and attracting new student populations. Based on qualitative research conducted in a New York City public middle school that recently began a Hebrew DLBE program, we found that this program, in its inception and design, challenges traditional definitions of DLBE and offers new understandings about bilingual education for the 21st century. We argue that the policies and guidelines for the provision of DLBE and the scholarship upon which they are based are rooted in notions of linguistic purism that fail to consider or meet the needs of communities enrolling in bilingual education programs today.

Language Mixings in Heritage Language Education: A Systematic Review

“…In the future, we will witness an increasing number of studies with various foci in this area. Regarding the countries of the study, English-dominant countries, especially the US with 11 articles (e.g., Menken & Avni, 2017;Rowe, 2019), account for the biggest slice of the cake. Other regions include Singapore , Zimbabwe (Mazuruse & Mberi, 2012), Sweden (Dávila & Bunar, 2020), Italy (Ghimenton, 2015) and Bolivia (Hornberger & Swinehart, 2015), suggesting the strong need to further our knowledge in contexts where English is not the official language or widely spoken.…”

“…A few studies identify the application of translangauging materials (e.g., Menken & Avni, 2017;Hornberger & Swinehart, 2012). It is assumed that the materials provided for students are different according to their language proficiency and age.…”

“…Students' flexible language uses and improving metalinguistic awareness are presented as the most remarkable affordances in terms of language development. On one hand, performing as models, teachers' translanguaging expressions in oral and written forms encourage students to engage in translangauging activities and as such, improved their flexible language uses (e.g., Creese & Blackledge, 2011;Menken, & Avni, 2017;. For example, as shown in Menken and Avini's paper (2017), guided by the teachers, Hebrew students frequently mix languages while speaking in class.…”

Equity/Social Justice, Instrumentalism/Neoliberalism: Dueling Discourses of Dual Language in Principals’ Talk About Their Programs

“…Principals play a powerful role in any school—creating school culture, shaping teaching and learning, and charting the direction of program development (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworh, Easton, & Luppescu, 2010; Darling‐Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007)—as well as interpreting and enacting policies created at larger scales (Ball et al, 2012). In DL schools, based on their knowledge and beliefs about language and learners, principals make decisions that can sustain or dismantle DL programs, as well as maintain or disrupt the larger status quo (Alanís & Rodríguez, 2008; DeMatthews & Izquierdo, 2018; Menken, 2017; Theoharis & O’Toole, 2011). Souto‐Manning, Madrigal, Malik, and Martell (2016) argued that all principals, but in particular DL principals, must therefore demonstrate “courageous leadership,” or the ability to navigate policy pressures from outside the school—from explicit English‐only policies to implicit nudges toward English through tools like state assessments—in ways that do not compromise the mission of their programs (e.g., Izquierdo, DeMatthews, Balderas, & Gregory, 2019; Menken & Solorza, 2015).…”

What Can the Study of Hebrew Learning Contribute to Applied Linguistics?

“…Hebrew education in the United States also reveals a distinctly novel learning context that warrants the attention of applied linguists: the teaching and learning of religious languages in secular educational settings. Along with Kate Menken, I have been studying the phenomenon of the expansion of dual language bilingual education programs in New York City (Menken & Avni, ). Focusing on a Hebrew–English program at a public middle school in Brooklyn, our study has shown that Hebrew is utilized to meet varying and overlapping communal needs, which include religious identification and nationalistic affiliations, as well as pragmatic desires such as access to a neighborhood school that offers a strong secular academic education.…”