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Critical Inquiry in Language

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A Delicate Balance: The

Clandestine Work of Bilingual

Teachers of Bilingual Children

in English-Only Borderlands

ClassroomsKirstin Ruth Bratt

a& Amy A. Cain

b

aSaint Cloud State University

bGeorgia State University

Published online: 06 Jun 2013.

To cite this article: Kirstin Ruth Bratt & Amy A. Cain (2013): A Delicate Balance:

The Clandestine Work of Bilingual Teachers of Bilingual Children in English-Only

Borderlands Classrooms, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 10:2, 150-184

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2013.788380

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A DELICATE BALANCE: THE CLANDESTINE WORK OF

BILINGUAL TEACHERS OF BILINGUAL CHILDREN IN

ENGLISH-ONLY BORDERLANDS CLASSROOMS

KIRSTIN RUTH BRATT

Saint Cloud State University

AMY A. CAIN

Georgia State University

This qualitative, phenomenological study is based on a set of interviews at theMexico-U.S. border where legislation restricts teachers use of students homelanguages in schools. These interviews, after open-coding analysis, demonstratethat teachers exercise their professional judgment in spite of mandates to the

contrary, forcing a choice between their professional well-being and the childrens

linguistic needs. State laws and district policies necessitate that teachers seekback-door methods to promote bilingualism for Spanish-speaking students. The

teachers participating in this study explain that they have to conceal their effortsto promote biliteracy among Spanish-speaking students. This decision is notwithout consequence, however, as teachers report a great deal of anxiety and self-

censorship inherent in the delicate balance between teaching well and followingthe laws and policies that they see as antithetical to their best practice.

The theoretical framework for this study is culturally relevantpedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b; Sleeter, 2005) andsociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978). Ladson-Billings (1995b)

espouses teachers use of students culture and language as avehicle for learning. She affirms teachers encouraging studentsto use their home language while acquiring the secondarydiscourse (p. 161). Sleeter advocates building curriculum andpedagogy on the cultural frames of reference and linguisticstrengths of students from historically oppressed communities asa way to improve student learning (p. 14). The foundation for thestudy is sociocultural because education occurs through

relationshipsinteraction between students and teachers,

150

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kirstin Ruth Bratt,

Saint Cloud State University, 720 4th Ave S, St Cloud, MN 56301. E-mail: [email protected]

Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 10(2):150184, 2013Copyrightq Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1542-7587 print/1542-7595 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15427587.2013.788380

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between students and other students, and between students andthe learning environment. Meaningful dialoguescaffolding by aMore Knowledgeable Other (Vygotsky)and authentic inter-

actions are essential in classroom learning experiences. Fennema-Bloom (2009) uses the term code-scaffolding to refer toteachers use of students first language (L1) to support studentslearning in their second language (L2).

As states such as Georgia (2011) and Alabama (2012) havepassed anti-immigration laws, one wonders about the impact andimplications of English-only legislation in states such as Arizona(2000), California (1998), and Massachusetts (2002). A charac-

teristic of an exemplary study according to Yin (2009) is one thathas significance, with underlying issues that are nationallyimportant in policy or practical terms (p. 185). This study issignificant from several perspectives. It sheds light on thecomplexity of the issue for teachers, students and their families,administrators, and school districts.

With the growing pressure for ever-increasing scores on highstakes standardized tests, teachers strive to balance studentsmastery of content standards and childrens linguistic, emotional,and social development (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Although the

Arizona law does allow use of students first language (Spanish) forclarification, in essence the schools are English only. An English-only mentality reflects a binary or polarity, not a continuum, suchas the continua of biliteracy posited by Hornberger (1989;Hornberger & Skilton-Sylvester, 2000). The attitude or mindsetreflected in the anti-immigration legislation and English-onlyinterpretation and implementation demonstrates the banking

analogy posited by Freire (1970). In contrast, the authors perceivelanguage as a resource. Children are not blank slates withteachers depositing the content that students need to learn.

Literature Review

In recent years and in almost every region of the country, teachers

have been working with increasingly diverse populations ofstudents, many of these students with home languages other thanEnglish (Fry & Lopez, 2012; Migration Policy Institute, 2012;Miller-Whitehead, 2001; Simmons, 2008). Fortunately for many of

Delicate Balance: Work of Bilingual Teachers 151

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these children, our workforce in education is replete withbilingual teachers who dedicate their energy to creative problemsolving, to caring for every child equitably and thoughtfully, to

challenging and engaging children with important ideas, and toencouraging them to grow toward responsible citizenship(Munro, 1996).

The United States has witnessed a great deal of prejudicedirected toward people whose home language is not English (Tse,2001), even as education research points to the need to maintainand support home languages so that children can move forwardin the second language (Cummins, 2006; de la Luz Reyes &

Halcon, 2001; Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Karabenick,2004). In Arizona, where bilingual programs have beendismantled in recent years, bilingual teachers of bilingualstudents are constrained to teach in English only, even thoughobservations of effective practice continue to confirm recenteducation research findings: that a respect for the childs homelanguage is necessary, and that successful teachers are adept atfinding unique and innovative ways to bridge the gaps forchildren as they move between home and school languages(Butler & Gutierrez, 2003; Dong, 2004; Jimenez, 2005; Meltzer &Hamann, 2004; Sarroub, 2007).

According to previous studies in multilingual schoolcontexts, many teachers lack preparation or training for their

work in linguistically diverse classrooms (Coggins, Krayin, Coates,& Carroll, 2007; Hardin, Roach-Scott, & Peisner-Feinberg, 2007;House Committee on Education and Labor, 2007; Karathanos,2009; Lee et al., 2008; Sarroub, 2007; Wainer, 2004). Training for

teachers has not kept pace with the increasing numbers of Englishlanguage learners (Dong, 2004; Hardin et al.; Meltzer & Hamann,2004).

Children whose native language is not English have beendisproportionately placed in special education classrooms(Hardin et al., 2007; Macswan, 2006), and the No Child LeftBehind policies have not addressed the needs of English languagelearners (House Committee on Education and Labor, 2007).

Many English language learners have been retained inappropri-ately in lower grade levels (Abedi, 2004; Simmons, 2008); specialeducators report that they lack training for their work withEnglish language learners and that they are not able to serve the

K. R. Bratt and A. A. Cain152

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needs of English language learners due to lack of resources, lackof administrative support, and communication barriers withparents (Mueller, 2006). Unfortunately, local, state, and national

policies may be punitive toward teachers and students rather thansupporting their work. In Mexico-U.S. borderlands regions suchas Arizona and in other states like California (1998) andMassachusetts (2002), English-only voter mandates create con-straints against effective teaching practices (Black, 2006; Lopez,2006; Mahoney, 2005; Stritikus & Garcia, 2005).

In 2002, Arizona voters decided to end bilingual education inschools, and schools have dealt with this voter initiative in

different ways ever since. Just before the vote, Kotterman andLentz (2002), leaders of the Arizona Educators Association,publicly argued against the 2002 initiative, explaining thatlearning in the native language is essential to the mastery of bothacademic content and English fluency, that the denial of thenative language relegates children to a second tier of achieve-ment, that parents rather than state government should bemaking decisions about the childs language of instruction, andthat it is unfair to threaten state employees with jail for exercisingtheir professional judgment. In spite of many protests from

Arizonas educators, parents, and students, the propositionpassed; restrictions on English were implemented throughout

Arizona with many districts, including the district in which theseinterviews were conducted, often interpreting the law even morestrictly than necessary in an effort to stave off any potentialcriticisms or difficulties.

Voter mandates that require English-only schooling

result from linguistic discrimination, and they exacerbatelinguistic discrimination in schools. Linguistic discriminationin public schools is the law in California and Massachusetts as

well as Arizona; and of these states, Arizonas linguisticdiscrimination is the most airtight, closing every loophole forEnglish language learners and children who would most benefitfrom dual language instruction. Arizonas voter propositionsprohibit bilingual education, limiting formal support to one

year of sheltered immersion (Arias & Faltis, 2012; Krashen,2005).Ironically, Arizona schools with dual language programs are

located in affluent, urban areas rather than rural or borderland


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areas where they are more desperately needed. Bilingual anddual-language education in Arizona is reserved for the eliteand the privileged; indeed, children who wish to study in bilingual

programs in Arizona must first prove, by passing three consecutiveyears of English exams, that they are fully fluent in English.Therefore, the children who could most benefit from bilingualinstruction are marginalized in English-only classrooms wherethey often cannot understand basic instructions. Even thoughmany of them have bilingual teachers who could bridge the gapfor them, these bilingual teachers, under threat of dismissal, arenot allowed to assist the children in basic communication

(Kotterman & Lentz, 2002; Krashen, 2005).Various factors contribute to problems in Arizona schools.Nationwide, Solorzano and Yosso (2000) write that Chicana andChicano children attend schools whose educational conditionsare some of the most inadequate in the United States (p. 37).The situation can be worse in a border community, wherepredominantly English-speaking students are allowed to developan unhealthy superiority over Spanish-speaking or bilingualstudents. Borderlands schools, when English-only policies are inplace, are easier for English-proficient students because theyunderstand the cultural and linguistic environment and are ableto acclimate more easily to the classroom environment. Those

who speak English at home, then, gain an unfair advantage overthe other children. As McIntosh (1990) writes, the white studentsare given the benefit of the doubt, while the nonwhitestudents must counter negative stereotypes designed to limittheir success.

In a press release from The Civil Rights Project/ProyectoDerechos Civiles at the University of California of Los Angeles,

Wyer (2012) explains that the propositions of California, Arizona,and Massachusetts have failed:

Its been 12 years since the passage of Proposition 227 in California, whichseverely restricted bilingual instruction in the states public schools, 10

years in Arizona, and 8 in Massachusetts, where similar initiatives werepassed. This is now enough time to judge these policies on their merits,

with longitudinal data on students who have been the recipients of theinstruction they legislated. The jury is now in and the verdict is that thesepolicies have failed to deliver on their promise.


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In the press release, Wyer refers to work by Gandara andRumberger in 2009, who explain that language use is highlypoliticized and that publicly funded research often asks the

wrong questions while avoiding relevant ones:

Millions of dollars have been spent and great amounts of politicalcapital squandered on attempting to determine which program is mosteffective bilingual education or English-only instruction withoutbothering to ask for whom, under what conditions, or with what goals inmind. When asked in this format, the answers are necessarily complex andmultidimensional . . . To what extent and in what form newcomerprograms can best serve the needs of immigrant students has not been

well studied.

As for our own contribution to the research needs identified byGandara and Rumberger, our study, conducted in the border-lands with bilingual teachers of bilingual children, examines theissues teachers and students face in restrictive linguisticenvironments, requiring sheltered English immersion for new-comers and ignoring research that demonstrates the utility andpromise of bilingual instruction.

Methods

Interview Participants and Context

These phenomenological interviews were conducted by the firstauthor near the Mexico-U.S. border with bilingual teachers of

bilingual students addressing issues about the teaching andlearning context in English-only schools. Phenomenologicalresearch is particularly suited to this study because it takes place ina highly charged political context that puts teachers in a difficultposition between commitment to their goals as teachers andadherence to state laws and district policies. This situation can behighly charged emotionally, and such a situation is, as Merriam(2009) explains, well-suited to the phenomenological approach:A phenomenological approach is well suited to studyingaffective, emotional, and often intense human experiences(p. 26). The goal of a phenomenological study, as Cresswell writes,is a composite description that presents the essence of the


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phenomenon, called the essential, invariant structure (oressence) (Merriam, 2009, p. 62).

Of particular interest in the interviews is an exploration of

the ways in which students and teachers have been affected by thepassage of recent voter initiatives in Arizonainitiatives that haveeffectively eliminated bilingual education and that jeopardizeteachers jobs for using Spanish in schools (Kotterman & Lentz,2002; Krashen, 2005). The method of seeking interviewparticipants was purposeful sampling, and this method is well-suited to the phenomenological approach. This sort of sampling,as Patton (2002) argues, does not rely on the power of

randomness but rather on the power of depth and richness ofinformation that can be gained by seeking a particular participantwho will have a great deal of information to offer the study. Pattonwrites that purposeful sampling is based on the assumption thatthe investigator wants to discover, understand, and gain insightand therefore must select a sample from which the most can belearned (p. 230). Purposeful sampling differs from randomsampling based on selection; but in a study that aims tounderstand how a particular type of teacher negotiates aparticular context, it is important to find the people who canshare meaningful and relevant information.

The participants needed to be bilingual members of the localcommunity, self-identifying as engaged in their work, and willingto talk to an outsider about the effects of local and state policieson their professional practice. To find such people, theinterviewer approached people she had known well for many

years and spent about an hour in conversation with each of them,

describing the type of teacher she was seeking. Merriam (2009)describes this method of selection in the following way:Snowball, chain, or network sampling is perhaps the mostcommon form of purposeful sampling (p. 79). According toMerriam, this sort of sampling includes locating a few keyparticipants who meet the established criteria and then askingthese participants to refer other similar participants to beinterviewed. This method worked quite well for this survey

because the community of teachers in the area often work closelytogether through district-wide or area-wide initiatives andworkshops and therefore are aware of their colleagues acrossthe district.


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When the first author described to her recommenders theideal participants for these interviews, she emphasized that she

was looking for thoughtful and engaged teachers who demon-

strate ongoing reflection on students needs and best practices.The interviewer drew upon the definition of exemplary teacherspostulated by Allington and Johnston (2002). She explained toher recommenders that she was looking for teachers who engagestudents, help them develop as thoughtful readers and writers,and bolster self-directed learning and literate conversation(Allington & Johnston).

One of her recommenders was a white, female, retired

teacher who had worked closely with the two teachers whom sherecommended to the interviewer. Her recommendation wasunequivocal, stating that the teachers were flexible, engaged, andcommitted to their students. These teachers fulfilled all of thecriteria described. The second person the interviewer approached

was a leader in the local community: a bilingual, Mexican-American man who had worked with government leaders andeducational leaders in several professional capacities, including asan aide to an elected official, a director of an educationalinstitution, and a school board member. The interviewer knewthat his primary agenda as a leader in the community was to be a

vociferous advocate of bilingual education for bilingual students.Again, she described the research and her goal of findingteachers who would serve as participants. He recommendedthree teachers, each of whom was willing to participate. Finally,the researcher approached the director of English languagelearning, a white female who is fluent in Spanish and is an

advocate of bilingual education at the school district; again, thefirst author spent a great deal of time describing the research andher desire to find interested participants. This woman alsorecommended three teachers, each of whom was willing toparticipate.

The participating teachers all work in the same schooldistrict, close to the Mexico-U.S. border. Their years of experienceranged from 3 to 30 years with the district. This school district

reports that of its total student population, 71% is composed ofEnglish language learners (National Center for EducationStatistics, 2008). None of these teachers was compensatedfinancially for participation in the one- to two-hour interviews.


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Bracketing

Research that includes phenomenological interviewing generally

follows a tradition of bracketing that dates back to the earliestphenomenological studies of the philosopher Husserl and havebeen fully articulated for social science research more recently(Seidman, 1998; Van Manen, 1990). Bracketing is an attempt toindividuate and examine the many factors involved in theinterview process, including most especially the backgroundperspectives and world-view of the interviewer. Merriam (2009)describes the process of bracketing in this way:

Prior beliefs about a phenomenon of interest are temporarily put aside, orbracketed, so as not to interfere with seeing or intuiting the elements orstructure of the phenomenon. When belief is temporarily suspended,consciousness itself becomes heightened and can be examined in thesame way that an object of consciousness can be examined . . . To get at theessence or basic underlying structure of the meaning of an experience,the phenomenological interview is the primary method of data collection.Prior to interviewing those who have had direct experience with thephenomenon, the researcher usually explores his or her own experiences,

in part to examine dimensions of the experience and in part to becomeaware of personal prejudices, viewpoints, and assumptions. Theseprejudices and assumptions are then bracketed or temporarily set asideso that we can examine consciousness itself. (pp. 2526)

For the interviewer, part of the bracketing process includesremaining mindful of the limitations that are necessarily part ofany insider-outsider dialogue and trying to categorize theinterviews on the basis of perceived trust levels. She documents

evidence of the trust environment between interviewer andparticipant and then examines the type and quality ofinformation shared given these various levels of perceived trust.

Furthermore, as a white researcher in a Mexican-Americancontext, the interviewer considers the analysis in Kendalls (2006)book Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to AuthenticRelationships Across Race, in which Kendall reminds whiteresearchers of the many obstacles that are inherent in cross-

cultural dialogue. Kendall explains:

It is essential to remember that we enter into interactions about our blindspots with enormous power and privilege imbalances. In a cross-racial


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conversation between a Latina and a white person, for example, the Latinais at greater risk because she has not been given the systemic privileges thatthe white person has . . . Being blinded by our privilege often keeps usfrom being able to see or to hear clearly, especially if the person with

whom we are speaking is different from us. (p. 128)

As Kendall explains, suspicion from subjects can often beexpected in cross-cultural dialogue. Using bracketing tools allowsthe researcher to develop strategies for examining anddocumenting potential blocks to successful communicationrather than trying to minimize or deny their existence. Again,the bracketing and examination of trust levels allow for a fuller

picture. Kendall (2006) posits:

Expect suspicion from the person to whom you are talking, particularly ifyour conversation hasnt come up naturally. That concern is heightenedexponentially when there is an even greater imbalance of privilege andpower . . . I find that it is often difficult for white people to accept that aperson of color would automatically be suspicious of any white person theyare talking to . . . Because so many white people see ourselves asindividuals and as relatively good people, we have a hard time imaginingthat we pose a threat to someone we work with or are talking to. (p. 129)

In consonance with Kendalls theories, the interviewer seeks todocument how her conversations with bilingual teachersidentifying as Mexican, Mexican-American, or Hispanic may begoverned by power differentials. As Merriam (2009) explains,researchers must be aware of the power dynamics at the core ofany critical research, that is, the negotiation of power and thestructures in place to reinforce power distribution, elements that

often remain in the unconscious and create an unconditionalacceptance of the status quo (p. 35).

As a researcher, outsider, and member of the dominantdiscourse group, the interviewer remains aware that while sheattempts to gain a critical distance from it, she is encircled by itand therefore cannot avoid a certain lack of clarity regarding it. Asinterviewer, this role as outsider creates a barrier between theinterviewer and the group of participants. None of this should

suggest that the participants are inhospitable in any way; on thecontrary, they are gracious, kind, and generous with their time. Itis simply true that the ability to conduct interviews and to glimpsethe many realities they share is hampered by differences. Rather


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than ignore these limitations, bracketing allows us to work withthem, categorizing the interviews based on perceived levels oftrust, and examining the results with that added consideration.

Roulston (2007) identifies the core belief of phenomenologicalresearch to avoid romantic claims of objectivity. Instead, thephenomenological researcher analyzes and reveals subjectivities,and strives to generate the kind of conversation that is intimateand self-revealing (Merriam, 2009, p. 93).

Goals for Bracketing and Researcher Self-awareness

The goal of phenomenological interviewing is to reach multi-layered understandings based on participant sharing andresearcher interpretation. To this end, the researcher collectsinformation about context, lived experiences, and outsiderperceptions in an effort to find a shared construction of meaning(Van Manen, 1990). Keeping in mind that these layers ofexperience and perception can be deconstructed and recon-structed, phenomenology also acknowledges that a completepicture remains ever elusive (Seidman, 1998). Merriam (2009)explains the process of phenomenological interview research,saying that interviews focus on the lived meanings that events haveand the influence of those meanings on individuals actions andinteractions: It is common practice in phenomenologicalresearch for researchers to write about their own experiences ofthe phenomenon or to be interviewed by a colleague in order tobracket their experiences prior to interviewing others (p. 93).

In an effort to deconstruct the interviews most completelyand to consider possible meanings most successfully, this projectcarefully examines trust levels, as they are perceived by theinterviewer and as they affect communication between a whiteresearcher and nonwhite participants. Keeping in mind Kendalls

writing about power dynamics and ethnicity, the interviewercreated a scale of perceived trust for each interview situation. Thisscale of perceived trust is based primarily on three factors:

environment (predetermined or negotiated, public or private,selected by interviewer or by interviewee), interviewer perceptionof responses (guarded or free, open or closed answers), andorigin of interview (referring persons role in relation to the


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teacher and the interviewer); this will be described in the next fewparagraphs. Also see Appendix A for an explanatory chart.

The scale of perceived trust (Appendix A) is determined

after each interview by the interviewer; in turn, this scale guidesthe phenomenological analysis of the transcripts. If theenvironment is negotiated by and ultimately selected by theinterviewee and is in a private space, the environment isconsidered to contribute to the highest trust level. If theenvironment is predetermined by the interviewer and is a publicspace, this setting is seen to contribute to the lowest trust level.Furthermore, the person who refers the teacher to the interview

might be an employer, a teaching colleague, a communitymember, or a friend. Perceived trust levels are considered to behighest when the referral comes from a friend, lower from acolleague or community member, and lowest when the referralcomes from an employer. Finally, the interviewers perception oftrust level is somewhat subjective, but the perception is guided bythe types of responses (lengthy vs. brief; closedcomposed ofcomments that close the conversation vs. opencomposed ofcomments that extend the conversation into further explorationsor questions).

The participants for these interviews include three femalekindergarten teachers; one male and two female fifth gradeteachers; and two female eighth grade teachers. All participantsare bilingual, and all self-identify as Mexican or Mexican-

American; each of them speaks a mixture of English and Spanishboth at home and within the local community. Their levels offormal literacy instruction in Spanish vary. All participants are

lifelong residents of the Mexico-U.S. borderlands, all have somehistory as English language learners in schools themselves, allhave resided for a time on both sides of the border, and allcontinue to have family ties in both countries.

The first two interviews are similar in construction: both areindividual interviews with female eighth grade teachers oflanguage arts and social studies; both take place in theparticipants homes with no one present except the participant

and interviewer; and both participants are introduced to theinterviewer by a retired teacher from the district.The level of trust between the first set of participants and the

interviewer is rated at a medium level. Some trust might have


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been gained from the fact that the referring teacher (white,female) had worked closely as a team member with the teachersand had personally introduced these teachers to the interviewer.

Further, the home environment for each teacher is perhaps thelocation most conducive to effective communication. Barriers totrust include, as Kendall explains, the fact that the participantsidentify as bilingual Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, or Hispanics,and the interviewer for this set, and all other sets of interviews,identifies as an Anglo-American with some Spanish proficiencybut not native fluency. The content of these interviews include theteachers life histories, descriptions of the curriculum and work

environment at school, and the sharing of strategies and bestpractices for teaching English language learners in social studiesand language arts.

The second set of interviews is with three femalekindergarten teachers. These teachers identify themselves asbilingual and either Mexican-American or Hispanic. The level ofperceived trust in this set of interviews is considered lower,primarily because the teachers are asked to participate by a white,female district administrator who, despite her advocacy ofbilingual education, is nevertheless charged with upholding theEnglish-only policies in public schools. Also, this second set ofinterviews took place in the school library. Although empty ofstudents or teachers, the place still felt like a public place with thepotential for interruptions. Finally, a barrier to trust includes thedichotomy of cultural backgrounds between interviewer andparticipants (Kendall, 2006).

Yet despite the conditions for the interviews, these

participants offer a number of insights about the history ofbilingual education in the district. Two of them had beenteaching during the 1970s when bilingual education had been thenorm, and they report very positive experiences with that model.They are also open about sharing their own personal histories

with language learning, their preferences about different basalreading programs, their communication with parents, and thehistory of district policy regarding English language learning.

These interviews are useful in terms of gathering informationabout the public face of teachers and their concerns about how tobest respond to the needs of children within the limits of statelaws and district policies.


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The third set of interviewees might be considered the mosttrusting group of teachers. These three fifth grade teachers, onemale and two female, all self-identifying as Mexican-American and

bilingual, had been introduced to the interviewer by a Mexican-American school board member whose political activism is basedon respect for teachers and is well known in the area. Each ofthese teachers had received mentoring from a retired teacher

who had been a strong, vocal, local advocate of bilingualeducation throughout his career. He had since moved away fromthe community. Furthermore, one of the teachers had been acommunity college student of the interviewer ten years prior to

this interview and had reported a positive experience in theinterviewers classes. This teacher had invited the interviewer toobserve her classroom during the afternoon before the groupinterview. She is the only teacher previously known to theinterviewer, and her attendance in the group interview is a

valuable asset for the interviewer in establishing a base of trust forthe interview.

Throughout this third set of interviews, the participant bestknown to the interviewer encourages her colleagues to trust in theinterview process. When a question elicits an opinion, she oftenbegins the discussion, thus clearing the path for the other twoteachers. Sometimes she nods her encouragement or posesfollow-up questions to the other interviewees. While the samecultural barrier exists between participants and interviewer, thisone participant takes on an extra role that of proxy interviewer.

With her assistance, then, the interviews become quite revealing,as the three teachers give increasingly detailed responses. Just as

in the other two sets of interviews, the teachers share life histories,information about curriculum and the school environment, andstrategies that would be considered best practices for teachingEnglish language learners. See Appendix A.

Interview Questions

We cannot begin to discuss the interviews without first addressingthe fundamental tension around language use in Arizona schools.While a certain question, such as Do you think some of thechildren in your class understand math concepts better in English


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or Spanish? may seem innocuous to anyone outside of thiscontext, any question regarding bilingualism in Arizona takes onlayers of fear, guilt, and danger when addressing teachers.

Perhaps it is reasonable to suggest that such a question isespecially dangerous when posed to a Spanish-speaking bilingualteacher because this teacher is viewed as more likely to useSpanish in the classroom. As professionals working for thegovernment, teachers are expected to follow the laws of the stateand federal governments and the policies of the district. However,

what should they do when they see these laws and policies inconflict with one another? Federal law protects their free speech

and their right to educate all children regardless of immigrantstatus, and yet the state laws and district policies seem to indicateotherwise. Hence our concern with questions of trust andreliability in the interview process; hence our need to take aphenomenological approach to this study so that we are able toexamine a multi-layered set of issues and concerns in the publiceducation of Arizonas children.

Each participant interview has as its goal the understandingof the lived experience of the participant as she or he teaches alinguistically diverse group of elementary or middle schoolstudents. As a phenomenological study, the historical, cultural,familial, intellectual, ethical, and emotional factors are all seen tohave a bearing on this work and become part of the interviewingand bracketing processes. Because Arizona law is so punitivetoward teachers (Kotterman & Lentz, 2002), many districts havecreated additional policies to prevent any entanglements with the

voter propositions. Knowing this and understanding the inherent

tensions created by these policies creates an even greater urgencyto study the situations of these teachers in depth, but it also carriesa great risk for the teachers and causes a number of difficulties inthe interview process. The political climate in which theseteachers work is so restrictive as to cause negative consequencesfor teachers who express any opinions about language diversityand discrimination that contradicts district policy or state law. Insome districts in Arizona, school personnel who are caught

speaking in languages other than English are transferred ordismissed.Armour (2010), writing for ESL Focus, explains that the

Arizona Department of Education sends state auditors to


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individual classrooms around the state to monitor the Englishskills of teachers, assuring that the teachers meet standards ofpronunciation, grammar, and writing proficiency in English.

Those teachers who are found deficient in English are thenrequired to attend remedial English courses. After these courses,if they are still found lacking, they are fired or reassigned to otherduties. Considering all of the restrictions and limitations placedon Arizonas teachers, the interview questions for this study aredesigned to elicit responses about how bilingual teachers functionin a prohibitive environment and how bilingual teachers respondto the laws and policies. However, such questions, necessarily,

create anxiety on the part of the researchers, the teachers, and thepublishers who wish to protect the teachers without silencingtheir concerns.

Interview questions center on the work that teachers do withbilingual (Spanish-English) or monolingual (Spanish only)students and ways teachers respond to district policies that forbidschool personnel from speaking in any language other thanEnglish with students at the school The questions for theinterviews are open-ended, leaving room for the participants toshare stories regarding literacy teaching in a multilingual context.

Framing questions for each interview include the following:How do teachers who were once English language learnerssupport English language learning students in a district thatmandates English-only teaching? (Sample questions: How do yousupport your English language learning students when they arestruggling? How likely are you to use Spanish in your classroom?How many times each day do you find yourself using a Spanish

word or phrase? Do you think that your principal would approveor disapprove of your using Spanish in the classroom? If and when

you avoid using Spanish, what other things do you do to supportyour students?). Furthermore, how do these teachers talk aboutthe constraints of English-only policies in their classrooms? Howdo they create effective practice, and how does effective practiceeither work with or against voter mandates? (Sample questions:

Are you allowed to use Spanish in your classroom? If not, do you

feel limited in your ability to communicate with students? If so,are you careful about how and when you use Spanish? Do you everuse Spanish? If you dont use Spanish, how do you communicatedifficult concepts, and can you give examples?)


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Discussion

On Teaching the Concepts, the Need for Home Language

Just before the interview with the fifth grade teachers, one of theparticipants invites the interviewer to visit her classroom. Theinterviewer is struck then by how intuitive the fifth grade teacherseems to be when working with the children. Tsui (2003)considers expertise of second language teachers in terms of ateachers intuition and tacit knowledge (p. 10). Sometimes thisteacher approaches a child who has not indicated a need for help

and offers a few words in Spanish to explain or clarify theinstructions. When the interviewer asks about this action duringthe interview, the teacher explains that she has nonverbal ways ofcommunicating with the children. She describes a sense ofknowing when a child needs a translation into Spanish by a subtleexpression on the childs face. The interviewer and the fifth gradeteacher discuss this form of knowing with her fifth gradecolleagues. They all say that they have a sense of when a childneeds a few words in Spanish. They state that the district policy ofdenying the translation to the child is cruel; nevertheless, they areafraid to provide the translation because of the policy. Oneteacher says, Am I nervous? Am I scared? Yes! Does that stop me?No.

The teachers say that the district allows them to use childrenas translators, but that the children are not always reliable becausethey have both conceptual and linguistic limitations to theirability to translate technical concepts. One fifth-grade teacher

describes a child translator who had tried to help her classmate:It broke my heart because she looked so helpless, but she knew Icouldnt say anything. She describes the child looking helplesslytoward the teacher, knowing that the teacher is restricted bydistrict policy, derived and interpreted from state law, fromhelping, and she regrets the childs burden of responsibility forthe classmates success. The teacher describes this type ofoccurrence as frequent, uncomfortable, and unfair. An eighth

grade teacher comments, I could say that one word in Spanishthat would spark a light bulb, but Im afraid to do that now.Most of the teachers express the belief that they need to rely

on some use of Spanish with many of their students when they


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need to assess a childs degree of conceptual understanding or tochallenge a child appropriately in conceptual learning. Oneteacher explains that her eighth grade language arts students are

. . .

bored, because they dont get it. They get frustrated as well.And I know most of my Spanish-speaking students are failinglanguage arts right now. The teachers of eighth graders say theirhands are tied, as they are unable to teach effectively without thehome language. One eighth-grade teacher says that she usesSpanish occasionally to make the topics more challenging. Shesays: I tend to water things down if I try to modify them for mynon-English speakers. I want them to do grade-level stuff in their

native language as opposed to English, where I water it down.This same teacher sometimes asks the children to translate theirwork into Spanish so that she can assess their conceptualunderstanding.

Furthermore, the three fifth grade teachers explain that therules against Spanish or other languages do not affect onlylanguage arts and language learning. The teachers explain thatconcepts in math, social studies, and science require a robustunderstanding of the language of instruction. For example,mathematics may rely on a universal system of codes, but it stillrequires that teacher and student communicate through acommon linguistic system. An eighth grade teacher expresses herfrustration when she cannot communicate clearly with thechildren. When asked whether she ever uses Spanish to clarify aconcept, she said, Yes. Yes, yes, yes. When Im teaching to the

whole group, no; but if its an individual, one-on-one, yes. Becauseit works, I mean, they need to know what Im trying to say, and I

can make sure they understand.

Wasted Opportunities: The Untapped Potential of the Bilingual Teacher

One fifth-grade teacher, the only male participant in this study,describes the importance of community membership and theresources that he, as a community member, brings to his work.

He identifies strongly with his students, as he was raised in thecommunity. He says that he was never a top student but that helearned a work ethic that he tries to transmit to his students.He says, I would listen; I would work hard. Not necessarily that


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I was the smartest, but I think I worked really hard. That, I bring tomy classroom. He says that he has to find ways of teachingconcepts that go beyond what the textbooks offer: If I want to

teach something, I have to decide how. If I just go by the book,theres no way. How can I make it approachable to all my class?

You have an awareness of their language, their culture, beingsensitive to that kind of thing. Also, he emphasizes the fact thathis community membership augments his work as a teacher,stating, The kids see you like a cousin, like a neighbor, like anuncle. A lot of the success that I have experienced goes with that.

He says that he felt as a student, and still feels as a teacher,

that the school district does not value or respect the homelanguages of the children. As a result of his own difficulties withlanguage learning as a child, he says that he still feelsunintelligent at times, citing faculty meetings as especiallypainful. Because he can identify so strongly with his students,his goal as a teacher is to provide opportunities for children toexperience success, yet he feels that he must rely on the nativelanguage to create these moments for children. He says, once theyexperience success, he can say, See, you can do it in Spanish, soits a matter of time before you can do it in English.

Yet the teachers say that the school and state policiesdenigrate Spanish. While all of the participants in these interviewsare long-term residents of the area, some had been educated atuniversities in other cities. These teachers realize that bilingual-ism is valued in other parts of the country. One fifth-grade teachersays, My friends from back east are impressed with my ability tospeak Spanish, but here its degraded.

Two of the kindergarten teachers who participate in theinterviews reminisce about the bilingual programs of the 1970s,

when they were just beginning their careers as teachers. Oneexplains that Spanish-speaking parents were skeptical about suchprograms, stating,

But you did have that mentality of parents who didnt want it because theywere afraid students wouldnt learn English, so they saw it as a step back. Iremember most of the parents were Anglo. They saw the benefits of being

bilingual. But the other parents, they worked in the fields, and theywanted their children to learn English. Spanish was taught at home; theysaw Spanish as their job.


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The teachers say that many Spanish-speaking parents support theEnglish-only law because they see the school system as the onlyplace where their children might gain access to future economic

opportunities. While many in the community, including manySpanish-speaking parents, support the policies of English-only inschool, the entire community outside of the school functionscompletely in Spanish, including city council and school boardmeetings, businesses, and private homes. The school is, in fact,the only English-speaking location in the community. As one ofthe kindergarten teachers explains,

If you go outside, you wont hear anyone speak English. You go to thebanks, they dont speak English. You go to city hall, they dont speakEnglish. They dont speak English. They come to our school, and itsEnglish, but they go out to the community and its Spanish.

In terms of the social atmosphere of the classroom, the teachersdescribe a range of attitudes that children hold toward theirSpanish-speaking classmates. If the Spanish-speaking child is arecent immigrant, the classmates applaud and celebrate the

immigrants new English words. Yet the more time that theSpanish-speaking child has resided in the area, the more likely itbecomes that the bilingual classmates will degrade the child forhis or her accent, limited English vocabulary, and mixedgrammar.

One of the eighth grade teachers had worked in low-paying,low-status jobs before applying to become an emergency-certifiedteacher in her late thirties. The state of Arizona allows anemergency substitute certificate in a district that verifies anemergency employment situation and in the temporary absenceof a regular contract teacher. These emergency certificatesrequire an associate degree. The teacher explains that her abilityto become certified has been hampered by her poverty, her lowself-confidence, and her familys history as undocumentedimmigrant workers. Also, because this teacher is not fullycertified, her salary is much lower than her counterparts, eventhough her work requirements are the same. Furthermore, she

explains that emergency-certified teachers, like her, are assignedto the classes that are composed of the students who aremarked by the school as the lowest achieving group. She says


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that she feels that this system is designed to perpetuate failure,but that such a design also motivates her to face the obstaclesand dedicate herself even more fully to the success of the

students.This teacher immigrated to the United States when she was

14. Her father had been working to organize unions in Mexico,and he was starting to feel pressure from the government. Shesays, People wanted a change, but the PRI would come downpretty hard. My dad was involved there. I was just scared to lose mydad because it did create some problems. They were really, reallyaggressive; and they didnt want to give up the power. She

explains that her family began a week-long migration to theUnited States:

I came over here across the border. I came with my aunt and stayed at myaunts house. Then my mom crossed on the following Sunday. A few hourslater my brother crossed. We all came through the gates. We didnt crossthrough the desert or anything like that. No papers. They didnt even askfor that. We were lucky because they didnt even ask for that. I cantremember anything bad happening.

After her arrival in the United States, several years passed beforeshe felt comfortable using English. Recalling her early days in theUnited States in high school, she said,

The teacher was mean to us not sarcastic but teasing. But I startedworking and seeing that I could do a lot of things in school. I was passingmy classes with As and Bs. I was not actually lost there; I was actuallylearning.

Because her parents did not understand the school system, shesaid she was not encouraged to seek a higher education degree;rather, she began to work in the fields with her family during

vacations and after high school. Her family was not aware ofscholarship opportunities for her postsecondary education. Shesaid, You see, my language intimidated me, so I wasted those

years. I wish I could go back and recuperate. Back then I couldhave gotten a scholarship, but now I have to pay for my

education. While this teachers previous experiences might serveas a resource for the children of the district, restrictions on theuse of Spanish make it unlikely that this teacher will explore her


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full potential to bridge the home-school connection forimmigrant children and their families.

Not only this teacher, but all of the participating teachers

express the idea that their membership in the local communitymakes an enormous difference in their effectiveness. Severalindicate that the bilingual teachers are more likely to live in thecommunity, while white, English-speaking teachers are morelikely to commute from a larger city to the north. These teachersbelieve that living in the local community creates a closeness withthe school children. One teacher talks about her conversations

with children in the neighborhood; another says that the children

see him as a family member, giving him a base of trust from whichto work. Another speaks of passing a crowded baseball field atnine oclock in the evening and realizing that many of thechildren will not have finished their homework for the next day.

Unfortunately, however, all of the bilingual teachers say thattheir ability to connect with the community is not valued at thedistrict level. On the contrary, they feel they are constantly undersurveillance because they are seen as more likely to violate theEnglish-only policy. Indeed, the teachers in this district aremonitored carefully by principals and outside evaluators; thedistrict employs several observers whose job it is to travel fromclassroom to classroom, entering unannounced to collect data onthe teachers compliance with the English-only law and to assist

with strategies for delivering instruction in English moreeffectively. One teacher says that these outside evaluators measuresuccess based on how students are expected to perform onstandardized tests. One teacher laments,

Since Proposition 203, your most effective teaching is cut off by the law. Ifyou go strictly by what the state permits and what they expect of the childsgrowth, its unrealistic. Its really hard for me. The law is tying your hands;all of a sudden you cant do your work any more. The community in theclassroom is gone, and the childrens respect for the teachers and eachother also. You dont have that home-school connection.

The loss of the home-school connection is noteworthy; likewise,

these teachers cite the increasing prominence of standardizedtests and external evaluators as a barrier to their effectiveness.Standardized tests and external evaluators disappoint teachers

who can see a great deal of progress even though the tests and


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evaluations may mark the children as failures. One teacher says,There are times when Im thrilled with the progress of mystudents, even though the outside evaluator may not be. The

outside evaluator only sees the deficiencies. Another teacherconcurs, saying that many teachers are dropping out of theprofession because the development and growth of the students isnot acknowledged by any external evaluations or assessments. Shesays,

Im happy that my kids succeed in the state test, or whatever, but my mostrewarding experiences are always based on my English language learnersbecause thats where you see the most growth. I dont remember their end-

of-the-year scores, but I remember when they write their first paragraphsin English.

Frustrated by standardized tests and evaluations that fail torecognize the success of their students and their own work asteachers, the classroom teachers describe a continuum of self-

validation. One eighth grade teacher says,

I used to make excuses, but I finally decided I was tired of making theseexcuses. Ive learned how to be better at teaching English languagelearners. Its sad because you always want to compete with your colleagues,but my own personal satisfaction is helping a child move from zero wordsin English to being able to hold a conversation.

Other teachers seem less confident, however. In all three sets ofinterviews, the participants describe feelings of hopelessness andfears that their work is not effective. They often express the needfor the home language in the classroom and its importance whenchildren are learning a target language.

Clandestine Teaching: the Teacher as Conscientious Objector

While each participant starts the interview process with fairlycautious answers, most participants eventually share their more

clandestine strategies and their methods of resistance to what theyconsider overly restrictive policies. One eighth-grade teachershares that her strategy for circumventing the English-only policyis to give the students a brief Spanish translation but then tell the


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students that the words are actually Latin, rather than Spanish.She says that she sees this as a legitimate resistance to anunrealistic policy, yet she also regrets these fabrications, feeling

that her integrity as a teacher is at stake.The fifth grade teachers, toward the end of their interview,

decide to show the interviewer their contraband materials.Amazingly, they have retained a clandestine set of Spanishtranslations of their textbooks from the past, when bilingualeducation was the norm in the school district. One teacher startsby stating that she gives the books to the children to take home,saying, Here, take it home. You can read it at home, you know. I

dont want to see the book here. But a few minutes later, sheadmits that she lets the children use the books in the classroomalso. When she admits to this, it is interesting to note her shift tosecond-person point-of-view. She says,

But then occasionally, youre giving a test, and you see them struggling,and you are working with another student, and you say, You know what,take out the Spanish book. Would I do it if someone else was in myclassroom? No. Its just sad that you have to go through all that and feelscared when you know that what youre doing is the best for that kid.

She goes on to explain that she allows the children to use thesetextbooks during their independent work time with the under-standing that the books must be hidden quickly if the classroomdoor opens. These children know the laws and policies, and theyknow that their teachers can be fired for using these books. Theirloyalty to the teachers, and the teachers reciprocal trust in them,exemplifies the passion for learning and teaching that guides

these teachers, even as laws and policies fail to support theirefforts.

However, while fifth grade teachers say that their students trytheir best to comply and use English when the teachers ask themto do so, middle school teachers report an opposite experience.The eighth grade bilingual teachers state that, even though thestudents understand the district policies against Spanish, orperhaps because they do understand and oppose these policies,

they consistently approach their teachers in Spanish and typicallyinitiate all conversations with school personnel in Spanish. Theseinteractions serve to amplify the teachers uncomfortable positionas both child advocate and public employee.


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One eighth-grade teacher becomes visibly uncomfortablewhen describing the experience of being approached inSpanisha discomfort that becomes clear during her equivocal

description. She says,

Does Spanish help me teach better? Because Im in the community,probably, I should say yes. They know you speak Spanish, and theystart talking to you in Spanish. They dont think about it; they just do it.I use my, I dont speak Spanish. Oh you do speak Spanish. Not duringclass.

Not only does she shift her answer between saying that she does or

does not speak Spanish with the children, but she also shifts herpronouns from first person to second person in the middle of heranswer. The shift in pronoun serves to distance her from the actshe describes. The uncertain stance and discomfort illustrateclearly the difficult situation that the teacher is placed in when thelaw and school policies contradict her professional opinion andknowledge of best practices.

The Necessity for Action

In the sense that public schools must prepare all children forpolitical and economic opportunity, Arizonas English-only lawsare touted by proponents as humane and anti-discriminatory, and

yet, the evidence we have discovered in the course of this researchpoints to an opposite conclusion. To achieve success in theirclassrooms, the participating teachers have had to implement

back-door methods that circumvent the English-only law. In theprocess of doing what they know is right for their students, theteachers have suffered anxiety and self-censorship. In other

words, the law, touted as humane, instead causes undue sufferingto teachers and their students.

Clark, writing for Educational Leadership, explains the view ofthe proponents of Structured English Immersion (SEI), whobelieve that students can, in contrast to what many theories

suggest, learn English very quickly and that immersion is the mostuseful method. Furthermore, according to SEI proponents,student self-esteem is enhanced by learning the fundamentalsof English (Clark, 2009). In line with such reasoning many


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Spanish-speaking parents in the borderlands, according to theteachers, prefer that schools teach English, insisting that Spanishcan be taught in the home. Certainly, public discourse and

educational research are not always in consonance. Combs (2012)explains the false manner in which English-only policies are oftenintroduced in public discourse by their advocates; she writes offolk theories that are used to make English-only policies seemlogical. These folk theories include that young children learnEnglish better than older students; that immersion in an all-English setting would help students acquire the language morerapidly; and that such an approach would teach them enough

English in one year to be academically successful in themainstream classroom (Combs, p. 63). The Arizona Departmentof Education relies on these unproven theories in departmentpolicy documents, reports, press releases, and professionaldevelopment session (Combs, p. 63).

In counter to these English-only arguments, many research-ers and theorists emphasize that bilingualism should be seen as abenefit and a resource for children and their communities(Cummins, 2006; Gonzalez et al., 2005; Sleeter, 2005; Valenzuela,1999). Skutnabb-Kangas (1995) writes that high levels ofbilingualism/biculturalism benefit every child, but for minoritychildren, bilingualism is a necessity (p. 55). Delpit (1988) agrees,saying each cultural group should have the right to maintain itsown language style (p. 280). Perea (2001) asks teachers tobecome activists for linguistic and cultural diversity, writing thateducators who care about linguistic and cultural diversity musteducate the public about why languages other than English

matter, and why it is foolish to squelch, rather than nurture, thelinguistic resources extant in the various heritages of Americans(p. 137). Indeed, Pease-Alvarez and Samway (2008) explain intheir study of teachers in California that, even though teachers areoften hesitant to be vocal advocates for themselves, they can oftenbe counted on to make professional decisions based on theirexperience and knowledge and that teachers may subtly employproductive strategies for the benefit of their students, even if these

strategies contradict district curriculum mandates.In her exploration of the English-only debate, Skutnabb-Kangas explains that parents are ultimately practical in theirdesires for their children, and that their desire for an English-only


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education for their children does not indicate a desire for the lossof mother tongue so much as it indicates the parents acknowl-edgment of their limitations and their willingness to make painful

and debilitating sacrifices for their economic survival. Respond-ing in a practical manner to a lack of options, therefore, must notbe interpreted as compliance with discrimination (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1995, 2002).

While respect for the mother tongue is crucial, respect forhome and community dynamics are also known to befundamental to a childs linguistic development. Researchconducted at the University of Arizona confirms what our

participants claim about the importance of their own close ties tothe community (Gonzalez et al., 2005). The teachers in ourinterviews discuss the importance of knowing about baseballgames, the neighborhoods, and the home lives of the children.This concept, described as funds of knowledge, is important

when considering the learning needs of children and the need fora home-school connection. When teachers visit a wide variety ofhouseholds, the homes and communities can be viewed in termsof the strengths and resources that families possess (Gonzalezet al.).

Additionally, children typically become more oppositionaltoward adults at school as they grow from childhood toadolescence (Brown & Leaman, 2007). Thus, while bilingualteachers of fifth graders can trust their students to cooperate withclandestine teaching and learning strategies, the natural growthinto adolescence causes a precarious situation for the correspond-ing eighth grade teachers. Because the fifth grade teachers trust

their students with contraband materials, these teachers find theyare able to bridge the gap between home language and schoollanguage, even if such bridging is illegal. They feel that thechildren are on their side and are willing to cooperate in theclassroom resistance of teacher and student against English-onlypolicies. However, as the children become older, as in the case ofthe eighth graders, their emerging oppositional identityprecludes them from cooperating with the teachers; and their

resistance becomes directed toward the teachers. Clearly, theseEnglish-only policies are untenable at any grade level, and thedanger that the teachers face by exercising their professional

judgment makes it urgent that these punitive policies be changed.


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The participants of this study in the Mexico-U.S. borderregion express that the teachers respect for the home language isa critical aspect of students learning a target language. The reality

of teachers work with children demonstrates, on a quotidianbasis, the real tragedy of short-sighted voter propositions placingrestrictions on the work of teachers. Teachers state quite clearlythat they are restrained from exercising their best judgment in anenvironment that prohibits the use of home languages. Theyexplain that as bilingual teachers, they have an advantage thatcannot be exercised but that could be applied toward thelinguistic development of the children if only the restrictive

English-only policies could be withdrawn. If there were successfulbilingual programs and dual language programs in the past, asthese teachers describe, they can and should be allowed to besuccessful again.

Although the work of bilingual teachers is often de-professionalized and even criminalized when they attempt tobridge the home-school connection for their students, it is criticalthat the greater community recognize and support their work.Salomone (2012) has noted the seeming tension betweendeveloping the EL students bilingual potential and holding stateand local educators accountable for student achievement(p. 116). In their work with children, teachers must find abalance between acting responsibly toward their students andcommunities while simultaneously managing the many obstaclesimposed by a system of linguistic discrimination. To assistteachers, Salomone advocates charting a federal role in affordingEnglish learners an effective and meaningful education, which

gives adequate weight to accountability while allowing localdiscretion to meet student needs and family preferencesregarding home language retention (p. 116). In the interviews,the participants express an explicit critique of the laws andpolicies that is reflected implicitly in their daily work, even if thiscritique is not always explicitly expressed to the public. As for therest of us, as members of the general public, it is incumbent uponus to recognize and support this work so that the teachers can

imagine greater possibilities for themselves and the children theyserve and perhaps become even stronger and more vocal in theirresponses to linguistic discrimination. As Giroux (1988) writes,any viable form of schooling needs to be informed by a passion


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2006; Dong, 2004; Jimenez, 2005; Karabenick, 2004; Krashen,1982; Meltzer & Hamann, 2004; Pease-Alvarez & Samway, 2008;Skutnabb-Kangas, 1995, 2002; Tse, 2001). These teacher inter-

views near the border demonstrate that teachers still exercisetheir professional judgment in spite of prohibitive mandates andcounterproductive policies. Unfortunately, however, rather thanuse their rich potential to become leaders in bilingual education,these teachers have had to find back-door methods to educatebilingual or Spanish-speaking students. In many ways, the schoolsof southern Arizona have had to deny the productive work theseteachers are doing in order for teachers to continue it. The

delicate balance of teacher professionalism acknowledges publicpolicy and a concern for each child; for this reason, it iscrucial that public policy support teacher agency in bilingualclassrooms, meaning that bilingual teachers especially beprovided with enough support, including professional develop-ment, to aid in their judgment about when and how to use homelanguages to support the linguistic needs of the children in theirclassrooms.

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Allington, R., & Johnston, P. (2002). Reading to learn: Lessons from exemplary fourthgrade classrooms. New York, NY: Guilford.

Arias, M. B. & Faltis, C. (Eds.). (2012). Implementing educational language policy in

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Armour, J. (May 30, 2010). Arizona law may impact non-native educators. ESLFocus. Retrieved from http://www.eslfocus.com/articles/arizona_law_may_impact_non-native_educators-495.html#

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