Chapter 8 Using your own language against you: Spanish in U.S. classrooms
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Jason A. Kemp
Abstract
This chapter explores language weaponization in U.S. classrooms in which Spanish is the language of communication. Ideologies and practices that frame students and their Spanish as deficient or broken are harmful, and they ignore the rich cultural knowledge and linguistic practices Spanish-speaking Latinx students bring to the classroom. Instead of weaponizing Spanish against students, educators, at all levels of instruction, should strive to reduce harm through pedagogies that uplift students’ languaging practices. This chapter summarizes 40 years of policies and practices that punish(ed) students for simply using Spanish. Then, the focus shifts to the deployment of language weaponization when students use the “wrong” kind of Spanish in the classroom. A review of a theory for understanding the bilingualism of Latinx speakers of Spanish in the United States leads to a discussion of frameworks that could help remove language weaponization from classrooms. Specifically, expanding care in the curriculum and developing educators’ knowledge of critical ideologies and practices can help eliminate language weaponization against Latinx students and their Spanish.
Abstract
This chapter explores language weaponization in U.S. classrooms in which Spanish is the language of communication. Ideologies and practices that frame students and their Spanish as deficient or broken are harmful, and they ignore the rich cultural knowledge and linguistic practices Spanish-speaking Latinx students bring to the classroom. Instead of weaponizing Spanish against students, educators, at all levels of instruction, should strive to reduce harm through pedagogies that uplift students’ languaging practices. This chapter summarizes 40 years of policies and practices that punish(ed) students for simply using Spanish. Then, the focus shifts to the deployment of language weaponization when students use the “wrong” kind of Spanish in the classroom. A review of a theory for understanding the bilingualism of Latinx speakers of Spanish in the United States leads to a discussion of frameworks that could help remove language weaponization from classrooms. Specifically, expanding care in the curriculum and developing educators’ knowledge of critical ideologies and practices can help eliminate language weaponization against Latinx students and their Spanish.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Chapter 1 An introduction to the weaponizing of language in the classroom and beyond 1
- Chapter 2 Language weaponization, missed opportunities, and transformational spaces in Bangladeshi English departments: A biographical perspective 13
- Chapter 3 Flipping the script: A collaborative autoethnography of agency and voices in the weaponization of bilingual education in Taiwan 35
- Chapter 4 The price we pay: An autobiographical dialogue of linguistic violence in the African diaspora 63
- Chapter 5 “That’s easy”: An analysis of speech acts in an instance of cross-cultural miscommunication 89
- Chapter 6 A critical look at ‘Pato’ y ‘Maricón’: Puerto Rican Gay teachers’ interventions with homophobic language 109
- Chapter 7 The weaponization of Setswana: Implications for marginalized languages in Botswana 127
- Chapter 8 Using your own language against you: Spanish in U.S. classrooms 147
- Chapter 9 Banned books in K-12 classrooms: Weaponization of children and young adolescent literature 169
- Chapter 10 French variations and language weaponization in US higher education 191
- Chapter 11 Dismantling weaponizing language in teacher preparation programs 213
- Afterword: Language weaponization and its harm 231
- Editors 237
- Contributors 239
- Index 243
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Chapter 1 An introduction to the weaponizing of language in the classroom and beyond 1
- Chapter 2 Language weaponization, missed opportunities, and transformational spaces in Bangladeshi English departments: A biographical perspective 13
- Chapter 3 Flipping the script: A collaborative autoethnography of agency and voices in the weaponization of bilingual education in Taiwan 35
- Chapter 4 The price we pay: An autobiographical dialogue of linguistic violence in the African diaspora 63
- Chapter 5 “That’s easy”: An analysis of speech acts in an instance of cross-cultural miscommunication 89
- Chapter 6 A critical look at ‘Pato’ y ‘Maricón’: Puerto Rican Gay teachers’ interventions with homophobic language 109
- Chapter 7 The weaponization of Setswana: Implications for marginalized languages in Botswana 127
- Chapter 8 Using your own language against you: Spanish in U.S. classrooms 147
- Chapter 9 Banned books in K-12 classrooms: Weaponization of children and young adolescent literature 169
- Chapter 10 French variations and language weaponization in US higher education 191
- Chapter 11 Dismantling weaponizing language in teacher preparation programs 213
- Afterword: Language weaponization and its harm 231
- Editors 237
- Contributors 239
- Index 243
