Abstract
Transnational movement to and from the United States is a social phenomenon that impacts all aspects of life in Puerto Rico. This includes language and education for minors who move back and forth between both locations. The present investigation focuses on the educational experiences of first-generation Puerto Rican transnational students in the public education system in Puerto Rico. The data presented are part of a larger ethnographic study conducted in two public schools in western Puerto Rico with transnational students and the analysis encompasses the language policies established for this student population and resources available to them as they adjusted to a new educational setting. Although translingual practices were the most effective source of support observed for participants in the study this option was not always available. Due to the lack of an efficient support system for transnational students in schools this responsibility was relayed to teachers and their decisions were primarily informed by their own language ideologies and their life experiences.
Resumen
El movimiento transnacional desde y hacia los Estados Unidos es un fenómeno social que impacta todos los aspectos de la vida en Puerto Rico. Esto incluye la educación de menores de edad que están en constante movimiento entre ambos lugares. Esta investigación se enfoca en las experiencias educativas de estudiantes transnacionales de primera generación en el sistema de educación pública en Puerto Rico. Los datos presentados son parte de un estudio etnográfico más amplio realizado en dos escuelas públicas en el oeste de Puerto Rico que se enfoca en las políticas establecidas para esta población estudiantil y los recursos disponibles para su proceso de ajuste a sus nuevos espacios de aprendizaje. A pesar de que las prácticas translinguales fueron la fuente de apoyo más efectiva que se encontraron para participantes del estudio esta opción no estaba siempre disponible. La falta de un sistema de apoyo efectivo para estudiantes transnacionales resultó en el relevo de esta responsabilidad a educadores y sus decisiones se basaban primordialmente en sus propias ideologías sobre el lenguaje y sus experiencias de vida.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to special issue: languages in modern day Puerto Rico
- English skills of Puerto Rican students: the effect of gender, SES and school socioeconomic composition
- The bilingual styles of young Puerto Rican adolescents online
- “You have to learn the language of where you are”: language policies, ideologies, and the educational experiences of Puerto Rican transnational youth
- El español de Loíza en el Debate de los Criollos del Español: Un análisis sociohistórico y lingüístico
- The imperfect progressive in Puerto Rican Spanish: a case of language contact or grammaticalization?
- Varia
- Choosing between Cyrillic and Latin for linguistic citizenship in contemporary Serbia
- How interpreting influences defendants’ participation: a discursive study of zero renditions and non-renditions in court interpreting
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to special issue: languages in modern day Puerto Rico
- English skills of Puerto Rican students: the effect of gender, SES and school socioeconomic composition
- The bilingual styles of young Puerto Rican adolescents online
- “You have to learn the language of where you are”: language policies, ideologies, and the educational experiences of Puerto Rican transnational youth
- El español de Loíza en el Debate de los Criollos del Español: Un análisis sociohistórico y lingüístico
- The imperfect progressive in Puerto Rican Spanish: a case of language contact or grammaticalization?
- Varia
- Choosing between Cyrillic and Latin for linguistic citizenship in contemporary Serbia
- How interpreting influences defendants’ participation: a discursive study of zero renditions and non-renditions in court interpreting