introducing: disrupting the monolingual bias

If you follow my social media feeds, you’ve probably heard that I’m writing a workbook. And if this is your first time visiting, welcome! You’re all in for a treat: I’ll be giving you a taste of the workbook’s research and curated activities right here in this blog. I’m writing it for you, after all, mi gente. Disrupting the Monolingual Bias is a resource that will support your work empowering multilingual learners to advance their reading levels, excel in their academic pursuits, and feel a sense of true belonging in our classrooms.

I’m new here: what is the monolingual bias?

Good question!

What do the following buzzwords have in common: Nation at risk, reading wars, pandemic learning loss, the achievement gap?

Each one presents bilingualism through a “deficit” framework that is so ubiquitous, it doesn’t appear to be a frame at all; it presents as reality. And this, my friends, is the monolingual bias - the toxic, insidious belief that English somehow contains more inherent value than other languages, a belief that leads to English-dominant (and in some extreme cases, English-only) mindsets and practices. 

The bias infiltrates our conversations around bilingual education. It dominates stakeholder discussions around policy change and informs our bilingual and TESOL education programs and practices. And it leaves teachers feeling stripped of agency, forced to reuse dusty curricula and teach to tests that marginalize the skills and assets of our bilingual learners. “I feel like I don’t have a say in any decision-making,” a teacher-friend recently said. The feeling that no matter how much we do, it will never be enough is overwhelming, at best, and maddening, at worst.

What does the research say?

The research points again and again to one truth: practices that support biliteracy tremendously benefit emergent bilinguals. Thomas and Collier’s work spans 20 years and highlights the value of dual language programs that nurture, rather than demean, a students’ home or heritage language. In addition to helping all students acquire literacy skills across two languages, their research pulls from longitudinal studies that show how dual language education closes the achievement gap across student groups, including bidialectal students in monolingual classrooms and transcends factors like ethnicity, social class, and special needs (hello, equity).

I invite you to similarly explore Kathy Escamilla’s decades long work crafting and empirically testing the fruits of a holistic biliteracy framework. All of their work demonstrates that students who partake in robust dual language bilingual education exhibit increased cognitive, social and academic development.

What can we do to foster change?

We can disrupt the monolingual bias and flip the narrative by digging into the values that sustain systemic inequities in the American education system, particularly those that impact bilingual learners. For decades, we have viewed a second language (especially Spanish) as an obstacle standing in the way of mastering English. In most of our bilingual programs, achievement is synonymous with improved English test scores rather than attaining full biliteracy across K-12 contexts.  

No narrative-flipping or movement-building is possible if we don’t start at home. Disrupting the monolingual bias asks us to do the challenging and sometimes painful work of turning inward and recognizing when we have operated from this bias. Where can you, as a teacher or school leader working on the front lines, build your skillset and grow your understanding of what bilingual learners need to flourish? Where and when can you speak up and advocate for your emergent bilinguals?

I’ve got the tools you need. Subscribe to my newsletter👇🏻 to receive more sneak peeks from Disrupting the Monolingual Bias.