Date of Award

11-27-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Education

First Advisor

Susanna Thornhill, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Karen Buchanan, Ed.D.

Third Advisor

Gary Sehorn, Ed.D.

Abstract

This qualitative study analyzed eight dual language master plans developed by school districts on the West Coast of the United States. Each of the plans represented one or more dual language programs within each school district. The purpose of the study was to determine how school districts express their priorities for dual language programming. Master plans were analyzed for their structure, rationales, and their intended impact on students and families. Through numerous coding passes, several themes revealed themselves related to proposed benefits to students in language, academics, and social-emotional growth. The findings of this study indicated an informal community of practice among the groups who wrote the plans, and conceptions of family involvement that positioned families as receivers, rather than actors in the education of their children. This analysis illuminated areas where equity in emergent bilinguals’ access to authentic language and parent involvement could be improved. Implications for further research point to the need for ethnographic study of programs as compared to their plans, and a deeper examination of the ways the dual language community of practice functions. Implications for practice include the need to expand the implied canon of dual language research informing dual language master planning, and the importance of revisiting translanguaging for both pedagogical and equity reasons. Finally, future dual language master planning ought to expand on particular ways to support new teachers in this complex work through locally-relevant professional training and leadership roles.

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