Acceso usuarios
Laura J. Salazar
Drawing from the theoretical lenses of language ideologies (Woolard 1998) and dynamic bilingualism (García 2009), this qualitative case study analyzed the ways that bilingual preservice teachers (PSTs) in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands have come to understand bilingualism and what is necessary to become a successful bilingual teacher in this context. PSTs in an introductory bilingual education (BED) course and in their final semester of teacher residency at a borderland Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) participated in this study. Participants described the ways that standardized testing has defined success for them as bilinguals, both during their K-12 years and again during their teacher education program through bilingual teacher certification exams. Dominant ideologies defining participants’ languages in a monoglossic manner caused the construct of success to emerge as a language ideology. The study’s findings hold important implications for the future of borderland bilingual education and teacher certification exams, particularly as bilingual teachers are in high demand but challenges such as those faced by this study’s participants may push them out of the teacher pipeline.
