Seventh International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education

Symposia Session

All

All

This symposium will address issues of equity related to access to multilingualism in dual language (DL) education from a variety of perspectives.  Luis Versalles will discuss the historical and contemporary role of the impact of race and systemic racism on student outcomes for students of color, especially Latino students, in DL programs.  Rosa Molina will provide an overview of the history of Two-Way DL education and how it was initially designed to provide equitable access to multilingualism for English learners and native English speakers.  Lyle French will share an innovative new school model from Sao Paulo, Brazil where a fee-paying immersion school is taking on 20-25% low income families to prompt equity in otherwise elite education in South America.  Ana Hernandez will highlight Heritage Language Speakers who are typically grouped with dominant English speakers or excluded from DL programs, with programs rarely focused on meeting the unique needs of these students.  Kathryn Lindholm-Leary will examine the importance of disaggregating student outcomes for English Learners according to demographic characteristics and levels of bilingualism to better understand the impact of DL on the achievement of different groups of ELs, which has implications for accountability for language and literacy development in program languages other than English.