Constructing identities: How two emergent bilinguals create linguistic agency in elementary school

• Published in: Bilingual research journal Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 133 - 149
• Main Author: Collett, Jennifer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Routledge 03.04.2018; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Bilingual education; Bilingual Education Programs; Bilingualism; Classroom Communication; Classroom Techniques; Code Switching (Language); Discourse Analysis; Educational Environment; Elementary Education; Elementary School Students; Elementary Schools; English (Second Language); English language; Language Dominance; Language Usage; Learning Activities; Limited English Speaking; Linguistic identity; Observation; Second Language Learning; Self Concept; Semi Structured Interviews; Spanish; Spanish language
• ISSN: 1523-5882; 1523-5890
• DOI: 10.1080/15235882.2018.1451410

Emergent bilinguals' engagement and participation with learning is closely connected to the identities they are able to construct in this learning. In this paper, I present a model for understanding how young emergent bilinguals begin to construct identities with language and learning across school-based activities. Drawing upon Holland, Lachiotte, Skinner & Cain's (1998) framework of how identities are shaped across figured worlds, and Nasir & Hand's (2006, 2008) notion of practice-linked identities in school-based contexts, the model identifies the ways in which three components-context, subject positioning, and agency-play a critical role in how emergent bilinguals in a Spanish-English dual language, elementary school program begin to construct identities with learning and language. In juxtaposing the experiences of two emergent bilinguals, data highlights how these students used language in novel ways to assert a level of agency to become active participants in school-based activities.