Teachers’ narratives of resistance to Madrid's bilingual programme: An exploratory study in secondary education

• Published in: Linguistics and education Vol. 63; p. 100925
• Main Authors: Alonso-Belmonte, Isabel, Fernández-Agüero, María
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Inc 01.06.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Bilingual education; Bilingualism; Content and language integrated learning; Critical discourse analysis; Education; Education policy; English as a foreign language; English as a second language; Politics; positioning theory; Professional discourse; Second language teachers; Secondary education; Transcription; Madrid Spain; Spain; Bilingual education; Critical discourse analysis; Content and language integrated learning; English as a foreign language; positioning theory; Professional discourse
• ISSN: 0898-5898; 1873-1864
• DOI: 10.1016/j.linged.2021.100925

•Teachers’ semi-private discourse departs from the official hegemonic discourse.•Teachers show resistance towards the hegemonic discourse on bilingual education.•Strong resistance is perceived towards inequality amongst students.•Teachers’ positioning towards bilingual education depend on professional situation. This paper looks at secondary teachers’ discourse about Madrid's Bilingual Programme (Spain). Madrid's Bilingual Programme is a large education plan whereby some content subjects are taught in a foreign language –mainly English– following Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and whose characteristics and ubiquity have had an impact on teachers’ daily lives and professional career. By drawing on both Grounded Theory and Positioning Theory as analytical tools, data were collected and analysed from the transcription and annotation of 30 semi-structured interviews with experienced secondary teachers working in CLIL and non-CLIL secondary schools. Our findings point to clear tensions in reconciling these teachers’ personal beliefs and professional motivations within the current organisational and political setting and describe a pattern of resistance towards the Bilingual Programme which manifests discursively through emphatic and emotional verbalisations. The results may be of interest to education authorities, policy makers and researchers.