Ethnographic study investigates Brazilian teachers' challenges in bilingual education, highlighting their cultural insights and agency.
This multi-year ethnographic study examines Brazilian bilingual teachers' navigation of top-down language policy agendas in a Portuguese/English two-way Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) program. Drawing on translanguaging scholarship and studies of Latine teachers as policymakers, we found that Brazilian bilingual educators traversed tensions regarding language policies. On one hand, they stressed students' multilingualism and saw students’ fluid languaging as signs of learning. However, teachers also faced tremendous pressure to follow district-level expectations that restricted linguistic agency and freedom. Moreover, educators drew on experiences across geopolitical borders to inform their practice, guide their resistance, and nurture their cultural intuition in DLBE settings.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Becker et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: