“Hands on Is Great”: Deficit Thinking and Discourses About Career and Technical Education for Multilingual Learners of English

Recently, U.S. media outlets and nonprofits have suggested that career and technical education (CTE) is a valuable educational opportunity for multilingual learners of English (MLs), despite a lack of evidence supporting these claims. In light of these reports, the focus of this study is to examine how deficit and asset discourses manifest when educators, who have a direct impact on MLs' access to CTE, talk about CTE as an opportunity for MLs. Data included 34 semi‐structured and unstructured interviews with teachers and school counselors during a 10‐month multi‐sited ethnographic study in a large urban high school and a CTE center. Drawing on Valencia's (Dismantling Contemporary Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought and Practices, 2010) theory of deficit thinking, the findings show five discourses on CTE for MLs, three of which were informed by deficit thinking. Two asset‐based discourses are also presented as well as implications for supporting MLs' access to CTE from an asset‐oriented perspective through collaboration among ML and CTE teachers and school leaders.