“I’m going to feel out of place”: Spaces of refuge, resources, and rights

This study examines how bi/multilingual students labeled as English Learners (ELs) and their educators perceive, navigate, and assign value to language within the constraints of the English Language Development (ELD) setting at a high school in Arizona, a U.S. state with the longest history of an English-only educational policy. Using the lens of humanizing language orientations, we explore how the educators’ and students’ views on languages and bi/multilingualism intersect with broader ideologies and raciolinguistic perspectives within a school policy context. Our analysis focuses on how the embodiment of languages and participant roles shapes their orientations within an English-only program. We found that the language orientations of student participants were influenced by processes of racialization, linguistic background, lived experiences, institutional roles, and the broader policy landscape. These orientations shaped students’ perceptions of the ELD classroom environment as both a safe and restrictive space. This study contributes unique insights to the scant literature on multilingual students’ voices in Arizona, the discussions on equitable education, and the impact of restrictive language policies on students’ linguistic and academic identities.