‘I hate being an ENL student’: A critical ethnography of double marginalization in deficit-oriented English language education

While critiques of “teaching to the test” in U.S. public education are common, less attention has been paid to how the Next Generation Learning Standards have framed English as a New Language (ENL) literacy for emergent bilinguals. Grounded in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and critical multicultural education, this critical ethnographic study explores the prevalence of deficit discourses in eighth-grade ENL instruction. Conducted in a New York State public middle school, it analyzes curricular and institutional dynamics across stand-alone and integrated classrooms through sustained observations and analytical memos. Two research questions guide the inquiry: (1) How does the eighth-grade ENL curriculum define and enact language instruction? (2) How does the school culture govern these pedagogical practices? Four themes emerged: (1) limitations of Language Experience Approach; (2) ideological framing of the integrated curriculum; (3) structural inequities and resource allocation; and (4) institutionalization of difference and discourses of othering. Findings reveal how deeply curriculum and institutional discourse constrain emergent bilinguals’ multiple repertoires, underscoring the need for curricular models that center student voice and lived experience while reconceptualizing literacy as a socially mediated, identity-affirming practice that cultivates agency and critical consciousness.