Lucila D Ek | University of Texas at San Antonio (original) (raw)

Papers by Lucila D Ek

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 2009

lllf.uam.es

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this paper examines the professional and personal narrat... more Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this paper examines the professional and personal narratives of over 50 Latina/o preservice educators preparing to teach in bilingual classrooms across Texas. In particular, we examine the preservice teachers' language ideologies as they recount their own experiences of language and literacy learning. The preservice teachers-both traditional and non-traditional college students-are overwhelmingly female and Latina with varying levels of bilingualism. Participants come from various immigrant backgrounds: long-term Tejanas, bordertown second-generation Mexican-Americans, Fronterizas who grew up on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, Mexican nationals, South American immigrants, Puertorriqueñas, and self-identified Chicanas. We find that our preservice bilingual teachers are bilingual and bi-dialectical and that their ways of speaking have often incurred the violence of authority figures. In addition, we find that the teachers' own language ideologies can reflect dominant ideologies that denigrate the varieties of Spanish that deviate from the institutional standard.

International Journal of …, 1999

Drawing from multiple data sources (observations, interviews, and focus groups) collected during ... more Drawing from multiple data sources (observations, interviews, and focus groups) collected during two ethnographic studies in a Latino immigrant community in Los Angeles, California, we analyse community members' perspectives on bilingualism and language uses -views that have been largely neglected in recent policy debates about bilingual education. We explore parents' and children's talk about language; both emphasised the importance of English, but for very different reasons. Parents focused on their children's language learning as a measure of their academic progress, and a tool for future opportunities; children treated language as a tool for signalling particular kinds of identities, and especially to present themselves as 'American'. We situate these views within the social context and historical moment: a time when many immigrant families lead transnational lives, actively negotiating across linguistic as well as national borders; and a time in which bilingual education has come under intense attack in the state.

Bilingual Research Journal, 2009

Abstract This article draws from a larger study based in South Texas that examines the profession... more Abstract This article draws from a larger study based in South Texas that examines the professional and personal narratives of 63 Latina/o preservice educators preparing to teach in bilingual classrooms. Using qualitative methods, we collected data where participants' ...

The Urban Review, 2014

Educational borderlands are the physical and/or conceptual landscapes where one must negotiate no... more Educational borderlands are the physical and/or conceptual landscapes where one must negotiate notions of cultural difference as she or he lives and learns-landscapes that envelop an array of pedagogical and cultural spaces, yet are typically guarded by exclusionary tactics. In this article, we examine how US immigrant youth navigate three educational borderlands: the geopolitical, institutional, and home community. We also discuss how educators' biased ideologies and actions towards these youth solidify borders and increase inequity. Data from studies of California and North Carolina school communities allow us to extend border crossing theories and address how many immigrant youth confront and resist inequities, negotiate their cultural identities, and enact agency. While emphasizing that borderlands are sites of risk and transformation, we also suggest how educators can draw upon their relative power and privilege to cross borders too, advocate for immigrant youth, and ultimately improve education.

International Multilingual Research Journal, 2013

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina... more Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina/o teacher candidates in South Texas. The findings reveal that bilingual teacher candidates are linguistically subordinated by the marginalized status of Spanish in the United States and by deficit perspectives of Spanish of the Southwest. Their educational experiences are replete with linguistic violence that shapes and influences their own linguistic ideologies. Teacher candidates' narratives reveal the "linguistic motherwork" that Latina mothers perform to raise the status of Spanish and to maintain their children's heritage language. However, although our Latina/o bilingual candidates (and their mothers) may view "good," "proper," or "academic" Spanish in a positive light, they may have negative attitudes toward their own or others' nonstandard Spanish dialects, including the varieties that are spoken in Texas.

Equity & Excellence in Education, 2010

In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Ch... more In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Chicana/Latina junior faculty at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) established a research collaborative, Research for the Educational Advancement of Latin@s (REAL). Using a co-operative inquiry and dialogical epistemology, we document how REAL is an agency of transformative resistance to combat racism and sexism within academia. Also we reveal the importance of peer "muxerista mentoring" as an ideology and practice in building a supportive community in the bid for tenure. We provide implications and recommendations for the retention, tenure, and promotion of Chicana/Latina faculty.

Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2013

The High School Journal, 2008

Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high sc... more Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high school observations and interviews of three focal students, this article compares the language and literacy experiences of an immigrant Mexican Pentecostal adolescent in church and school contexts. I document how the youth's Sunday school class fostered a collective, supportive, and caring environment while his high school was marked by isolation, alienation, and hostility. The church afforded him opportunities to engage in rich language and literacy practices, and through his participation he became a competent member of the church. In contrast, his language and literacy classes at school were characterized by a lack of effective instruction and a watered-down curriculum. Sociocultural theory and critical pedagogy serve as frameworks to shed light on how schooling is embedded in the social, cultural, and political context. Implications and recommendations for schools, teachers, and administrators are offered.

The High School Journal, 2009

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 2009

lllf.uam.es

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this paper examines the professional and personal narrat... more Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this paper examines the professional and personal narratives of over 50 Latina/o preservice educators preparing to teach in bilingual classrooms across Texas. In particular, we examine the preservice teachers' language ideologies as they recount their own experiences of language and literacy learning. The preservice teachers-both traditional and non-traditional college students-are overwhelmingly female and Latina with varying levels of bilingualism. Participants come from various immigrant backgrounds: long-term Tejanas, bordertown second-generation Mexican-Americans, Fronterizas who grew up on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, Mexican nationals, South American immigrants, Puertorriqueñas, and self-identified Chicanas. We find that our preservice bilingual teachers are bilingual and bi-dialectical and that their ways of speaking have often incurred the violence of authority figures. In addition, we find that the teachers' own language ideologies can reflect dominant ideologies that denigrate the varieties of Spanish that deviate from the institutional standard.

International Journal of …, 1999

Drawing from multiple data sources (observations, interviews, and focus groups) collected during ... more Drawing from multiple data sources (observations, interviews, and focus groups) collected during two ethnographic studies in a Latino immigrant community in Los Angeles, California, we analyse community members' perspectives on bilingualism and language uses -views that have been largely neglected in recent policy debates about bilingual education. We explore parents' and children's talk about language; both emphasised the importance of English, but for very different reasons. Parents focused on their children's language learning as a measure of their academic progress, and a tool for future opportunities; children treated language as a tool for signalling particular kinds of identities, and especially to present themselves as 'American'. We situate these views within the social context and historical moment: a time when many immigrant families lead transnational lives, actively negotiating across linguistic as well as national borders; and a time in which bilingual education has come under intense attack in the state.

Bilingual Research Journal, 2009

Abstract This article draws from a larger study based in South Texas that examines the profession... more Abstract This article draws from a larger study based in South Texas that examines the professional and personal narratives of 63 Latina/o preservice educators preparing to teach in bilingual classrooms. Using qualitative methods, we collected data where participants' ...

The Urban Review, 2014

Educational borderlands are the physical and/or conceptual landscapes where one must negotiate no... more Educational borderlands are the physical and/or conceptual landscapes where one must negotiate notions of cultural difference as she or he lives and learns-landscapes that envelop an array of pedagogical and cultural spaces, yet are typically guarded by exclusionary tactics. In this article, we examine how US immigrant youth navigate three educational borderlands: the geopolitical, institutional, and home community. We also discuss how educators' biased ideologies and actions towards these youth solidify borders and increase inequity. Data from studies of California and North Carolina school communities allow us to extend border crossing theories and address how many immigrant youth confront and resist inequities, negotiate their cultural identities, and enact agency. While emphasizing that borderlands are sites of risk and transformation, we also suggest how educators can draw upon their relative power and privilege to cross borders too, advocate for immigrant youth, and ultimately improve education.

International Multilingual Research Journal, 2013

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina... more Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina/o teacher candidates in South Texas. The findings reveal that bilingual teacher candidates are linguistically subordinated by the marginalized status of Spanish in the United States and by deficit perspectives of Spanish of the Southwest. Their educational experiences are replete with linguistic violence that shapes and influences their own linguistic ideologies. Teacher candidates' narratives reveal the "linguistic motherwork" that Latina mothers perform to raise the status of Spanish and to maintain their children's heritage language. However, although our Latina/o bilingual candidates (and their mothers) may view "good," "proper," or "academic" Spanish in a positive light, they may have negative attitudes toward their own or others' nonstandard Spanish dialects, including the varieties that are spoken in Texas.

Equity & Excellence in Education, 2010

In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Ch... more In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Chicana/Latina junior faculty at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) established a research collaborative, Research for the Educational Advancement of Latin@s (REAL). Using a co-operative inquiry and dialogical epistemology, we document how REAL is an agency of transformative resistance to combat racism and sexism within academia. Also we reveal the importance of peer "muxerista mentoring" as an ideology and practice in building a supportive community in the bid for tenure. We provide implications and recommendations for the retention, tenure, and promotion of Chicana/Latina faculty.

Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2013

The High School Journal, 2008

Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high sc... more Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high school observations and interviews of three focal students, this article compares the language and literacy experiences of an immigrant Mexican Pentecostal adolescent in church and school contexts. I document how the youth's Sunday school class fostered a collective, supportive, and caring environment while his high school was marked by isolation, alienation, and hostility. The church afforded him opportunities to engage in rich language and literacy practices, and through his participation he became a competent member of the church. In contrast, his language and literacy classes at school were characterized by a lack of effective instruction and a watered-down curriculum. Sociocultural theory and critical pedagogy serve as frameworks to shed light on how schooling is embedded in the social, cultural, and political context. Implications and recommendations for schools, teachers, and administrators are offered.

The High School Journal, 2009