ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a focus to students’ bilingualism that challenged the type of representation. Predominant descriptions of students considered long-term English language learners focus on their perceived linguistic, literate, and academic deficiencies. Educators of adolescents tend to receive limited information about students’ bilingualism. It is often restricted to the results of English language proficiency assessments that reveal little about students’ knowledge of languages other than English or how they use their languages on a daily basis. The survey can be used with students with a wide range of bilingual experiences and in any content area. The importance of the lesson for literacy educators is to step outside of traditional policy classifications to recognize what students bring to the classroom. However, learning about students’ linguistic backgrounds if engaged in through a traditional lens where translanguaging practices are seen as deficient and the role of race is overlooked has the potential to reinforce stereotypes.
