ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by viewing the language practices of US Latinx students, considering how their language and bilingualism have been constructed by the dominant society and schools. It then reconstitutes the notion of bilingualism for US Latinx in the 21st century, focusing on its dynamism and complexity. The chapter considers how monoglossic language ideologies have erased Latinx students’ dynamic language practices and translanguaging. Language education policies for Latinx have focused on trying to make their English fit “native” standards, and their Spanish fit “foreign” standards. It is precisely because the education of US As Pimentel reiterates, in many of the dual-language programs Latinx students become “commodities that can be consumed by White, English-speaking students”. In many Latinx communities, dual-language programs are educating primarily Latinx students whose bilingualism falls along all points of a continuum. Unfortunately, some of these bilingual programs have also adopted the monoglossic ideology of two-way dual-language programs.
