ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the forms of social practice that appeared to inhibit the development of critical student agency in the classroom of Guillermo Linares and his students. It deals with brief representative descriptions of several of Guillermo's students and the physical and pedagogical environment within which they studied in order to contextualize the findings. Guillermo's intermediate Spanish literacy class shares one large store-front space with the program's beginning Spanish literacy class and an English-as-a-second-language class. Analysis of the data from literacy activities collected in Guillermo's classroom revealed that a "hegemonic discourse community" was the prevailing form of social practice that was dominant in this classroom, which inhibited the development of critical student agency. Class discussions are short in duration and usually involve Guillermo lecturing students about the generative theme of the unit they are studying, with only brief comments and input from students.
