From Linguistic Trauma to Bridging: Dual Language Teachers Testimoniando Borderlands Translanguaging Pedagogies

In the Texas-Mexico borderlands, Chicane/x
communities have a rich linguistic and cultural
knowledge that has shaped the border-crossing
community’s ways of doing and exemplifying what it
means to be bilingual and bicultural. At the same time,
this community grapples with the history of language
violence that has existed on the borderlands and that
continues to persist in bilingual schools. This is a
multi-site case study that explores the testimonios
(testimonies) of two dual language teachers from the
borderlands and their experiences with language. The
purpose of this study was to explore the experiences
with language that two dual language teachers had
and how it shaped their translanguaging instruction.
We draw on the concepts of bridging and
translanguaging to ground our analysis of the
teachers’ testimonios and the video and audio
recorded data from their classroom observations. The
findings revealed: (1) the trauma rooted in the
teachers’ experiences with language on the
borderlands, and, (2) how their translanguaging
pedagogies were efforts to move away from linguistic
trauma by creating bridges that supported their
bilingual students. A borderlands translanguaging
theory fully embraces translanguaging and creates a
space for teachers and students to take action towards
deconstructing inequities. The implications include
teacher education programs and research in bilingual
education regarding the importance of recognizing
and addressing the sociocultural and historical
contexts in which language and language education
(co)exists in order to (re)imagine bilingual pedagogies
with and for racialized bilingual students.