Culturally Relevant/Sustaining Pedagogies with Secondary Immigrant Latina/o Youth

Rosa Jimenez

Latina/o immigrant students’ low academic achievement and schooling alienation marks a significant social problem. Yet, too often this reality is decontextualized from the restrictive ways immigrant youth are taught—in overly reliant technocratic second language acquisition models, mediated by restrictive language policies, and revitalized assimilationist projects. This study examines classroom pedagogies and theoretical principles necessary for understanding and enacting critical and culturally relevant/culturally sustaining pedagogies (CRP/CSP) in secondary classrooms (Paris, 2012). I will conduct five qualitative case studies with social studies and English teachers committed to CRP/CSP. The study will be carried out in Northern California’s Bay Area, with a focus on immigrant Latina/o students. This study will add to the burgeoning work in CRP/CSP, expanding upon its conceptual framework and highlighting the nuanced pedagogical processes of sustaining immigrant Latina/o students’ linguistic repertoires, cultural practices, histories and knowledges. The findings from this study can contribute to understandings of culturally situated pedagogical approaches, more expansive opportunities to engage Latina/o immigrant students, and educational possibilities for an increasingly multicultural/multilingual world.

About Rosa Jimenez

Rosa M. Jiménez is an Assistant Professor in the International and Multicultural Education Department at the University of San Francisco. Her research examines classroom pedagogies and theoretical principles necessary for conceptualizing and enacting critical language education and culturally responsive learning environments. She focuses on Latina/o immigrant and bilingual/bicultural youth. Jiménez has conducted classroom-based research in several k-12 contexts from rural Central California, to urban Los Angeles, and Arizona. Her research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Research Foundation, and the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). She serves on the editorial board of the International Multilingual Research Journal (Taylor & Francis). Jiménez has over fifteen years of experience working with K-12 public schools as a bilingual social studies teacher, literacy coach and educational researcher.