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    LINGUISTICS AND EDUCATION 7, 175-200 (1995) The Hegemony of English: A Case Study of One Bilingual Classroom as a Site of Resistance SHEILA M. SHANNON University of Colorado at Denver This article discusses and suggests woys to resolve some of the problems of relative language status in the United States, focusing on English ond Spanish in the context of bilinguol education. The article begins with o discussion about linguistic hegemony, its definition, ond some of its implications and consequences including its impact on human rights. | propose on approach thot recognizes, chollenges, ond resists the hegemony of English bosed on a case study of one bilingual fourth-grade classroom, Many previous studies have focused on the voriety of problems in bilingucl educa- tion, frequently concluding that English almost inevitably becomes the single focus. In contrast, the teacher in this case study successfully overcomes the hegemony of English and creates a linguistic environment in her classroom in which English is not dominant and Spanish is not dominated. Finally, | amplify on the ways this opproach liberates and empowers minority-longuage children and enriches their educational experience. Despite the fact that the United States does not have an official language policy, English is its official language and, with or without official status, it enjoys hegemony vis-a-vis other languages. Allowed to follow a natural course, the hegemony of English has the potential power not only to diminish the use and value of minority languages, but also to replace them entirely. In this article, 1 explore a way of thinking about linguistic hegemony in the case of the United States with a particular emphasis on the relation between Spanish and English.! I point out in the literature on bilingual education how the hegemony of English figures and offer evidence from an ethnographic study of a fourth-grade bilingual classroom in which the hegemony of English is resisted, so that the status of Spanish approximates the status of English. I argue that if resistance to the hegemony of English is not taken seriously by bilingual teach- ers, their classrooms ultimately cannot be bilingual. My argument rests on the idea that bilingual education must be fundamentally construed es ensuring the educational rights of minority-language students through their linguistic rights. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Sheila M. Shannon, School of Education, Division of Language, Literacy and Culture, Campus Box 106, University of Colorado at Denver, P.O. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217. 175 176 S.M. Shannon HEGEMONY To develop a framework for understanding the hegemony of English in the United States. | drew from Gramsci’s (1971) view of hegemony and how it factors in the leadership and direction of society, Eriksen’s (1992) work on linguistic hegemony in situations involving struggles between minority and dom- inant languages throughout the world, and Phillipson’s (1992) analysis of English-language teaching (ELT) in the world as linguistic imperialism. The following is a working definition of linguistic hegemony as it will be used here: Wherever more than one language or language variety exists together, their status in relation to one another is often asymmetric. In those cases, one will be perceived as superior. desirable, and necessary. whereas the other will be seen as inferior, undesirable, and extraneous. However, this definition is incomplete without a consideration of the nature and consequences of linguistic hegemony. In general, the speakers of languages take on the prestigious or devalued characteristics of their languages. Thus, the speakers of dominant languages assume a prestigious status and are perceived as such. Conversely, minority-language speakers take on the burden of an inferior status and are so perceived. In terms of the nature of linguistic hegemony, this situation is not static. To maintain its dominant status, a language has to be associated with political, governmental. economic, and social domination and the consent of the people. Linguistic hegemony is constantly negotiated as a language's dominant status is strengthened or weakened, as persuasion is more or less successful for popular consent, and as it is resisted.? In my opinion, the consequences of linguistic hegemony involve the violation of linguistic rights because all individuals have the fundamental human right to speak their mother tongue (see Skutnabb-Kangas & Cummins, 1988, for an excellent.anthology on linguistic rights as fundamental human rights). The term hegemony was originally associated with the Italian political writer Antonio Gramsci (1971) who argued that civil or lay society is directed by both “domination” and “intellectual and moral leadership” (p. 57). Furthermore, he said that societies agree with this direction because they have been persuaded through some form of political propaganda that is in their best interest and, in fact, for the good of all. Gramsci said that the intellectual leaders of a dominant group (representing the government, the church, etc.) function to persuade their followers to consent to domination. Furthermore, he stated that popular consent is “historically” caused by the prestige (and consequent confidence) which the dominant group enjoys because of its position and function in the world of produc- tion. (p. 12) However, persuasion needs to be supported by domination or force (political, economic, spiritual) if it is to operate successfully and consistently over time. Hegemony of English 77 Thus. the direction for the dominated group is negotiated through both force and consent, which Gramsci said balance each other reciprocally, without force predominating excessively over con- sent. Indeed, the attempt is always made to ensure that force will appear to be based ‘on the consent of the majority, expressed by the so-called organs of public opinion—newspapers and associations—which, therefore, in certain situations, are artificially multiplied. (p. 80) Hegemony is part of the working process of society. A balance of power exists in all relationships because as Foucault (1975/1979) argued, like Gramsci (1971) power is not possessed by an individual, group, or their ideas—it is exercised. Of course, it is important to note at what level of consciousness leaders and especially followers are operating in power and status relationships. Where there is an awareness and a raising of consciousness about hegemony, resistance to it can result. This nonstatic nature of hegemony includes agency by both the dominant and the dominated. The former exercise domination and the latter can challenge and resist it and, perhaps to some extent, overcome it. In the case of linguistic hegemony, languages themselves achieve the status of dominant or dominated or prestigious or inferior, as a result of the struggles, negotiations, and impasses that go on between their speakers, just as ideas or programs achieve status in political debates. Once a language achieves hege- monic status, dominated languages are more easily perceived as inferior and their speakers almost inevitably internalize that lowly status. Consequently, they de- velop a tendency to abandon their language for the dominant one—naturally choosing an association with higher status. Linguistic Hegemony Worldwide Throughout the world, similar scenarios are played out between dominant and dominated languages such as French versus Breton, Turkish versus Kurdish, and neonational versus a multitude of indigenous languages. In his analysis of these struggles, Eriksen (1992) argued that in all cases the problem is that “aspects of personal identity expressed through language can be extremely important for the well-being of individuals. Linguistic rights should be seen as elementary human rights” (p. 329). Linguistic hegemony interferes with those rights. In fact, the nature of linguistic hegemony distorts what some argue are fundamental rights so as to make their violation seem virtuous by persuading the public that it is for the common good. More overt exercises of linguistic hegemony can create very difficult living conditions for dominated-language speakers. Where linguistic hegemony is di- Tectly supported and promoted through governmental institutions, as is the case in Turkey, dominated-language groups endure severe punishment for use of their mother tongues. The Kurdish language in Turkey is called Mountain Turkish and its use is prohibited. Many individuals have been imprisoned and some have lost 178 S.M. Shannon their lives for advocating for the rights of the Kurds in Turkey and for doing so in Kurdish (Eriksen, 1992). As Eriksen (1992) illustrated, in many places throughout the world today languages in contact are, in fact, languages in competition. Fishman (1991) stated, “In the modem world, all languages have implicit or explicit competitors” (p. 306). Because languages are linguistically equal (i.e.. what one wishes to express in one language can be expressed in another), the domination of one language or language variety over another is actually based on sociopolitical factors. Thus, the language associated with political and economic domination in a particular context is typically the dominant language.* In an extensive analysis of the development and spread of ELT throughout the world from its base in Great Britain, Phillipson (1992), argued that linguistic hegemony is akin to “linguicism,” which he said “involves representation of the dominant language, to which desirable characteristics are attributed, for purposes of inclusion, and the opposite for dominated language, for the purpose of exclu- sion” (p. 55). Here, Phillipson recognized the way that languages are talked about in order to persuade speakers and learners that a language is important, necessary, and even linguistically superior. Phillipson’s fundamental concen, like Eriksen’s, is that linguicism violates the human rights of speakers of a dominated language. Paradoxically, the goal of ensuring human rights is often used to persuade speakers of languages other than English, along with arguments that they should adopt English as their dominant language because English is the key to modernization and thus political and economic power and control. Phillip- son gave examples from India and Africa, countries whose people struggle with official-language policy often resulting in English being at least one of the official languages and ultimately the predominant language in education, busi- ness, and government. The underlying implication is that the benefits of modemn- ization are not available to non-English-speaking people. The attrition, loss, and death of minority languages may unfortunately be part of that formula. The Hegemony of English in the United States The history of English in the United States thus far consists of its gaining and maintaining prestige and of the resulting confidence of its speakers in exercising hegemony. Without an understanding of hegemony, however, it seems as though English has come to be the dominant language of the United States as a result of the natural course of events, particularly because there has never been a policy enacted at the federal level to make it official. Instead, simple, seemingly unre- lated events have combined to give English its dominant status. Consider, for example, that virtually all the official documents that record the independence and the establishment of the United States as a nation are in English, even though colonists from many European countries were involved. That fact is foundational to the hegemony of English. English has maintained its predominance and pres- Hegemony of English 179 tige during the short course of U.S. history and has been legitimated through its use by mainstream society (Heath, 1981). The consent by residents of the United States required by English to maintain its status has been given a boost recently by the public battle to make English Official. U.S. English and English First are two lobbying organizations that have successfully convinced voters to amend the constitutions of almost 20 states to include provisions for making English official (Crawford, 1989). Recently, Rep- resentative King from New York introduced a bill, entitled National Language Act of 1995, to the House demanding an official-language policy for the United States, the termination of all bilingual programs, the repeal of the Bilingual Education Act, and the removal of the Bilingual Voting Requirements from the Voting Rights Act. MacKaye’s (1987) analysis of letters to editors of California newspapers regarding Proposition 63, which in 1986 sought to amend the constitution of that State to make English official, revealed that letters in support of official English Tepresented “patriotic” and “commonsense” perspectives. Their letters argued that one language unifies the nation, which strengthens it; it only makes sense to have one language and one nation. Everyone benefits from being an English speaker because that is the key to success in this country. English monolingual- ism, in other words, is for the good of all. What this reveals is that supporters of official English did not express overtly racist views, despite what the opposition may believe. Perhaps proponents of official English subscribe to the belief that speaking one’s mother tongue is a privilege, not a right, and thus of no conse- quence to the good of all. When argued for the good of each and every individual—regardless of race, religion, or social class—justification for the hegemony of English is powerfully persuasive. On the other hand, those writers in MacKaye’s (1987) study who challenged official English argued that multilingualism is for the common good and that singling out one language is racist. They also bemoaned the waste of linguistic resources when languages other than English are shut. out by official-language policies. Many insisted on the guarantee of individuals’ rights to speak their mother tongue. However, their arguments for the survival and support of lan- guage diversity in the United States and for linguistic rights could not hold up against the one language and one nation view. The voters of California voted in favor of Proposition 63. In the United States today, English is the majority, superior, and dominant language and all other languages are the minority, subordinate, and dominated languages. By definition, minority languages have fewer speakers, although locally they can outnumber English speakers. However, the term minority refers not to numbers but to the status of a language and its speakers. More than 30 millicn residents of the United States are minority-language speakers and their numbers are on the increase, primarily due to immigration (Trueba, 1989). 180 S.M. Shannon Spanish speakers comprise the largest minority-language group in the United States. They originate from a wide variety of Spanish-speaking countries as well as the southwestem areas of the United States that were part of Spanish colonies 4 centuries ago and lived briefly under Mexican governmental rule. Not only are there more Spanish speakers than speakers of other minority languages in the United States. but they also reside in nearly every state of the nation. Neverthe- less, the status of Spanish relative to English is that of a dominated language—a status Spanish shares with every language other than English in the United States. In the case of the United States, Eriksen (1992) pointed out that language diversity has always been viewed with suspicion in the United States and that it is perceived “as something which should be tracked down, comered, and extermi- nated” (p. 324). Insofar as Spanish is concerned, Eriksen stated that “Spanish- speakers in the United States are confronted with a by-and-large hostile environ- ment where the incentives for linguistic assimilation are strong” (p. 324). How- ever, Eriksen considered the possibility of Spanish surviving as another language that is spoken in the United States. In Eriksen’s view, the United States could develop into what he distinguished as a “multi-national state” with multiple languages, rather than a “nation-state” with one dominant language as it is now (p. 324). He pointed out examples of the Spanish-speaking communities of southern Florida and California to demonstrate how their sheer numbers pose a threat to the hegemony of English in those regions. Furthermore, he argued that the powerful economic, political, governmental, educational, and social support that Spanish has in these areas constitutes a serious challenge to the status of English. Eriksen’s observations remind us that the hegemony of English in the United States is contested seriously by Spanish; thus, it is not static “but is reconstituted continually in lived experience” (Phillipson, 1992, p. 307). The characteristics that are attributed to English include prestige and superi- ority, whereas Spanish is viewed as an inferior and devalued language. Subtle messages about the value of Spanish are evident in the southwestern United States with place and street names that are pronounced as if they were in English. For example, Salida, Limon, Pueblo, and Durango are towns in Colorado in which all of these Spanish names (including Colorado, which means red in Spanish) are Anglicized in everyday pronunciation even by many Spanish speak- ers, who do so in order to be understood. Another telling example comes from the autobiography of Richard Rodriquez (1982), who related the metamorphosis he endured when, on entering school, his name was changed from Ricardo to Richard. In such simple ways, a dominant language overwhelms a dominated language. However, in more complex ways, linguistic hegemony figures in the pro- cesses of language shift, attrition, and death. Fishman (1991), for example, argued that the pressure to force speakers of other languages to shift to English in the United States is something that needs to be reversed. In his analysis of the Hegemony of English 181 situation for indigenous languages in the United States. Fishman insisted that unless there is intergenerational transmission of a language, it will atrophy and eventually die. I view that same process for immigrant languages as well. Re- placement of immigrant languages in the United States is perhaps an unconven- tional way to characterize language death, but replacing a language does mean its death for those speakers. This occurs even with a language like Spanish that thrives and even enjoys hegemonic status elsewhere. Linguistic hegemony extends from how languages are perceived to how their speakers are seen. In the United States, English speakers are often viewed as smarter, more successful, and more deserving than Spanish speakers. Speaking English is seen as the key to success, access to the tools for success, and a sign of good citizenry (MacKaye, 1987). Speaking Spanish, on the other hand, is often seen as unnecessary, extraneous, and an impediment to success. Spanish speak- ers are therefore often perceived as less intelligent, less successful, and less worthy than English speakers. If a language is perceived as superior, then its speakers can behave in a way that oppresses speakers of the dominated lan- guages. Being perceived and treated as inferior can cause an internalization of * those perceptions, a belief that they are true and natural, along with an accom- panying sense of self-contempt (Eriksen, 1992). When speakers of a dominated language recognize negative perceptions and experience them as factors of social and political inequality, they feel discriminated against. In a collection of life histories of immigrants from Latin America, Spanish speakers repeatedly stated that they felt the discrimination English speakers exercised against them (Shannon, 1991). For example, a young woman from Mexico said, “A los americanos, pués ellos tienen la imagen de que todos los mexicanos somos malos, no? Y de que todos . . . muchos, que somos igno- rantes, que no sabemos nada.” [To the Americans, well they perceive that all Mexicans are bad, don’t they? And that all . . . many are ignorant, and that we don’t know anything.”] A young man, who had migrated to the United States in high school, made the following observation about the discrimination that he had endured: The Americans aren’t the only Anglo, white, light complex [sic] race there is, ¢verdad? There are people from Australia, for example, people from New Zealand, people from Switzerland, even from communist countries! Yet, I cannot understand why they would rather give the opportunity to a communist than to a Mexican who wants to come to work. Furthermore, discrimination is felt not only because of ethnicity, as deter- mined because of the color of one’s skin, but also by the sounds that emanate from one’s mouth, A woman from El Salvador commented, “Cuando va Usted a una tienda, tan solo por ser moreno, como que se le quedan viendo mal, hasta en el mismo autobus a veces, porque la escuchan hablar espaol, regresan y lo miran feo, como que se calle, pués muchas cosas uno siente por acd.” {“When 182 S.M. Shannon you go to a store, feeling alone just because you are dark-skinned. and they give you a bad look, and even (while riding on) the same bus, just because they hear you speaking Spanish, they tum around and give you an ugly look. as if to say ‘shut up.’”] It is in such experiences as these that linguistic hegemony is exer- cised and felt.4 BILINGUAL EDUCATION Nearly 3 decades ago, the 1968 Bilingual Education Act began the promise of federally directed efforts to provide appropriate educational programs for chil- dren who come to school speaking a language other than English. Yet, only 2 years later, some 1,800 Chinese students in the San Francisco Unified School District brought suit against the district demanding that their educational rights be protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They argued that they were not receiving English instruction and that the instruction they received in English was incomprehensible to them as learners of English. Lau versus Nichols, the San Francisco case, was to be among many lawsuits and legal actions that have been taken over the years involving linguistic rights even while bilingual educa- tion, a possible remedy to the violation of these rights, is available. Why are language minority students’ linguistic rights not ensured through bilingual education? One way to understand the problem is to recognize that bilingual education program delivery varies from program to program and some- times within programs from year to year — even while sharing broad goals.5 One reason for the variability in program delivery stems from the fact that the Bilin- gual Education Act did not dictate what programs should look like: Thus, local needs and politics determine the shape of programs.° The variability of bilingual programs, however, provides only part of the answer to the question of linguistic rights for minority-language students. Bilin- gual education was not designed to remedy the violation of linguistic rights, but only one way to ensure the educational rights of language minority children. The underlying language goal of bilingual education, certainly as it has been main- tained by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs, has been to provide native-language instruction as a way to facilitate the transition to education which is to be delivered in English as soon as possible. Maintenance of mother tongues other than English is the goal of local groups, school districts, and individuals, not a national policy for bilingual education.” If one believes that linguistic rights should be ensured, then it becomes apparent that one problem of language and education for language-minority children is the hegemony of English in the United Sates and how it is played out in bilingual school settings. Offering education for minority-language children that involves a language other than English is terribly naive if the hegemony of English is not recognized. The relative status of languages must be considered seriously in plans to ‘have a language other than English represented in a class- room. Hegemony of English 183 The Hegemony of English in Bilingual Education: Unchallenged In an earlier ethnographic study of a fourth-grade bilingual classroom (Shannon. 1990), I found that the language patterns of English and Spanish indicated that the classroom was diglossic rather than bilingual.* English was the dominant and preferred language of choice for the teacher. for large group instruction, and for formal arenas of learning and interacting. and the quality of its use was mon- itored. In contrast, Spanish was the inferior language. It was associated with small-group instruction by the paraprofessional, primarily used during informal interactions among the students, and misuse of the language was tolerated. Without anyone to recognize the hegemony of English, Spanish was losing the linguistic battle in the classroom. Similarly. Escamilla (1995) found a diglossic, not bilingual, environment in her sociolinguistic study of a bilingual school. She found that a discrepancy between the status of English and Spanish in the school study site and that the message to students in this potentially bilingual environ- ment was that Spanish was merely “a bridge to English” (p. 41). Neither study examined whether or how the children in these settings suffered negative consequences from the focus on English and the diminished emphasis on Spanish, the mother tongue of the minority students. However, in another study of language use and affective factors, Commins (Commins, 1989, Com- mins & Miramontes, 1989) found that children did internalize the inferior status of Spanish with the result that potentially bilingual children were coerced into shifting to English in order to obtain the rewards that came with speaking that language, particularly at school. One approach to engineering support for the minority language in bilingual education has been to plan the alternating use of both languages. Even in in- stances in which such a plan is in place, however, English can still emerge as the hegemonic language. For example, in their review of research on language use in bilingual classrooms, Wong-Fillmore and Valadez (1986) pointed out that in classrooms where translation (concurrent, alternate day, preview and review) is the model, English is used more frequently than the minority language, for longer periods of time, and for instruction. In classrooms where two languages are segregated in an effort to ensure equity in the distribution of languages, English ultimately emerges dominant, because, the authors conclude, “the real test of bilingual instruction has been in how well it helps students adjust to instruction in English” (p. 678), not the development and maintenance of the minority language. McGroarty (1992) argued that proponents of bilingual education hold that use of the native language in instruction demonstrates the legitimacy of the language, acknowledges the power of the com- munity whose language is used, and gives students heightened self-esteem, besides improving chances for academic success. (p. 7) However. she pointed out that declining standards of literacy and English have led to “perceptions [that] helped to create a mentality directing educational 184 S.M. Shannon efforts away from equity and toward the pursuit of academic excellence. defined and assessed in English” (p. 8). In the same issue of Educational Researcher in which McGroarty’s (1992) article appeared. the editors, Pease-Alvarez and Hakuta (1992), noted the same emphasis on English in evaluation studies of effective bilingual programs. They stated, “Most evaluation research tends to portray bilingual education programs in standardized ways with English language and basic skills acquisition as central goals. Relatively few evaluation studies report on students’ native-language abil- ities” (p. 5). Macedo (1991) argued that education for language-minority stu- dents. including bilingual education, is reduced and restricted to the teaching of English. He argued, “The view that teaching English constitutes education sus- tains a notion of ideology that systematically negates rather than makes meaning- ful the cultural experiences of the subordinate linguistic groups who are, by and large, the objects of its policies” (p. 15). There are approaches to bilingual education, such as two-way bilingual pro- grams, that involve separation of the languages in highly conscious and con- trolled ways precisely to address language-status equity. Classrooms and teachers are assigned a language and teaching and interacting in the other language is prohibited (even if an individual is bilingual). However, in investigations in which language status was considered in such bilingual programs, the hegemony of English prevailed. For example, Edelsky and Hudelson (referred to in Edel- sky, 1991) hoped to find in their study of a two-way bilingual program something different. They reported, “Unfortunately, we had neglected to consider the larger consequences, for second language learning, of gross political inequality be- tween two languages. That is, by and large, majority language speakers do not acquire the minority languages in their midst” (p. 15). In a report from another two-way bilingual school setting, the hegemony of English also emerged as a problem. What follows is a quotation from a teacher at the school: I teach in a dual process bilingual school whose goals are to develop and maintain bilingualism and biliteracy in all native Spanish-speaking and native English- speaking students. I, too, have had my eyes fill with tears and my heart swell with hope and pride upon hearing our students converse with native speakers in their L2 and read to younger students or make public announcements in their second lan- guage. I have also felt the crushing disappointment upon knowing that some native Spanish-speaking first graders did not want to participate in a play that was to be delivered in English because they only clap loud for the native English-speakers speaking Spanish. I have blinked back the tears when hearing district personnel for the office of language and literacy support services or teachers in a meeting of minority employees say that the Spanish-speaking parents don’t know how to parent or they don’t value education. I have felt my heart constrict when I realize that J and my colleagues spend a lot of time telling each other of the native English- speakers’ accomplishments in their second language and very little time sharing and Hegemony of English 1385 celebrating the second language successes of our native Spanish speakers. (Olguin. 1993, p. 2) The school described is located in a university town in which, in addition to the predominantly White, middle-class, highly formally educated community who own homes in an inflated rea) estate market. also live migrant and immigrant working-class Latinos who have less experience in formal school settings and who live in public housing. The enormous social and economic discrepancies between the two groups that combine to form the community of the bilingual school cannot be overlooked in any attempt to create separate-but-equal language environments. The teacher added that equality is not easily engineered: In our excitement at having our bilingual programs valued and sought after by English-speaking majority parents and students, must we forget that the process of acquiring a second language is much the same for both language groups and that children from both language groups should receive equal recognition and praise of their L2 accomplishments? (Olguin, 1993, p. 2) The Hegemony of English in Bilingual Education: Resisted and Overcome When the hegemony of English is recognized and resisted in bilingual settings. the minority language can often compete successfully with English, although a constant vigilance must be maintained. Vasquez (Vasquez, Pease-Alvarez, & Shannon, 1994) described a preference for the use of English in an after-school, computer-mediated literacy project for Mexicano and Latino children in southern California. Due to the persistence of English among participants, changes were made to provide structural support for Spanish. One goal of the project was to allow children to draw from their bilingual and bicultural resources to develop literacy skills, but the hegemony of English created a coercive force that focused children on the dominant language and culture for resources. The research tearm recognized the hegemony of English and made a conscious decision to find ways to make using Spanish more reasonable and attractive to the children. As a result, when the hegemony of English was recognized and steps were taken to resist it, different language patterns could emerge. The following case study illustrates a bilingual classroom in which the hegem- ony of English is recognized, challenged, and resisted. This is not a case of a school or classroom in which the two languages are deliberately isolated or segregated, but rather of a typical bilingual classroom setting in a school district that espouses transitional bilingual education (i.e., get Spanish speakers into English as soon as possible). The teacher of this particular bilingual fourth-grade classroom. however, chooses to model bilingualism and expects it in every aspect of the school setting over which she has control. 186 S.M. Shannon DETAILS ABOUT THE STUDY I chose the teacher, Silvia Lojero Latimer. for this study on the basis of her reputation as an excellent bilingual teacher. During this study, the school com- munity and the surrounding community referred to Silvia con mucho cariho (affectionately) as Mrs. D (Miss Dee), as | will continue to do so here. A native of Mexico, Mrs. D was born and raised in Mexico City and came to the United States as a young adult with a college degree in teaching from a private teachers” college in Mexico City. Mrs. D did not realize that she would be able to teach in U.S. public schools with her Mexican credentials until she had worked as para- professional in the public schools. A perceptive principal, also Mexican. discov- ered Mrs. D and encouraged her to get her certification. Mrs. D is bilingual and, as her college degree from Mexico attests, her Spanish language skills are excellent. She earned a master's degree in Bilingual Education from the University of Colorado and was awarded the distinction of “outstanding” for the written comprehensive examination, demonstrating that her English language skills are also excellent. She was selected as the 1993 Teacher of the Year through the National Association for Bilingual Education. This study took place in Mrs. D’s fourth-grade bilingual classroom during the 1991 and 1992 school year; she had taught such a class for 5 years. The school, Buena Vista? elementary school, is located in a working class, predominantly Latino neighborhood. Students totaled 34 at one point during the school year in the classroom; the average number was 28. The fluctuating number of students is typical for Buena Vista, where families are highly mobile. Not only do they often move to and from Mexico, Central America, Texas, and New Mexico, but they also change residences sporadically within the school district. Approximately five of the students had attended Buena Vista since kindergarten. All of the students lived in the neighborhood surrounding the school, which faces a major business thor- oughfare. The neighborhood consists of single-family homes and some multiple- family complexes. A city housing project is located across the main street from the school. The majority of children who attend the school are on free or reduced-price lunches. Of the 28 regularly attending students in this classroom, 21 were Latino, whereas the others were White, African American, and Native American. Two students who remained in the class throughout the year (one left 1 month before the summer arrived) were monolingual Spanish speakers: a girl from El Salvador and a boy from rural Mexico. I conducted a year-long ethnographic study in Mrs. D’s classroom. From October 1991 through December 1991 while waiting for all signed, parent per- mission letters to come in and clearance from the district office for research and evaluation, I conducted informal and unofficial observations of the classroom. In January 1992, I began formal and official observation, participation, interview- ing, and video taping, which I continued through the end of the school year. The Hegemony of English 187 delay in data collection was fortuitous in that it allowed me time to become accustomed to the culture of Mrs. D's classroom (Shannon, in press). When 1 began intensive data collection including video taping, | was able to be more selective than if 1 had embarked on such activities from the outset. The students had also become familiar with the educational setting. The data here are specifi- cally derived from students’ journal entries and fieldnotes, as well as video taped episodes and conversations with students. I wrote fieldnotes for every observation. Completed student journals were photocopied at the end of the year for a full record on the seven children who granted their permission. | also photocopied and collected other student work such as homework and in-class assignments. For every visit I had a video camera that I used selectively as a strategy for data reduction. Having the camera equip- ment with me at all times, however, also allowed me to tape at unexpected times in order to capture typical as well as unusual classroom events. This research was highly collaborative, as Mrs. D and I discussed emergent findings throughout the study. These discussions would take place after school or during lunch time when I would pose particular questions to her about something that she had done or said with the children. } also replayed my video tapes to the students periodically and discussed with them the sorts of themes and issues that I had become interested in. MRS. D’S FOURTH-GRADE CLASSROOM Whenever I entered Mrs. D's classroom, she did not stop until there was a natural pause in activities. Only then would she come up to hug me and give me the customary kiss on the cheek. The greeting was never prolonged, as she imme- diately engaged herself with her students again. I, too, was expected to become involved and it was not easy to escape the call for action. I could always find my place quickly as students gravitated to all visitors in the room as potential teach- ers and coleamers. “Rough” is a good word to describe the physical space of this classroom. The building was built in 1925 and little renovation had been done over the interven- ing years. The hardwood floor in the classroom was in need of repair and the walls could have used a fresh coat of paint. The dark green paint was peeling and the walls were covered with scars from thumbtacks, nails, tape, and pen and ink markings. A small room extended one corner of the main classroom with space for a table and four chairs and a portable chalkboard. The shelves in the room were stuffed with materials: paper, art supplies, used textbooks, an obsolete computer, and so forth. In the classroom, two sides of the room offered some shelf space that were also overflowing with stuff. Mrs. D used one bulletin board for displays related to work students were doing and another smaller one for the assignment of classroom duties. Large laminated posters of color photographs of scenes from Mexico covered the wall above one of the two chalkboards. Lots of 188 S.M, Shannon chalkboard space was taken up with chart paper with instructions for Writer's Workshop, the brainstorm web for a theme cycle, and announcements and calen- dars. Over the course of the year, Mrs. D filled in whatever space was left on the walls with holiday decorations and student work. At times, students’ desks were arranged in groups of three or four. Mrs. D played with different furniture arrangements to accommodate more or less chil- dren or to attempt social engineering to help with discipline and to create an environment more conducive to learning. Her own desk was tucked in a comer of the classroom where it sat piled high with notebooks, papers, and lesson plans. Near her desk was a small table on which the jar of marbles sat that she used for a reward system. Good behavior, cooperation, and productivity eared the class points counted with marbles. A pizza party, popsicles, or teats Mrs. D brought from her trips home in Guadalajara could be the rewards an accumulation of marbles may bring. Brightly colored, plastic, rectangular baskets sat on each student’s desk in which the students kept their personal belongings: notebooks, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, glue, and so forth. Mrs. D had similar baskets and other containers on the shelf (including the radiator) running along one wall. Writer's Workshop materials, journals, and theme-cycle and anecdotal record notebooks filled these containers. Undemeath, two bookshelves were filled with books in Spanish and English. The noise level was constantly high in this classroom and laughter was heard often. However, the most striking feature of Mrs. D’s classroom was the sound of languages. Spanish and English were everywhere. One day Mrs. D helped children with test-taking skills in preparation for the upcoming Iowa Test of Basic Skills. She had drawn on the board two cartoon characters with thinking bubbles. One character thought in Spanish about what to do when one does not understand the directions and the other pondered in English what to do when one does not know a particular word. On one occasion, Spanish dominant and shy René sat comfortably with English dominant Stacey during Drop Everything and Read time as she read to him in English. She patiently repeated sentences so that he could read them himself. It seemed as if one could not predict whether the bilinguals would choose to do literature studies in Spanish or in English. It was never a surprise, however, to find an English-dominant child in a Spanish group or vice versa. If a student wanted to read a chapter-length book in Spanish, it was more likely to be available in Mrs. D's classroom than in the school library. All textbooks, homework sheets, and workbooks were in both Spanish and English. More than material presence, though, the sound of Spanish was striking in Mrs. D’s room. I captured Alicia on video tape dramatically rolling the initial r in the word roméntico to describe the kind of music that was playing in the dance hall in her story. I also captured English-dominant Peter stumble on the captions of a class-made “Big Book” written in Spanish. He read alongside bilingual children who did not ridicule his clumsy attempts, but rather encouraged his efforts. Hegemony of English 189 It came as no surprise when Belinda, a girl in Mrs. D's classroom. was selected as the Bilingual Student of the Year representing Buena Vista in the school district competition. In her address to the school board, she talked about the benefits of knowing both Spanish and English. She explained that she could “help” those who could not speak one or the other language—monolinguals who to Belinda were at a great disadvantage. Mrs. D says that she has always had confidence in her students at the fourth- grade level to comprehend social, political, and linguistic issues around language learning and use. She says 1 have always talked to them about my teaching approaches and called [the ap- proaches} by their name. | always talk about my philosophies about kids leaning language and ask for their opinions. And I have always made sure (or least tried) to let the kids know when they are using a particular [language] leaming strategy and praise them for it—including code-switching. The most prevalent theme in her philosophy of teaching in a bilingual classroom is that it truly be a bilingual context. In order to make that happen, Mrs. D. has to convey to her students that English and Spanish both share an equally prestigious status, that everyone in this context is a second language leamer, and that being bilingual is a desired goal for everyone. The following segments of conversations were video taped at the end of the school year. The children volunteered to have informal conversations regarding their experiences in Mrs. D’s bilingual fourth grade. The children chose their conversation partners and were not prompted during their discussions. In the first, Rosana, a bilingual Mexicana, and Alicia, a recent arrival from El Sal- vador, discuss being in Mrs. D’s bilingual classroom. Alicia: A mi me encanta ser bilingiie. Soy yo. . . . . ¢Por qué? No se porque me gusta. Rosana: Bueno, quisieras hablar en inglés o en aspanol? En los dos.

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