Preparing an Spanish-English Bilingual Inclusive Social Work Course

Overview: This presentation reviews the use of bilingual Spanish-English social work classes as an alternative instructional approach to support student’s rights, enhance inclusive pluralist ideologies, and address social justice.Proposal text: Concurrent with the APM 2022 theme, and the Spanish Language track goals, this presentation centers on four topics: (1) increase socio-linguistic awareness in the social work classroom, (2) exploration of language use as a rights, (3) use of a bilingual social work class to enhance student’s inclusion and cultural competence, and (4) discuss educational strategies to develop a bilingual Spanish-English course.

Socio-Linguistic Awareness
Awareness about rigid and static monolingual ideologies, language hegemony in higher education, and micro aggressions, that intended or not, are inflicted (Lorimer & Nowacek, 2016; Wodak et al., 2009) on Latinx English language learners challenge educators to consider alternative ways to support students’ rights, enhance inclusiveness, support cultural competence, and increase creativity in the social work classroom.
Preparation of bilingual Spanish-English courses increases awareness of the languages that are spoken or silenced in the social work classroom. Increased awareness fuels the goal to intentionally create a safe space for all students and linguistic variations in the classroom (Fuller & Leeman, 2020). In the bilingual class, safety to communicate in the prefer language leads to the improvement of learning and relating among students while increasing their levels of confidence in the use of Spanish and English (Fuller & Leeman, 2021).

Language Use as a Right
The history of language usage for Latinx in the United States includes denying Spanish speakers the legitimacy of their native tongue and the language variations of preference (Flores & Rosa, 2015; Rosa, 2016).
The hegemony of English is reflected in widespread efforts to make English not only the official language, but the superior one. The treatment of language in the classroom is related to broader questions of educational equity, and the use of education as a tool to rationalize language to perpetuate the values and ideologies of middle-class non-minority groups (Flores & Rosa, 2015; Rosa, 2016).
Using a prefer language relates to the emotional, social, cognitive assets of the speaker and linked to broader issues of social justice. Diversity of languages in the classroom and the efforts to acquire knowledge about other language expressions supports pluralistic ideologies.

Enhance Inclusion and Cultural Competence
Language ideologies of “proper” standard English and Spanish embed attributes and categorizations that label as “incorrect” “improper” “erroneous” or “uneducated” the use of language variations often used by people of low socio-economic power. The ideology related to “proper” standard language reflects values of the upper middle class that often-rationalized English learners (Lippi-Green, 2012). How we treat language in the classroom links to questions about educational equity, inclusion, and opportunity that transform the role of the teacher to actively engage in the utilization and integration of diverse linguistic resources (Christoffersen, 2019; Cavazos, et al., 2018; Lorimer & Nowacek, 2016; Cavazos, 2016; Horner et al., 2011).
When classroom practices only recognize a unique way to “properly” talk, speakers of other language varieties are disadvantaged and stigmatized. The bilingual class aims to incorporate students cultural and language preferences to improve outcomes and promote equity.

Strategies to Develop the Bilingual Spanish-English Course are provided.