Speakers
Description
This conceptual poster uses a Critical Dis/abilities Raciolinguistic (CDR) perspective to trace how colonial language ideologies produce deficit views of multilingual learners labeled as disabled. Bridging CDR, translanguaging, and relational care into conversation, we consider how monolingual assessment logics shape the recognition of students' communicative repertoires. We argue for translanguaging as ideological resistance, advancing relational ways of knowing students that inform educational practice and policy advocacy.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
Multilingual learners labeled as disabled (MLADs) are frequently positioned through deficit narratives that frame bi/multilingualism as risk rather than resource. A Critical Dis/abilities Raciolinguistic (CDR) perspective highlights how these narratives are sustained by colonial language ideologies that normalize monolingual development (Cioè-Peña, 2021) and constrain what counts as language in school-based evaluation (Steele et al., 2022). Aligning with calls to integrate translanguaging into speech-language assessment (Khamis & Bortz, 2025), this poster traces how deficit views are produced and resisted by foregrounding translanguaging as ideological resistance, an orientation that challenges the norms through which MLADs' dynamic repertoires and competencies become recognizable.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
- What does a CDR perspective reveal about the ideological assumptions through which multilingual learners labeled as disabled become known, assessed, and classified?
- How might translanguaging, brought into conversation with relational care and trust, challenge the norms through which linguistic competence is recognized and support alternative ways of knowing MLADs?
Abstract section 3: Content/method
Drawing on scholarship in CDR, translanguaging, and relational care, we develop a conceptual analysis of (a) how monolingual and ableist assumptions shape referral, assessment, and interpretation of communication, and (b) how translanguaging as ideological resistance challenges the norms through which linguistic competence is recognized. The poster will include an ideology-to-practice pathway (from beliefs to assessment decisions to labels), and propose relational, repertoire-sensitive approaches to assessment that attend to multimodal and community-based meaning-making.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
Bridging translanguaging with a CDR perspective, we propose conceptual and practical shifts for special education service providers and educators to adapt across global contexts. These include repertoire-informed assessment, collaborative interpretation with families and teachers, and advocacy that challenges deficit labeling across school policies and service delivery. Translanguaging is presented beyond a pedagogical strategy, as an ideological stance that challenges normative assumptions about language and ability and supports alternative ways of knowing multilingual learners with (and without) disabilities.
Abstract section 5: References
Cioè-Peña, M. (2021). Dual language and the erasure of emergent bilinguals labeled as disabled (EBLADs). In N. Flores, A. Tseng & N. Subtirelu (Eds.), Bilingualism for all? : Raciolinguistic perspectives on dual language education in the United States. (pp. 63–87). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800410053-005
Khamis, R., & Bortz, M. (2025). Translanguaging: A theoretical shift necessary for culturally and linguistically responsive practice in speech-language-hearing sciences. In M. Goral & A. R. Lerman (Eds.), Advances in the neurolinguistic study of multilingual and monolingual adults: In honor of Professor Loraine K. Obler. Routledge.
Steele, C., Dovchin, S., & Oliver, R. (2022). 'Stop measuring Black kids with a white stick': Translanguaging for classroom assessment. RELC Journal, 53(2), 400-415. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882221086307
| Title | Translanguaging as Resistance for Multilingual Learners |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | General |