“Puro English and a little bit of Spanish”: Bi/multilingual kindergarteners’ language ideologies in a dual language bilingual class during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: The goal of the study is to examine bi/multilingual children’s language beliefs and their contributions to school and family language policies in a two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in the United States while participating in online schooling from home. Methodology: We report from a larger critical ethnographic study with a Title I K-8 school in Arizona. The data for this study are based on ethnographic fieldwork during the 2020–2021 academic year with a DLBE kindergarten cohort. Data and analysis: We conducted semi-weekly class observations and individual semi-structured interviews with 12 bi/multilingual kindergarten children. Data analysis entailed a multi-step thematic analysis through several rounds of focused coding. Findings: Our findings show that the children were deeply aware of the languages they spoke, their proficiency in each, how they chose to express those proficiencies, and the way they identified with each language. We identify ways that children agentively used language to transcend separative language policies by using language fluidly. Originality: The study contributes to the literature on young children’s language policymaking and their reproductive and resistive forms of agency. Our child participants were 5 and 6 years old, an underrepresented age in research that connects school and family language policies. Furthermore, this group’s linguistic, racial-ethnic, and cultural diversity allows for a deeper glimpse into how bi/multilingual children develop complex identities. Implications: The study has implications for the importance of pedagogical and linguistic flexibility with young children in DLBE programs. The study shows the importance of how young bi/multilingual children respond to the processes of implementing a program by highlighting the role and position of each language in their home and school environments.