Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Still prevalent today, these terms carry a deeply deficit connotation, a feeling of being Othered, foreign, different, and limited, and exhibit the hegemony of English as the dominant language and culture to which all others are compared. This historical and theoretical analysis argues, building on the critical voices of Chomsky, Macedo, Jennings, Freire, Moll, Vygotsky, and others, that while the U.S. educational system has made positive changes over the past several decades for English Learners (ELs) including the most recent legislation, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), education policy and classroom practices have unintentionally maintained and continue to reproduce deficit educational approaches for ELs. Relying heavily on critical theory and a call for social justice, this analysis is grounded in data and evidence such as federal educational policy documents including ESSA, critical theorist policy work by Macedo, Chomsky, and Jennings, and Supreme Court case rulings to expose a long and continuing history of unintentional deficit implications for ELs. The implications for educators and policy makers are to enact critical pedagogies to redefine classroom culture and politics, address exclusions of schooling, and dismantle the deficit perception.