2025 MABE Dual Language Bilingual Education Conference

This presentation will focus on the operationalization of sociocultural competence (SC) in DLBE programs and will be grounded in Palmieri's (2021) research on teacher perceptions of sociocultural competence in DLBE. This session will provide participants with a) an overview of the current research on SC in DLBE, b) pedagogical practices to operationalize SC in the DLBE classroom, c) an opportunity to share ideas with other DLBE educators around the operationalization and conceptualization of SC, and d) space for critical reflection and dialogue around SC, guided by the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education. Participants will learn about six pillars of sociocultural competence (Palmieri, 2021) a) critical consciousness, b) student identity development, c) teacher identity development, d) target culture/s development, e) Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, and f) student empathy development and cross cultural awareness.

Otheguy, García and Reid (2015) have defined translanguaging as “the deployment of a speaker's full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and state) languages” (p. 283). But what are the implications of it to language teaching and learning? In this presentation we are going to dive into the concept of translanguaging, the prejudice around it, and its importance in a bilingual education environment. We will also explain it through the lenses of sociolinguistics - so that we can understand it as a social and cultural phenomenon.