Languages across borders: Social network development in an adolescent two-way language program

Abstract

Background/Context: Two-way dual-language programs have become an increasingly populareducational model in the United States for language minority and majority speakers, witha small but growing number of programs at the high school level. Little is known, however, about how adolescents' social networks develop in the contexts of these programs.Purpose/Objective: This study examines how a two-way, dual language enrichment programfor Spanish-language learner (SLL) and English-language learner (ELL) adolescents influencedstudents' social networks with peers of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Setting: The program took place in a south-Atlantic state at a suburban/rural high schoolthat has substantial within-school linguistic segregation.Population/Participants: Program participants included 20 students: 10 English-dominantlearners of Spanish, and 10 Spanish-dominant learners of English.Intervention/Program: The two-way dual-language program was a voluntary extracurricularprogram in which adolescent Spanish-dominant ELLs and English-dominant SLLs participatedin collaborative and student-led bilingual activities designed to foster the sharing ofcross-linguistic expertise and cross-cultural knowledge over a seven-month period. Research Design: In this mixed-methods study, student-level Likert-scale data is analyzedquantitatively and supported through analysis of qualitative interview responses and observationalfield notes. Quantitative results compare ELL and SLL participants' demographicand baseline social characteristics, before-and-after social networks, the changing nature ofreported relationships over time as a function of language status, and magnitude of growthin relationships' strength before and after the program. Qualitative results examine the qualitiesand conditions of these relationships and the conditions under which they developed.Findings/Results: Results suggest that despite participants' demographic differences, ELLand SLL students in the dual-language program reported building new, strengthened, andmutually recognized relationships, particularly with students of different language backgroundswho worked together within long-term collaborative small groups.Conclusions/Recommendations: When students are provided with a carefully designed instructionaland ecological context that provides authentic purposes for using language andbuilding peer relationships, this research suggests that both ELLs and SLLs may be able tobuild linguistically integrated social networks.