UCLA

This exploratory qualitative study explored the perceptions of sociocultural competence held byK-8th dual language immersion (DLI) teachers. Twenty-one K-8th dual language immersion teachers from California were recruited to participate in this study, which sought to understand how K-8th DLI teachers a) perceive and define sociocultural competence, b) explain the implementation strategies and practices that they utilize when addressing sociocultural competence in their classrooms, c) explain the barriers that they face when attempting to address sociocultural competence in DLI settings, and d) describe the learning experiences in preservice and inservice dual language teacher education that contributed to their knowledge of sociocultural competence. The four research questions that guided this study were written utilizing some of the principles of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which reinforce the inextricable connection between language and culture in dual language education, the importance of sociocultural competence as the foundation for language learning, as well as the foundation for the argument that sociocultural competence needs to be intentionally operationalized during instruction (Freire, 2019). Each of the research questions resulted in one key finding. The findings were used to develop three recommendations for DL educators that can be utilized to help address sociocultural competence in dual language education. This study offers a contribution to a knowledge base to further understand sociocultural competence as a multidimensional and complex construct, in order to further explore how to operationalize sociocultural competence DL classrooms. This research provides salient knowledge for language scholars and practitioners on sociocultural competence in dual language education. Further research on the operationalization of sociocultural competence in dual language settings is needed. Importantly, this study acts as a call to action to dual language educators to position critical consciousness at the forefront of the conversations around sociocultural competence, in order to address the inequities that continue to perpetuate systems of oppression, and the neoliberal, English-hegemonic policies that continue to marginalize language minoritized students and Communities of Color in dual language education