Date of Award

6-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

First Advisor

Marco Murillo

Second Advisor

Ezinne Ofoegbu

Third Advisor

Argelia Lara

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the sustainability and growth of a VDLI program in Silicon Valley. The program was established in response to the 2016 passage of California’s Proposition 58, which reversed restrictions that inhibited the implementation of K12 bilingual programs. The study explored concepts related to the initial diaspora, linguistic experience, cultivation of an identity fostering a bilingual love of language, and community linguistic networks that sustained the bilingualism for research participants. Participants revealed their personal stories leading them to the VDLI from their own independent journeys in sheltering, preserving, and maintaining their linguistic heritage. The VDLI stands as a testament to the demand for multiculturalism, multilingualism, and schooling environments that affirm language diversity and counter the historically subordinating approaches to minority languages in the English dominant public schooling system. It investigates the school program experience and frames guidance for VDLI implementation with strong considerations for the implementation of Southeast Asian languages in California public schools. Theoretical frameworks that inform the study include raciolingustics (Flores & Rosa, 2015), AsianCrit (Museus & Iftikar, 2013) and the asset-oriented frames provided by Tara Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth model. This research comes at a critical time in California history, where geopolitical dynamics are shifting, transpacific cultures have emerged to connect diasporic minority groups through digital ties to the homeland, and there is a desire for a schooling system that has a more inclusive linguistic and cultural disposition.

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