Is native-speakerism impacting the Dual Language Immersion teacher shortage?

Abstract

Abstract Although Dual Language Immersion Education is growing in popularity in the United States, staffing these programs represents one of the greatest challenges for school administrators. Ironically, this is the case even for Spanish-English Dual Language Immersion programs despite the fact that the United States has the second highest number of Spanish speakers of any country in the world. What barriers hinder Spanish-English Dual Language Immersion schools from filling their teaching positions? This exploratory article suggests that native-speakerism may be part of the problem. Drawing on literature from the field of English Language Teaching, this article goes further to suggest that notions of who is the ideal Dual Language teacher, unless carefully considered, may exacerbate the linguistic marginalization of U.S.-born Latinxs, a group whose Spanish-speaking abilities are too often stigmatized.