Janet Leppala

Date Approved

2025

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department or School

Teacher Education

Committee Member

Joe Bishop, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Eric Acton, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Paul Ramsey, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Christopher Robbins, Ph.D.

Abstract

Learning more than one language has cognitive, emotional, and social benefits. Despite evidence in favor of bi/multilingualism, and a growing multilingual American population, bilingual education programs are scarce in the United States, foreign language education programs are being eliminated at an alarming rate, and English learners often do not receive the support that they need in American schools. Historically, political positions in the United States have ranged from espousing monolingual language ideologies that enact educational policies favoring English-only education to multilingual language ideologies that create policies in support of multilingual education. Surprisingly, despite the longstanding monolingual hegemonic pull by conservative lawmakers, one multilingual educational initiative, known as the Seal of Biliteracy, has received widespread bipartisan support and has been recently enacted in all 50 states. The goal of the current study is to understand the opinions and perceptions of Michigan educators regarding multilingualism, language education, and the Seal of Biliteracy. In doing so, the hope is not only to understand Michigan’s current implementation of the Seal of Biliteracy, but also to shed light on how language ideologies can affect language education in general. In this study, eight Michigan educators and administrators were interviewed. The conversations revealed five important themes regarding ideological and practical matters in language education. The themes are as follows: Language ideologies may predict the success of the Seal of Biliteracy, there are practical barriers to robust language education programs, English learner kids have more hurdles on their language journeys, language education is changing, and foreign language learning is important, but there are other important subjects in education as well.

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