Linguistic Violence, Insecurity, and Work: Language Ideologies of Latina/o Bilingual Teacher Candidates in Texas

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina/o teacher candidates in South Texas. The findings reveal that bilingual teacher candidates are linguistically subordinated by the marginalized status of Spanish in the United States and by deficit perspectives of Spanish of the Southwest. Their educational experiences are replete with linguistic violence that shapes and influences their own linguistic ideologies. Teacher candidates' narratives reveal the "linguistic motherwork" that Latina mothers perform to raise the status of Spanish and to maintain their children's heritage language. However, although our Latina/o bilingual candidates (and their mothers) may view "good," "proper," or "academic" Spanish in a positive light, they may have negative attitudes toward their own or others' nonstandard Spanish dialects, including the varieties that are spoken in Texas.