Chapter 11: Who Gets to Play?: Issues of Access and Social Justice in World Language Study in the United States

In this chapter, we synthesize recent literature on social justice and world language education alongside the current data on Advanced Placement (AP) test completion to argue that access to world language study for students from minoritized groups is a significant social justice issue in our field. The term minoritized students is deliberately used here as alternative to minority students and students of color because it emphasizes the social construction of minority status or of the action of minoritization that students experience in certain contexts (Benitez, 2010; Stewart, 2013). Minoritized students’ inequitable access to world language study is supported by U.S. public school enrollment data and is exacerbated by three key issues: the devaluation of students’ languages and cultures in schools (e.g., Valenzuela, 2010); the elitist nature of language study (Reagan & Osborn, 2002); and the one-sided nature of the curriculum (Kleinsasser, 1993). In response to these issues, we offer three concrete suggestions, at the classroom, school/district, and policy levels, that can disrupt these trends and ensure that all students have access to advanced study of world languages and cultures.