Empowerment and Self-Efficacy in the Lives of Four Emerging Bilingual Assistants in an Additive Bilingual Program

Abstract

This research presents an ethnographic understanding of the personal and professional lives of four emerging bilingual assistants (EBAs) who designed and implemented an additive bilingual program in preschool classrooms. Through a qualitative design that included participant observations, interviews, visual and narrative constructions, and video recording, I explore the EBAs’ professional roles (including duties, challenges, collaboration with teachers, support, relationships and educational goals). I then examine their personal and family challenges, language ideologies, and changing practices and beliefs outside the school domain. These themes are analyzed through a conceptual framework that merges Freire’s concept of empowerment with Bandura’s notion of self-efficacy. My findings suggest that school and home domains intersect, transforming what the EBAs, their families, and friends believe about language, education, and themselves. I conclude that the effects of the EB program extend beyond the classroom and reach the lives of the EBAs, their family, friends, and community.