Disrupting the Monolingual Bias

A Framework for Teacher Advocacy
Lillian Ardell - Language Matters
Disrupting the Monolingual Bias
November 2025 | 168 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9781071987773
Available from January 0001
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ISBN: 9781071987759
Available from January 0001

Description

Empower multilingual learners and challenge deficit thinking now

Multilingual learners (MLs) deserve more than assimilation—they deserve equity, empowerment, and celebration of their full linguistic repertoires and identities. This groundbreaking book uncovers how deficit ideologies about language perpetuate assimilationist practices that harm MLs’ heritage languages, cultural identities, and equitable opportunities for academic success. Through real-life stories and sociolinguistic analysis, author Dr. Lillian Ardell provides the tools to transform classrooms and schools into spaces that celebrate multilingualism and foster biliteracy, even in places where deficit thinking about MLs determines instructional practices and outcomes.

Rooted in research and supported by actionable strategies, this book calls on educators to evolve as advocates, inspiring them to shift their mindsets and practices to nurture bilingualism and biliteracy. Features include:

  • Detailed exploration of the "Monolingual Bias" and how it operates within policies, curricula, and classrooms
  • Insights into five "Disruptor Archetypes" to help educators identify their advocacy roles
  • Real-life "Disruption Stories" offering inspiration and strategies for combating the Monolingual Bias
  • Self-reflection tools like the "Small Brave Moments Quiz" to guide professional growth

A call to action for educators ready to challenge deficit mindsets and champion multilingualism in their schools, Disrupting the Monolingual Bias offers educators the tools they need to dismantle harmful practices and create classrooms that honor and uplift MLs.

Contents

Foreword by Margo Gottlieb

Foreword by Margo Gottlieb

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

Part 1: Build your Knowledge Base

  • Chapter 1: Introducing the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Take the Small Brave Movements Quiz
  • Chapter 2: Bilingual Education is a Social Justice Issue
  • Chapter 3: Sociolinguistics Matters
  • Lesson Plan: Sociolinguistics by Language Proficiency: Friends or Foes?
  • Chapter 4: Teacher Language Ideologies
  • Lesson Plan: The White Listening Subject

Part 2: Disruption Stories

  • Chapter 5: Meet Your Disruptors
  • Chapter 6: Success Stories
  • 1. Chloe: From Sequestered to STEM Courses
  • 2. Serena: Sowing the Seeds of Disruption
  • 3. Ricardo: The Terrific Trio
  • 4. Dafne: Disrupting the Strict Separation of Languages
  • 5. Joey: A Fight for a Translation Line in the Budget
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: I’m the Type of Advocate Who . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 7: Bummer Stories
  • 1. Lillian: The Paradox of Assimilation
  • 2. Alegra: Another Newcomer Remediation Story
  • 3. Chloe: The Orange Frog Story
  • 4. Gloria: Aquí tu mama no sirve
  • 5. Inéz: Terrified of Translanguaging
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: Equity in Bilingual Education Looks Like . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 8: Redemption Stories
  • 1. Aditi: A Coup to Save the Dual Language Program
  • 2. Allison: I Had to Let The Train Crash
  • 3. Niyah: Disruption at a Publishing Company
  • 4. Inéz: No More Pobrecito Syndrome
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: If I Could Change One Thing in Bilingual Education, It Would Be . . . Disruptor Snapshot

Part 3: Your Marching Orders

  • Chapter 9: Doable Disruptions to the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Advice for the Next Generation of Disruptors
  • References
  • Index

Resources

Description

Empower multilingual learners and challenge deficit thinking now

Multilingual learners (MLs) deserve more than assimilation—they deserve equity, empowerment, and celebration of their full linguistic repertoires and identities. This groundbreaking book uncovers how deficit ideologies about language perpetuate assimilationist practices that harm MLs’ heritage languages, cultural identities, and equitable opportunities for academic success. Through real-life stories and sociolinguistic analysis, author Dr. Lillian Ardell provides the tools to transform classrooms and schools into spaces that celebrate multilingualism and foster biliteracy, even in places where deficit thinking about MLs determines instructional practices and outcomes.

Rooted in research and supported by actionable strategies, this book calls on educators to evolve as advocates, inspiring them to shift their mindsets and practices to nurture bilingualism and biliteracy. Features include:

  • Detailed exploration of the "Monolingual Bias" and how it operates within policies, curricula, and classrooms
  • Insights into five "Disruptor Archetypes" to help educators identify their advocacy roles
  • Real-life "Disruption Stories" offering inspiration and strategies for combating the Monolingual Bias
  • Self-reflection tools like the "Small Brave Moments Quiz" to guide professional growth

A call to action for educators ready to challenge deficit mindsets and champion multilingualism in their schools, Disrupting the Monolingual Bias offers educators the tools they need to dismantle harmful practices and create classrooms that honor and uplift MLs.

Contents

Foreword by Margo Gottlieb

Foreword by Margo Gottlieb

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

Part 1: Build your Knowledge Base

  • Chapter 1: Introducing the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Take the Small Brave Movements Quiz
  • Chapter 2: Bilingual Education is a Social Justice Issue
  • Chapter 3: Sociolinguistics Matters
  • Lesson Plan: Sociolinguistics by Language Proficiency: Friends or Foes?
  • Chapter 4: Teacher Language Ideologies
  • Lesson Plan: The White Listening Subject

Part 2: Disruption Stories

  • Chapter 5: Meet Your Disruptors
  • Chapter 6: Success Stories
  • 1. Chloe: From Sequestered to STEM Courses
  • 2. Serena: Sowing the Seeds of Disruption
  • 3. Ricardo: The Terrific Trio
  • 4. Dafne: Disrupting the Strict Separation of Languages
  • 5. Joey: A Fight for a Translation Line in the Budget
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: I’m the Type of Advocate Who . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 7: Bummer Stories
  • 1. Lillian: The Paradox of Assimilation
  • 2. Alegra: Another Newcomer Remediation Story
  • 3. Chloe: The Orange Frog Story
  • 4. Gloria: Aquí tu mama no sirve
  • 5. Inéz: Terrified of Translanguaging
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: Equity in Bilingual Education Looks Like . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 8: Redemption Stories
  • 1. Aditi: A Coup to Save the Dual Language Program
  • 2. Allison: I Had to Let The Train Crash
  • 3. Niyah: Disruption at a Publishing Company
  • 4. Inéz: No More Pobrecito Syndrome
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: If I Could Change One Thing in Bilingual Education, It Would Be . . . Disruptor Snapshot

Part 3: Your Marching Orders

  • Chapter 9: Doable Disruptions to the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Advice for the Next Generation of Disruptors
  • References
  • Index

Resources

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Disrupting the Monolingual Bias

A Framework for Teacher Advocacy

Lillian Ardell
Cancel Print

November 2025 | 168 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 01/02/2026 9781071987759 $37.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781071987773 $35.00

Empower multilingual learners and challenge deficit thinking now

Multilingual learners (MLs) deserve more than assimilation—they deserve equity, empowerment, and celebration of their full linguistic repertoires and identities. This groundbreaking book uncovers how deficit ideologies about language perpetuate assimilationist practices that harm MLs’ heritage languages, cultural identities, and equitable opportunities for academic success. Through real-life stories and sociolinguistic analysis, author Dr. Lillian Ardell provides the tools to transform classrooms and schools into spaces that celebrate multilingualism and foster biliteracy, even in places where deficit thinking about MLs determines instructional practices and outcomes.

Rooted in research and supported by actionable strategies, this book calls on educators to evolve as advocates, inspiring them to shift their mindsets and practices to nurture bilingualism and biliteracy. Features include:

  • Detailed exploration of the "Monolingual Bias" and how it operates within policies, curricula, and classrooms
  • Insights into five "Disruptor Archetypes" to help educators identify their advocacy roles
  • Real-life "Disruption Stories" offering inspiration and strategies for combating the Monolingual Bias
  • Self-reflection tools like the "Small Brave Moments Quiz" to guide professional growth

A call to action for educators ready to challenge deficit mindsets and champion multilingualism in their schools, Disrupting the Monolingual Bias offers educators the tools they need to dismantle harmful practices and create classrooms that honor and uplift MLs.


Table Of Contents:

  • Foreword by Margo Gottlieb
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • Part 1: Build your Knowledge Base
  • Chapter 1: Introducing the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Take the Small Brave Movements Quiz
  • Chapter 2: Bilingual Education is a Social Justice Issue
  • Chapter 3: Sociolinguistics Matters
  • Lesson Plan: Sociolinguistics by Language Proficiency: Friends or Foes?
  • Chapter 4: Teacher Language Ideologies
  • Lesson Plan: The White Listening Subject
  • Part 2: Disruption Stories
  • Chapter 5: Meet Your Disruptors
  • Chapter 6: Success Stories
  • 1. Chloe: From Sequestered to STEM Courses
  • 2. Serena: Sowing the Seeds of Disruption
  • 3. Ricardo: The Terrific Trio
  • 4. Dafne: Disrupting the Strict Separation of Languages
  • 5. Joey: A Fight for a Translation Line in the Budget
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: I’m the Type of Advocate Who . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 7: Bummer Stories
  • 1. Lillian: The Paradox of Assimilation
  • 2. Alegra: Another Newcomer Remediation Story
  • 3. Chloe: The Orange Frog Story
  • 4. Gloria: Aquí tu mama no sirve
  • 5. Inéz: Terrified of Translanguaging
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: Equity in Bilingual Education Looks Like . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Chapter 8: Redemption Stories
  • 1. Aditi: A Coup to Save the Dual Language Program
  • 2. Allison: I Had to Let The Train Crash
  • 3. Niyah: Disruption at a Publishing Company
  • 4. Inéz: No More Pobrecito Syndrome
  • Lillian’s Analysis to Follow
  • Lesson Plan: If I Could Change One Thing in Bilingual Education, It Would Be . . . Disruptor Snapshot
  • Part 3: Your Marching Orders
  • Chapter 9: Doable Disruptions to the Monolingual Bias
  • Lesson Plan: Advice for the Next Generation of Disruptors
  • References
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"Disrupting the Monolingual Bias is engaging and readable. It is often written that culture is what we USE to see but seldom what we ACTUALLY SEE. The same can be said of the monolingual bias in schools. In this book, Dr. Ardell has concretely defined the monolingual bias and then presented in great detail examples of these bias in school contexts, district policies and classrooms, enabling readers to not only SEE monolingual bias but also decide how to address it in school contexts with multilingual learners. The book does not sugar-coat the challenges presented when addressing the monolingual bias, but lays out a powerful rationale for why addressing these issues is imperative in the evolution of bilingual/dual language education."
Kathy Escamilla, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder
"As I read Disrupting the Monolingual Bias, I remembered the six-year-old version of me that entered a U.S. schooling system speaking only Spanish. With each page turn, I revisited the linguistic trauma that was inflicted upon me by the educators charged to teach me, in their quest to get me to learn English and assimilate quickly. This book is a must-read for anyone serving culturally and linguistically diverse student communities. By weaving research with the very personal, transparent, and inspiring anecdotes of leaders in our field, Dr. Ardell manages to illuminate the continued harms of linguistic oppression, while also providing needed tools to engage in the courageous dismantling of educational systems that continue to marginalize some of our most vulnerable students."
Dr. José Medina, Educational Advocate at Dr. José Medina Educational Solutions
“A true awakening for all teachers who work with multilingual learners and their families. Ardell passionately defends multilingualism from a personal, collective, and institutional stance. This is a volume that should not sit on a bookshelf but rather inspire you to rethink spaces for infusing multilingualism in your context and join the compelling cause of Disrupting the Monolingual Bias.”
Margo Gottlieb, co-founder, WIDA
“This book provides vivid examples through metaphors and stories to showcase how biases impact our students of color. It gives educators the tools we need to feel empowered to disrupt inequities and create safe, inclusive, unbiased spaces for our students who sometimes depend on our voices as their only hope of advocacy.”
Luz E. Rivera Rodríguez, Multilingual Learners Director, Norwich Public Schools

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