For over two decades, emergent bilingual students in Arizona have languished under the state's English-only Structured English Immersion policies. Using Theo Van Leeuwan's (2007) legitimation in discourse framework, this study longitudinally tracks shifts in legitimation tactics across the four iterations of the policy--its inception with…

In spring 2019, without controversy or fanfare and without violating the voter mandate of Proposition 203, emergent bilinguals in Arizona were once again granted unrestricted access to dual language bilingual education after nearly 20 years. The policy change was accomplished through a seemingly small piece of legislation that reduced the daily…

Restrictive language policies for education have been passed in several states in the United States. In 1998, 2000, and 2002, California, Arizona, and Massachusetts passed the most restrictive of these policies, impacting 4.4 million students classified as English language learners (ELLs). This study examines how these policies are currently…