Zaynab Amelia Gates

Recent studies have projected that by the end of this century between half and up to 95% of the linguistic diversity in the world will disappear. Since 1980, the Latin American region, home to more than 500 Indigenous languages, has introduced intercultural bilingual education policies aimed at protecting Indigenous children’s right to learn in their mother tongue. Yet, little is known about how to meaningfully teach biliteracy competencies that simultaneously fulfill the goals of Indigenous cultural preservation and strategic economic and political participation in national society. Centering the voice of Indigenous pre-service teachers and drawing from the continua of biliteracy framework, this study will examine a participatory research process implemented to reflect on the teaching of biliteracy competencies in Spanish and Indigenous language (Qom or Wichí) courses at two teaching institutions in Northern Argentina, in a province that has been leading efforts in Indigenous education. This case study will include interviews with Indigenous pre-service teachers and teacher educators, classroom observation, and assessment of literacy competencies to explore: How do Indigenous preservice teachers’ and teacher educators contribute to the development of biliteracy competencies? This study has implications for Indigenous education studies, preservation of linguistic diversity, and teacher education in multilingual contexts.