Transnational education, language and identity: a case from Mexico

Abstract

Educating for a future that assumes students will be educated in the country where they were born or that they will remain in the country where they are currently in school does not reflect the reality of the movement of people in an age of globalization. The research presented here examines the case of children and youth in Mexican public schools who have had some or all of their education in the United States, transnational students (TS) with a particular focus on their linguistic situation. Results suggest that TS struggle with the linguistic transition from Spanish as language of the home to Spanish as the language of education. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research and application to other contexts.