Spanish is the most common heritage language in the United States due to the longstanding sociopolitical, historical, and contemporary presence of Latinxs in the country. Making up 19.1% of the total population, Latinxs are not only the largest ethnic group of people of color but also one of the fastest growing (US Census, 2022). This study took place in California, which has the largest Latinx population in the nation—nearly 15 million—comprising 40% of the state’s total population (US Census, 2022). In California, nearly three-quarters (68%) of Latinxs aged five and older speak Spanish at home (US Census, 2022). Yet from 1998 to 2016, the state banned bilingual education. In 2017, Proposition 58 lifted these restrictions, granting districts greater freedom to establish or expand bilingual programs. However, the ban’s lingering effects are evident in a persistent shortage of qualified bilingual teachers, limited opportunities for bilingual professional development, and a scarcity of programs; these consequences are more pronounced in less affluent areas such as Merced County.
This study focuses on bilingual teachers in Merced County in the Central Valley. The region is home to a semi-rural and rural population of 290,014 spread across cities like Merced, Livingston, Planada, and Los Baños, of which 63% speak a language other than English at home (US Census, 2022). The Central Valley faces economic challenges, with a per capita income averaging $27,846 and 19.3% of residents living below the poverty line. Additionally, only 16.2% of the population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. Educators in the region face limited access to ongoing professional development, which may impede their ability to enhance teaching effectiveness. This challenge is reflected in the less-than-optimal academic outcomes of dual language learners (DLLs) in Merced County. Bilingual-authorized K-12 teachers are in short supply, and only one of the county’s 107 schools has a fully implemented dual language (DL) program. Given that 76.1% of students in Merced County schools are Hispanic/Latinx, this shortage underscores the need for more bilingual programs and targeted support for both educators and students.
The findings of this paper emerge from a grant-funded collaboration that provided professional development for DL instructors, using critical language awareness to enhance their metalinguistic knowledge and empower them to apply it as a tool for critical thinking and reflection during literacy activities. Many of these instructors, like most of their students, are Latinx heritage language speakers. The present study examines the language ideologies shaping language teaching and learning in the region, focusing on how DL instructors—through metaphor use—articulate experiences and beliefs about bilingualism and literacy, and how these metaphors intersect with their metalinguistic awareness.
Spanish-English Bilingualism and Ideologies
Spanish language pedagogy in the U.S. reflects colonial legacies and highlights the need to center the lived experiences of Spanish heritage language speakers in the classroom to counteract these legacies (Parra, 2020). Language ideologies shaped by historical and racialized interactions with language constitute a key element of these lived experiences. Such ideologies are “belief systems and their interaction with other social systems” and “emerge from or reinforce power relationships” (Leeman, 2012, p. 44). As Leeman explains, these belief systems reflect perceptions of speakers of a given language or language variety within the context of social structures such as race, gender, class, and immigration status, rather than language itself. In Spanish heritage language learner (SHLL) classrooms and other educational settings, instructors may reproduce these ideologies through a focus on “correct” or “appropriate” language use, such that U.S. Latinx language varieties are frequently deemed deficient, “inappropriate,” or “incorrect” in academic settings (Briceño et al., 2018; Ek et al., 2013; Loza, 2017; Martínez, 2003; Martínez & Schwartz, 2012; Padilla & Vana, 2019). Compounding the damage to Latinx Spanish heritage language speakers, instructors often focus on language proficiency with comparisons to monolingual speakers, which tends to overlook the cultural and linguistic strengths of heritage speakers and fails to critically engage with the historical and colonial oppression faced by these communities (Flores & Rosa, 2015).
Spanish heritage language learners in the U.S. possess a diverse range of language ideologies that are directly tied to their intersectional identities and experiences with prestige, stigma, and power. These beliefs shape how students perceive both the Spanish language and their own identities as Spanish speakers. Flores and García (2017) argue that K-12 bilingual programs in the U.S., while intending to foster cultural pride among Latinx students, often fall short by framing Spanish education as remedial. This deficit-based approach has led to calls for creating more affirming learning environments for Latinx students. However, the rise of bilingual programs catering to White, middle-class learners further complicates this goal. These programs frequently overlook discussions of power dynamics and fail to acknowledge the racialization and oppression that Latinx students face in relation to language education (Flores & García, 2017).
Research on K-12 dual immersion Latinx teachers and their language ideologies highlights the complexity of being a bilingual Latinx individual in the U.S., revealing a range of experiences from marginalization and violence to pride and reclamation of language identity (Ek et al., 2013; Fallas Escobar & Treviño, 2021; Nuñez et al., 2021). Preservice bilingual teachers often navigate the challenges of learning English and facing discrimination for using Spanish, while simultaneously maintaining a deep sense of pride in their bilingualism and a desire to instill this pride in their students.
The experiences of preservice Latinx bilingual teachers often illustrate the complex dynamics of language, identity, and power. Ek et al. (2013) examined 63 preservice bilingual teachers and college students in San Antonio, Texas, most of whom were women. The study found that these bilingual and bidialectal, teachers often experienced linguistic violence from authority figures. Such experiences, as well as their own desire to reclaim and protect their linguistic identities, shaped participants’ language ideologies, such that they reflected in part societal views that stigmatize what are labeled as “non-standard” varieties of Spanish. Internalized language ideologies push them to “correct” or “purify” their heritage Spanish, yet they feel pride in their heritage language. Ek et al. (2013) advanced the concept of “linguistic motherwork,” referring to the labor Latina mothers undertake to maintain and develop their children’s heritage language and literacy, even as they sometimes internalize and reproduce negative ideologies about non-standard Spanish to shield their children from discrimination. For instance, one preservice teacher shared how her mother would reprimand her for using phrases like “órale” or “chale,” associating them with working-class language, thus reflecting the class-based stigmatization of language varieties within the community.
Similarly, a study of 14 Latina/o/x preservice bilingual teachers in Central Texas underscores the importance of bilingual and biliterate identities to these teachers’ sense of self (Nuñez et al., 2021). In that study, teachers created personal literacy narratives, and the researchers found that struggle shaped teachers’ bilingual and biliterate identities. Many recognized the oppression they had faced, such as being labeled as a “Mexican who did not speak English” and feeling marginalized in English as a second language programs. Their teacher preparation programs, however, provided opportunities to reconnect with and reclaim their bilingual and biliterate identities, highlighting both the struggles and the empowerment that comes with this journey.
The language ideologies of Mexican national teachers working in the U.S. also demonstrate how stigma influences language proficiency and educator efficacy. Fallas Escobar and Treviño (2021) studied two Mexican national teachers working in the U.S. who reported stigma associated with their accents in English, which often affected their self-assessment as teachers. They also reproduced certain language ideologies, particularly around “standard” Spanish, viewing it as more legitimate than the Spanish spoken by U.S. Latinxs with rural or working-class backgrounds. This illustrates the intersection of class, region, and education in shaping language ideologies within the bilingual teaching profession.
In sum, research has highlighted the deeply entrenched linguistic and social challenges bilingual Latinx teachers face as they navigate the marginalization of their language varieties and identities while striving to instill pride in bilingualism within their students. These experiences further underscore the profound impact of language ideologies on shaping the educational journeys and self-perceptions of bilingual educators. This paper builds on these discussions by examining how Latinx bilingual teachers conceptualize their languages and bilingual experiences, using conceptual metaphor as a methodological lens to explore how they articulate their roles as both learners and educators.
Language Ideologies and Conceptual Metaphor
Metaphors are central to how we communicate across all languages. They allow speakers to make sense of abstract concepts by framing them in more tangible, familiar terms—such as through spatial, bodily, or everyday activities (Gibbs, 1994; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Semino & Demjén, 2017). According to conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), metaphorical thinking plays a central role in how we understand the world, as much of human thought is metaphorical in nature (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Furthermore, metaphors influence not only how people perceive information, but also how they respond to it (Thibodeau et al., 2019). This makes metaphors particularly powerful in the media, where they are often used to frame information in ways that affect public opinion.
In his seminal study, Santa Ana (2002) demonstrated how proponents of California’s Proposition 227, the 1998 referendum that eliminated most bilingual education, used metaphorical language to frame bilingualism in negative terms. The most frequently used metaphors were path metaphors (accounting for 30%), which depicted bilingual education as “holding students back” or causing them to “fall behind,” and (home) language as a “barrier” in “getting ahead.” Particularly striking was the “language is a prison” metaphor, portraying Spanish-speaking students as “shackled” by their language or “weighed down” by a “ball and chain,” while casting English as the “tool of liberation.” Although less common (12%), this prison metaphor, drawn from the domain of war, crime and violence, carried strong rhetorical force, making English-only instruction appear essential for the success of language-minoritized students. Johnson (2005a) found a similar strategy in Arizona’s Proposition 203 campaign, where media portrayals framed bilingual education as a failure or pathology and promoted English-only education as the path to success and unity. The “proposition 203 is war” metaphor, for example, depicted supporters of English-only policies as “heroes battling” the proponents of bilingual education (Johnson, 2005b).
These metaphorical framings were not only damaging due to their racialized targeting of Latinx communities but also because they were not grounded in empirical linguistic or educational research. Nevertheless, they were successful in shaping public opinion and contributing to the passage of these English-only measures. For instance, a study on depicting COVID-19 as war found that this framing intensified people’s fears and worries about pandemic stressors when compared to sports metaphors (de Saint Preux & Blanco, 2021). This finding demonstrates the significant role that metaphors play in political discourse, often swaying public opinion through emotional appeal rather than reason (Musolff, 2017; Olza et al., 2021; Semino, 2021; Smith et al., 2004).
While most metaphor studies focus on political discourse in news media, a small number focus on the voices of individual speakers—those with lived experiences of language learning. Véliz and Véliz-Campos (2022) conducted a study on three adult Latinx immigrants in Australia, exploring their metaphorical representations of learning English. The researchers found that one participant likened the process to enduring a difficult competition, such as a marathon, that required physical and mental preparation. The remaining participants framed not knowing English as being lost in the dark with no direction or as a physical disability, such as being visually impaired. One of these also described her experience in English-dominant Australia as being locked in an enclosed, dark space. Conversely, participants associated learning English and finding a supportive community with light as symbolizing hope and a sense of belonging. These metaphors powerfully convey the emotional and physical toll of learning a new language while highlighting the optimism and forward-looking aspects of the process—reaching a “light” at the end of the struggle or winning the “race.”
The present study builds on the work of Magaña and Ramos (2022), who explored how 25 Spanish heritage language learners in California’s Central Valley conceptualize their bilingualism through metaphor in Spanish. Their findings indicate that students often framed Spanish as a natural resource—like a plant or root—emphasizing its vulnerability and the need for nurturing. Both English and Spanish were metaphorically linked to success, with phrases like “opening doors” frequently appearing in student narratives. Students used journey metaphors to describe the challenges of learning English, but they also often portrayed English as an adversary. The personification of language as a living entity also reflected students’ perception of bilingualism as having a “higher value,” suggesting a critique of monolingualism.
Ramos (2024) analyzes a larger dataset (192 texts) produced in English or Spanish by Latinx students. The results indicate that students described their languaging experience using metaphors of a journey, a battle, or a natural resource in both languages. Notably, the data reveal differences between the two languages: battle metaphors appear more frequently in texts written in English, while journey metaphors are more common in Spanish texts. This suggests culture and language specific patterns in metaphor use, as journey metaphors are generally more prevalent in Spanish (Crego et al., 2022).
By understanding how heritage speakers and educators conceptualize their bilingual experiences through metaphor, we can gain deeper insights into their language ideologies and identities. This paper seeks to expand on this conversation by examining how bilingual teachers, who are also heritage language speakers, use metaphors to articulate their understanding of Spanish/English bilingualism in the U.S. By examining the metaphors they used, this study seeks to deepen our understanding of how bilingualism is experienced and valued in educational settings, offering implications for more culturally responsive pedagogy. These insights can also help educators and administrators better understand the linguistic and cultural assets that bilingual teachers bring into their classrooms, fostering more affirming and inclusive educational environments for all students.
The objectives of the present study are threefold: (1) to identify the metaphors that bilingual Latinx teachers use to describe their experiences and ideologies around Spanish-English bilingualism; (2) to analyze how these metaphors reflect broader struggles and affirmations of linguistic identity, literacy, and teaching practices; and (3) to consider how such insights can inform more culturally sustaining and critically aware approaches to bilingual teacher preparation and support.
Method
Context of the study
To examine how teachers express their language ideologies through metaphor, we analyzed data from advanced bilingual educators enrolled in an intensive 80-hour workshop or mini-course on Bilingual and Bicultural Teaching (during summer 2022 and summer 2023). As part of this professional development, these educators were asked to produce autobiographical language narratives, providing valuable insights into their perceptions of bilingualism and how these perceptions influence their teaching practices.
The present study stems from a grant-funded professional development (PD) program for bilingual teachers designed to enhance biliteracy practices and dual language immersion instructional (DLI) approaches. The PD followed an interactive, tiered model that combined whole-group workshops, small-group collaboration, and one-on-one instructional coaching. Teachers engaged in co-design of lesson plans, peer feedback sessions, and guided reflection on their own classroom practices. They were encouraged to draw direct connections between the PD content and their instructional contexts, with some participants piloting newly developed materials in their classrooms between sessions. Workshops and mini-courses were led by the second author in Merced County, and they offered educators support in improving their biliteracy instruction for language-minoritized students. Teachers received compensation for their participation, which took place outside their contracted instructional hours.
A key component of the training emphasized language meaning-making, a balanced approach integrating explicit instruction of dialect, genre, and register features to promote language awareness and academic literacy (Aguirre-Muñoz et al., 2015; Aguirre-Muñoz & Pando, 2017). This functional approach underscores the dialectical relationship between language and culture, facilitating not only biliteracy development but also the acceptance of cultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and among Latinxs in the U.S. (Colombi, 2015). Viewing different language registers as equal and valuable for their communicative roles—rather than superior or inferior—is crucial, especially in a context where U.S. Latinx Spanish still faces stigma. Teachers were presented with examples of activities aligned to the functional approach to scaffold their instructional preparation and development of lesson plans aligned with this approach.
Positionality
Author 1 is of Mexican descent and was raised by her monolingual Spanish-speaking mother. She self-identifies as a Spanish heritage language speaker and has served as a child language broker for her family throughout her youth. After becoming fluent in English, she consciously decided to reclaim her Spanish and focused on Spanish linguistics during her college and graduate studies. Currently, she is a professor of Spanish linguistics at a Hispanic-serving institution, where most of her students are heritage speakers like herself, many of whom aspire to become language educators. Her personal and academic experiences as a heritage speaker deeply inform her teaching and research.
Author 2, also a scholar of Mexican descent, draws on her experiences as an emergent bilingual to inform her research on learning and teaching. Raised in a Spanish-speaking home, she entered school with minimal English proficiency and struggled due to the absence of bilingual education. She maintained Spanish through family interactions and later double-majored in Spanish. In graduate school, she studied methods to support learning and assessment of emergent bilinguals. Now, as a cognitive science professor, her research explores how bilingualism influences learning. Grounded in lived experience, her work promotes equitable educational practices that recognize bilingualism as a cognitive strength rather than a barrier.
Author 3 is of Puerto Rican descent and self-identifies as a heritage language speaker. She grew up in a monolingual Spanish household until the age of five and matriculated into an English-only school system. She did not have access to Spanish education until middle school. After taking the language requirements in high school, she continued to do a double major in Spanish at the university level, as well as a master’s in Spanish literature and linguistics. She focused on heritage language learners in her doctoral studies and examined their attitudes toward their languaging experiences through the use of conceptual metaphor.
Participants
Fourteen bilingual teachers from DLI programs participated in this study, eleven women and three men. Most participants self-identified as having Mexican heritage, with one teacher self-identifying as Central American. All of the teachers were certified to teach in bilingual programs in California and actively teaching or providing instructional support at the time of the PD with assignments ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. Participants’ years of teaching experience ranged from less than 1 year to 30 years—bringing a range of perspectives to the PD community. Several participants held additional leadership roles in their schools, such as grade-level team leads, mentor teachers for novice bilingual educators, or coordinators of family literacy nights. In the PD setting, novice teachers sought concrete tools for lesson design and strategies for building students’ biliteracy from the ground up, while veteran educators often focused on refining advanced scaffolding techniques, supporting colleagues, and expanding family engagement practices. Their active roles within and beyond the classroom positioned them as both recipients and generators of knowledge throughout the PD, especially the workshop participants.
Teachers’ self-reports of their oral and written proficiency (on a Likert scale of 1-4: see Appendix) in Spanish and English indicate that their proficiency in both languages is fairly balanced, with English proficiency stronger than their Spanish proficiency. The average Spanish oral and written language proficiency scores were reported as 3.17 and 3.12, respectively; the English oral and written language proficiency scores were reported as 3.36 and 3.41. In addition, teachers completed the critical language awareness (CLA) survey (Beaudrie et al., 2019) to gauge their perceptions of language variation and linguistic diversity as well as the intrinsic validity of all ways of speaking. The average score on this 7-point scale at the time of this study was 5.28, indicating somewhat positive bilingualism perceptions (see Table 1).
Writing Sample
As part of the PD workshop and mini-course (delivered in Spanish), these teachers were asked to produce autobiographical narratives reflecting on their personal language histories in Spanish. The assignment instructions asked them to do the following:
Piense en la historia de su idioma y cree una narración autobiográfica que cuente sobre el desarrollo de su biliteracidad y los eventos clave (2-3) que afectaron la forma en que se ve a sí misma/o como una persona bilingüe y/o que la/o han impulsado a seguir una certificación bilingüe. Concéntrese en un par de eventos claves en lugar de toda la historia de su vida.
Think about your language history and create an autobiographical narrative that talks about the development of your biliteracy and the key events (2-3) that affected the way you see yourself as a bilingual person and/or that have driven you to pursue a bilingual certification. Focus on a couple of key events rather than your entire life story.
These instructions, which were given to participants only in Spanish, encouraged participants to focus on a reflective exploration of key moments in their biliteracy development in about 500 words. This assignment provided an opportunity for teachers to share how bilingual experiences have shaped their identities and informed their pursuit of bilingual certification. Additionally, the assignment was designed to allow teachers to adapt the narratives for sharing with their students’ families, thus serving as a potential bridge between teachers and the communities they serve. The average word count for the narratives was 878 words.
Conceptual Metaphor Approach
A conceptual metaphor approach was selected for this study because it provides a systematic way of uncovering how teachers make sense of abstract experiences—such as bilingualism, literacy, and language ideologies—through everyday figurative language. Metaphors are not only stylistic devices but also cognitive tools that reveal underlying beliefs and social positions (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). By coding for conceptual metaphors, the researchers were able to access teachers’ implicit ideologies and the symbolic frameworks they use to describe language learning and teaching, offering insights into their experiences. This approach also aligns with our commitment to centering teachers’ voices, since metaphors emerge organically from their narratives rather than being imposed by pre-determined categories.
To identify metaphorical words or phrases, we followed the metaphor identification procedure (MIP) outlined by the Pragglejaz Group (2007). First, we familiarized ourselves with the data by closely reading the texts for content and meaning. Next, rather than starting with a predefined list of potential metaphorical domains, we identified all possible metaphors related to language, allowing for the discovery of new metaphors or novel expressions. We then examined the discourse context of each metaphor and checked whether it had a more fundamental, literal meaning related to language. If the metaphor pertained to language, we coded it by underlining it in the text. In cases where a metaphor was expressed through a phrase, we counted it as a single instance of metaphor, regardless of the number of words involved. However, if a single phrase contained two distinct conceptual metaphors related to language, we counted each one separately.
The first author and third author independently reviewed and coded all metaphorical items. During the initial coding phase, we encountered nine instances of disagreement, regarding whether a phrase was metaphorical or how to categorize a figurative expression. After regular meetings and discussions, and with input from the second author, who reviewed the codebook, we were able to resolve these discrepancies. From this coding process, the researchers identified a total of 155 conceptual metaphors across the metaphorical categories presented in the next section (see Table 2).
Results
Language Is a Journey
The most prevalent metaphorical category was “language is a journey” which is part of the “life is a journey” metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Examples like “I’m going somewhere in life,” “We’re at a crossroads,” or “Her new direction forward” highlight how this metaphor frames personal and professional development. In their narratives, teachers used the “journey” metaphor to describe their own experiences learning English, maintaining Spanish, and navigating the challenges they and their students face. This framing also underscores the role of community support in language learning and how bilingual education can serve as a pathway to success in U.S. society.
Teachers frequently described their Spanish language experience as following a path, using terms like camino (path), viaje (journey), and trayectoria (trajectory). Motion verbs like seguir (to follow), continuar (to continue), perseguir (to pursue), and alcanzar (to reach) were employed to convey movement along this path, indicating progress or setbacks in language development. The common phrase “seguir adelante” (move forward) was often used to dispel myths about dual immersion programs, clarifying that instead of holding students back, these programs help them “get ahead.” Other key terms included hacia (towards), dirección diferente (different direction), atrasar (to delay), and brecha (gap)[1], all of which contributed to this journey metaphor. Gap is considered part of the journey domain because, in the teachers’ narratives, it functions as an obstacle along the path—something that must be crossed or closed to continue forward. In this sense, the brecha becomes a barrier to reaching the journey’s destination, aligning with other motion and path-related expressions in the data.
Teachers emphasized that being bilingual is a continuous, lifelong journey—one that never ends. As one participant, Fabian expressed:
Ser bilingüe nunca tendrá una conclusión o terminará, es un camino constante, que nunca para o se acaba. (Fabian)
(Being bilingual will never have a conclusion or an end; it is a constant path that never stops or finishes.)
However, participants also acknowledged that language can sometimes be a “barrier,” particularly in a society that prioritizes English. For instance, Alba shared:
No me iba a permitir que un lenguaje fuera mi barrera. (Alba)
(I wasn’t going to allow language to be my barrier.)
This metaphor underscores the challenges of not mastering literacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when students in rural schools were “falling behind” on their language journey, as Silvia explained:
A medida que avanzaba el año escolar académico, se estaban quedando cada vez más atrás. (Silvia)
(As the academic school year progressed, they were falling further and further behind.)
She went on to discuss the achievement gap, a common metaphor in education that evokes a physical gap between students. In the metaphor, all students are going in the same direction but minoritized (often bilingual) children are behind monolingual children from privileged backgrounds. The powerful image of having a language gap as an obstacle on the path to success. Silvia attributed this gap not to her students or their families but to systemic barriers, including unequal access to digital resources and inadequate support for parents with limited language and digital literacy. She described the pandemic as creating more barriers for students from under-resourced households.
Teachers also used the gap metaphor to advocate for bilingual education as a way to “close” the “gaps” between students and make the path smoother. Lucia remarked:
Creo firmemente que el programa de inmersión dual nos ayudará a cerrar las brechas de rendimiento. (Lucia)
(I strongly believe the dual immersion program will help us close the achievement gaps.)
This metaphor reflects the teachers’ belief that bilingual education benefits students who are often racially minoritized and framed as having a “language gap.”
In addition, teachers journey-adjacent metaphors to convey the opportunities that bilingualism provides. Lucia described that the students in her class will volar alto, un idioma a la vez (fly high, one language at a time). Here she evoked the idea that being bilingual gives individuals wings, allowing them to travel faster and more efficiently, offering advantages over other, slower forms of movement.
Teachers also stressed the importance of collaboration—of travel partners, particularly parents. Highlighting the Latinx value of collectivism, with teachers acknowledging the role of family and friends in their language journey, Teresa shared:
Al igual que con mi familia, mis amigos jugaron una parte importante en mi camino de hacer bilingüe. (Teresa)
(Just like my family, my friends played a significant part in my journey to becoming bilingual.)
Terms like acompañar (to accompany) reflected the humility and partnership they sought with parents as stakeholders in their children’s education. Lucia expressed this sentiment:
Espero que me acompañe en el viaje bilingüe que su hijo está a punto de vivir. (Lucia)
(I hope you will accompany me on the bilingual journey your child is about to embark on.)
Similarly, Amalia addressed her students’ parents as follows:
Les pido que apoyen a sus niños en su trayectoria de aprendizaje. (Amalia)
(I ask that you support your children on their learning path.)
Through these metaphorical expressions, the teachers focused on the process of the journey—emphasizing persistence, community support, and overcoming obstacles to reach their goals. The concept of the journey is a central framework in their narratives, with future sections highlighting success as a final destination, where bilingualism opens doors and presents a world of opportunities.
Language Is a Natural Resource (Plant Life)
The metaphor “language as a natural resource (plant life)” was the second most prevalent category among the narratives. Through this metaphor, teachers conceptualized language as a living ecosystem that requires care and attention to thrive. In particular, they described Spanish as a delicate resource that must be preserved to prevent it from withering away. These expressions reveal a deep-seated concern among teachers regarding the potential loss of heritage language and highlights their role in sustaining it. Many used phrases like conservar or preservar la lengua (to conserve or preserve language), mantener la lengua (to maintain the language), no abandonar la lengua (not to abandon the language), desaparecer (disappear), and morir (die), illustrating the urgency of this task. Other important verbs in this category included crecer (to grow), perder (to lose), sembrar (to plant), and florecer (to flourish). Raíces (roots) was a common noun used to depict plant life. These terms suggest that language is akin to a plant that draws its strength from its roots, which provides the necessary foundation for growth and flourishing. The metaphor evokes a sense of bilingualism as something natural and beautiful, where the rewards—like a vibrant, blooming plant—are the result of consistent nurturing and care.
Luz, a bilingual teacher, drew on this metaphor to express how important it is to help her students remain connected to their linguistic and cultural heritage:
Hoy me enorgullezco en ser maestra bilingüe que le puede enseñar a mis alumnos que nunca se avergüencen de sus raíces y de sus acentos o idiomas. (Luz)
(Today, I am proud to be a bilingual teacher who can teach my students to never be ashamed of their roots, accents, or languages.)
Similarly, Teresa highlighted the connection between language and cultural identity:
Hablar español es una forma de conectarme con ellos [mis estudiantes] y mis raíces culturales. (Teresa)
(Speaking Spanish is a way to connect with them [my students] and my cultural roots.)
Pilar, another bilingual teacher, reflected on her childhood experiences as a language broker, assisting her family and friends who did not speak English. She described how these early challenges “planted the seed” for her passion for linguistic diversity. This metaphor, “planting the seed,” represents the beginning of her love for languages, which has since grown and flourished in her adult life as a bilingual teacher:
Estas experiencias con la diversidad lingüística sembraron la semilla de mi amor por la riqueza de los idiomas. (Pilar)
(These experiences with linguistic diversity planted the seed of my love for the richness of languages.)
Anais shared a similar story, recalling how her parents struggled to learn English after immigrating to the U.S. As a child, she often served as their language broker, which sparked her lifelong fascination with bilingualism. She describes how her passion for languages began to “bloom”:
Allí es en donde mi fascinación por el bilingüismo empezó a florecer. (Anais)
(That’s where my fascination with bilingualism began to bloom.)
Silvia used the metaphor of growth to describe her role as an educator:
Estoy emocionada en ayudar a su hijo/hija a crecer y fomentar sus habilidades lingüísticas. (Silvia)
(I am excited to help your child grow and nurture their linguistic abilities.)
These metaphorical expressions cast language as a living entity, rooted in the past and connected to one’s identity and culture. The teachers portrayed themselves as gardeners or caretakers, responsible for cultivating their students’ linguistic abilities. Just as plants require water, sunlight, and care to grow, language requires attention, nourishment, and connection to roots—both cultural and familial—to thrive.
The imagery of language as plant life underscores the teachers’ concern for the fragility of their heritage language. Spanish, like a plant, can be lost or abandoned if not properly cared for. The metaphor of “roots” emphasizes that language, like a tree, draws sustenance from staying connected to its cultural origins. Teachers express a fear that if they distance themselves from their linguistic roots, or fail to tend to them, the language will wither and die.
Language Is Success
The metaphor “language is success” was the third most common category identified among bilingual teachers. In this category, teachers framed bilingualism as a key to achieving economic or social success, offering both personal and communal benefits. Socially, they viewed bilingualism as advantageous at multiple levels—family, community, national, and global—because it promotes diverse perspectives, enhances cultural understanding, and improves communication across boundaries. The metaphorical expressions in this category were diverse, but they all connected bilingualism to success, conceptualizing language as a means of accessing new opportunities, perspectives, and worlds.
One of the central ideas in this category was that bilingualism grants access to “other worlds,” where each language represents a unique and rich cultural environment. Teachers depicted bilingual individuals as having the ability to inhabit and benefit from both worlds, enjoying the distinct advantages that each offer. Rosa, for example, expressed this by saying:
Tenía lo mejor de dos mundos. (Rosa)
(I had the best of both worlds.)
In this sense, success is not merely about financial or career achievements; it also involves the broadening of one’s worldview and cultural connections. This metaphor of language as a world underscores how bilinguals cherish what each linguistic and cultural environment has to offer.
Teachers’ narratives also described bilingualism as a tool for economic advancement and social mobility. They frequently used expressions like abre puertas (opens doors), te da ventajas (gives you advantages), te permite sobresalir (allows you to excel), and te abre oportunidades (opens opportunities) to convey how mastering two languages provides a competitive edge in life. Although some of these expressions share similarities with the “language is a journey” metaphor, the emphasis here is on reaching a successful endpoint—a destination—rather than focusing on the process or motion of getting there. For instance, bilingualism is seen as the “final destination” when teachers achieve fluency in both languages and secure employment that allows them to serve their communities. They viewed this success not just as a personal achievement but as a means to give back to others, especially within bilingual and bicultural settings. As Amalia and Isabel described:
El ser bilingüe me ha abierto puertas en las comunidades en las que he vivido y trabajado. (Amalia)
(Being bilingual has opened doors for me in the communities where I have lived and worked.)El poder ser bilingüe me ha abierto las puertas de muchas maneras. (Isabel)
(Being bilingual has opened doors for me in many ways.)
Moreover, biliteracy and bilingualism were portrayed as destinations themselves—places where individuals can cross bridges between cultures and people. This metaphor reinforces the idea that being bilingual is not just a skill but a realm of experiences and relationships. Teachers described bilingualism as a “fascinating place” where languages intertwine, creating connections across cultural divides. As Pilar put it:
La biliteracidad es un lugar fascinante donde los idiomas se entrelazan para crear puentes entre culturas, personas y experiencias. (Pilar)
(Biliteracy is a fascinating place where languages intertwine to create bridges between cultures, people, and experiences.)
Through these metaphors, teachers advocated for bilingualism as a critical asset that enables upward social mobility. They described their own bilingualism as a powerful tool that has allowed them to enter professions where they can utilize their language skills and contribute meaningfully to their communities. Bilingualism, in this sense, is not only a skill but a place of success—a physical and metaphorical space that opens doors to broader horizons and greater opportunities. This notion of success as occupying a physical space is powerful, as it affirms the value of being bilingual in both professional and personal contexts.
Language Is a (Physical) Structure
The metaphor “language is a structure” captures how participants viewed language as something that can be constructed, reinforced, and supported over time. This framing appeared repeatedly as teachers described Spanish and English as foundational elements—sources of stability upon which students can build their skills. Expressions such as support, bridge, and foundation extend meaning from the physical domain of architecture to the abstract domain of language learning. Teachers frequently drew on architectural terms to describe their role as providing structural support for students, as Anais’ example illustrates:
He usado mi bilingüismo para apoyar a mis estudiantes y padres que su segundo idioma es el inglés. (Anais)
(I have used my bilingualism to support my students and parents whose second language is English.)
This metaphor also resonated with the teachers’ reflections on their personal experiences as heritage language speakers, where they described how their ability to speak two languages has served as a bridge for their families. Pilar, for instance, recalled her childhood role as a language broker, where her bilingualism helped connect her parents to the English-speaking world:
Mi habilidad para comunicarme en ambos idiomas se convirtió en un puente importante para ellos [mis padres]. (Pilar)
(My ability to communicate in both languages became an important bridge for them [my parents].)
The building metaphor was further reinforced through the teachers’ accounts of overcoming adversity. Some, such as Amalia, described experiences of discrimination for being Latinx and speaking Spanish. Yet rather than breaking her spirit, these experiences strengthened her resolve to maintain her heritage language and culture. In narrating how she was punished for speaking Spanish in school, Amalia connected the pain of those experiences to the strength she developed in defending her identity. She drew on the structure metaphor, describing her bilingualism as something reinforced under pressure—like a structure that becomes stronger when tested. Amalia used the metaphor of reinforcement to describe how these experiences fortified her pride in her identity:
En la primaria, las monjas me pegaban en las manos con reglas porque me atrevía a hablar español en el salón. Pero esto solo reforzó en mí el orgullo de mi cultura e idioma de herencia. (Amalia)
((In elementary school, the nuns would hit my hands with rulers because I dared to speak Spanish in class. But this only reinforced my pride in my culture and heritage language.)
Her story also shows how adversity and literacy practices together shaped her resilient bilingual identity. She explains that her uncles taught her to read comics in Spanish line by line, using their fingers to scaffold her literacy development.
Taken together, the structure metaphor emphasizes how teachers conceptualized bilingualism as solid and enduring. Through literacy, family support, and cultural pride, they built linguistic “foundations” for themselves, their families, and their students. Whether describing language as a bridge between cultures, a base for learning, or a structure that can be reinforced under pressure, teachers framed bilingualism as something resilient and supportive. This metaphor communicates the stability that language provides for these bilingual teachers.
Language Is a Person (Or Part of a Person)
Personifying language enabled bilingual teachers to convey their deep connection to it, often illustrating language as an inseparable part of their identity. This metaphor highlighted the profound link between language and self, as well as the discrimination that often accompanies that bond. By embodying language, these educators made an abstract concept more relatable, emphasizing that language, like a human being, can experience, feel, and influence their personal and professional lives.
Teachers often described Spanish as an essential part of themselves, something they cannot afford to lose and must keep intact. They referred to language as living within them, as part of their physical being, capable of actions like hiding or escaping. For example, they described language as te abre la mente (“it opens your mind”), evoking a sense of embodied experience. For these educators, language is more than a skill; it is a part of who they are. Juan expressed this:
El español siempre ha sido parte de mi vida, a través del deporte, la educación y la familia. (Juan)
(Spanish has always been part of my life, through sports, education, and family).
Similarly, Fabian reinforced the link between language and identity, using a vivid metaphor that connects language to heritage stating,
El bilingüismo lo traigo en mi sangre. (Fabian)
(Bilingualism runs in my blood).
Some teachers described their love and pride for their language as something that “is born” in specific moments of connection with family. Fabian, who immigrated to the U.S. as an adult, shared how witnessing the discrimination his nephews faced sparked his pride in promoting heritage languages:
Este gran deseo de promover el amor y orgullo a las lenguas maternas nace cuando convivo con unos de mis sobrinos quienes recién llegaban de México, y me comentaban cuanto sufrieron de discriminación y mal adaptación a nuestro sistema escolar. Yo personalmente experimenté discriminación a nivel universitario, pero de alguna manera pensaba que no pasaba en la primaria, secundaria y preparatoria. (Fabian)
(This great desire to promote love and pride for mother languages was born when I spent time with some of my nephews who had just arrived from Mexico, and they told me how much they suffered from discrimination and struggled to adapt to our school system. I personally experienced discrimination at the university level, but in some way, I thought it did not happen in elementary, middle, or high school.)
Fabian noted the shock of realizing that even young children face the same racism he encountered as an adult, further reinforcing that people are marginalized based on language and identity. In this metaphorical framework, language is not only a part of the body but also deeply interconnected with family, culture, and the experience of being Latinx in a world where bilingualism can be both a source of pride and discrimination.
Language is War
Several teachers depicted English as an opponent in combat that oppresses Spanish through metaphorical expressions, reflecting a sense of physical struggle and resistance. They used bellicose terms such as luchar (to fight), batallar (to battle), reprimir (suppress), and dolor (pain). These metaphors illustrate the power struggle and suffering Spanish-speaking Latinx individuals face when learning English. For example, Fabian reflected on the challenges he faced after immigrating as an adult and enrolling in English classes with people from diverse backgrounds. Although he recalled his feelings of hope after immigrating to the U.S., the pain of unachieved goals, and the ongoing struggle to become bilingual (specifically learning English as an adult), he emphasized that this struggle is continuous. Yet it is his desire to help future generations that motivates him:
Cuántos sueños y metas que nunca logré y otras que tal vez ya han sido olvidadas, pero sigo aún en mi lucha de ser un ser bilingüe para ayudar a las nuevas generaciones que llegan a este gran país como un día yo lo hice. (Fabian)
(How many dreams and goals I never achieved, and others that may have already been forgotten, but I continue in my struggle to be a bilingual person to help the new generations who arrive in this great country, just as I once did.)
Fabian’s words underscore that being bilingual is not a simple or finite process, but rather an ongoing effort.
Other bilingual teachers shared how their own parents or relatives portrayed English as an opponent in a fight. For example, Amalia described how her uncles often spoke about needing to “defend themselves” when speaking English in public spaces:
Mis tíos se defendían, como ellos decían, sobre el inglés. (Amalia)
(My uncles defended themselves, as they would say, with their English.)
This use of defenderse (“to defend oneself”) reflects how everyday interactions in English could feel like a confrontation for Latinxs. As seen in the structure metaphor section, Amalia shares that her uncles played a nurturing role in her early literacy, sitting with her to read Spanish comics like Kaliman or La Zorra y el Cuervo. This layering of metaphors—the war-like need to “defend themselves” in English alongside the building of a strong foundation in Spanish at home—shows how languages were experienced simultaneously as battlefields and as structures for resistance. Amalia’s reflection therefore illustrates how the war metaphor interacts with the structure metaphor in a single linguistic history: while English was framed as an opponent to resist, Spanish was constructed as a base and reinforcement of identity, fortified through family support. Her narrative hints at the racialized dynamics that Latinx individuals encounter in public spaces when communicating in English, while also showing how family literacy practices made Spanish a source of pride and stability.
Other Language Metaphors
In addition to the more prevalent metaphors, teachers occasionally used other expressions to describe their bilingual experiences. These included language as a spiritual blessing, duty, family, a liquid, a game, and even a nightmare. For instance, “language is a blessing” appeared in Silvia’s reflection:
No fue hasta finales de mis veinte años que comencé a ver ser bilingüe como una bendición. (Silvia)
(It wasn’t until my late twenties that I began to see being bilingual as a blessing.)
Here, bilingualism is seen as a gift, something to be grateful for later in life.
Teresa used the metaphor of “language is a game” to reflect on earning respect through communication:
Esto nos ganaría puntos de respeto con los padres porque pudimos hablar con ellos y les hablamos de manera respetuosa. (Teresa)
([Being bilingual] would earn us respect from the [students’] parents because we were able to speak with them, and we spoke to them respectfully.)
Alba described her initial language-learning experience as a nightmare, recalling the trauma of arriving in the U.S. at age 14 and facing the repression of her native Spanish:
El primer año fue una pesadilla ya que tuve la mala experiencia de llegar a un ambiente donde mi lengua materna era reprimida. (Alba)
(The first year was a nightmare because I had the unfortunate experience of arriving in an environment where my mother tongue was suppressed.)
Finally, in a couple of cases, teachers used language as a mixture to convey the idea of fluidity and cultural blending, as Fabian did when reflecting on the richness of the Spanish language:
El español que hablo hoy es una mezcla de palabras de distintas raíces. (Fabian)
(The Spanish I speak today is a mix of words from different origins.)
While the metaphor of “mixture” can be read broadly, it resonates with conceptualizations of liquids that combine or blend into a single, continuous substance—such as when water and flavor merge inseparably. Interpreting Spanish as a mixture points to its fluidity, adaptability, and capacity to absorb influences from multiple sources. This framing communicates not only the dynamic nature of bilingualism but also the teachers’ recognition that language is not fixed but constantly shifting, merging, and flowing across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
These additional metaphors demonstrate the wide range of emotional and conceptual associations teachers made with bilingualism, highlighting both the challenges of and resilience gained in navigating multiple languages and cultures.
Discussion
This study examined how metaphorical expressions shape bilingual educators’ understanding of language and identity. Recognizing that language gaps are frequently used to frame students of color in their schooling, these teachers use journey metaphors to present bilingual education as a solution to bridge those gaps. The most commonly used metaphor was “language as a journey”. Journey metaphors are widely used across Spanish-speaking communities in Latin America (Crego et al., 2022) and offer a constructive way to view hardships, such as language learning. This conceptual mapping of a journey, with a beginning, middle, and end, provides structure to navigate difficult circumstances. It frames challenges as part of a forward-moving process, offering a sense of direction and purpose, with the ultimate goal being progress and resolution. The journey metaphor helps make sense of experiences by portraying them as steps toward a defined destination, reinforcing the idea that perseverance leads to accomplishment. It enables teachers and students to frame their experiences with purpose and resilience, suggesting that the challenges of learning, maintaining, and teaching language are part of a larger, meaningful process. Importantly, the teachers in this study do not see this journey as one they traverse alone; they emphasize the importance of key figures in their lives, speaking to the Latinx cultural value of collectivism.
Teacher narratives acknowledged parents’ central role in supporting their children’s education. This understanding aligns with existing research. Effective schools foster partnerships with parents by engaging them in literacy activities with their children, though a challenge remains in providing bilingual resources to support this engagement. Initiatives aimed at creating educational materials in Spanish, accessible to Spanish-speaking parents, have played a key role in engaging families and supporting the success of bilingual students, while also affirming language diversity and cultural identity (Pando & Aguirre-Muñoz, 2018).
In addition to journey metaphors, teachers’ use of plant life metaphors conveyed a deep sense of responsibility for keeping their heritage language alive. They expressed concern about “abandoning” the plant, symbolizing their dedication to preserving the language for future generations. Bilingualism, in their view, is not just a personal asset but a tool for creating opportunities and bridging cultures, reinforcing the notion that language can “open the door to success.” These teachers emerge as strong advocates for bilingual education and DL immersion, recognizing its value for students, families, and communities.
The data also showed distinctions between metaphors that are more universally shared and those that appear closely tied to the English and Spanish varieties spoken by participants. For instance, the journey metaphor was the most common across teachers’ narratives, consistent with its broad use across languages beyond Spanish and English (Liu et al., 2024). This universality may help explain its effectiveness as a resource for framing bilingual education. The structure metaphor is prevalent in educational contexts, where language learning is frequently described in terms of scaffolding, building a strong foundation, reinforcing skills, or providing tools. In our data, teachers extended this frame through images of bridges and reinforcement to present Spanish as a strength in their bilingual experiences.
By contrast, metaphors such as language as a natural resource represent a more innovative and locally resonant way of communicating the underlying tension teachers feel between assimilation pressures and the need to protect Spanish as a communal and cultural asset. While war metaphors have been found across languages (Magaña, 2024), they were less central here; when they did emerge, they were consistently tied to experiences of struggle and resistance. These patterns suggest that bilingual teachers strategically draw on both widely recognized metaphors and those more culturally specific to their own linguistic repertoires to frame their languaging experiences including, learning, advocacy, and identity.
The study highlights the power of conceptual metaphors, which teachers drew upon to share deeply personal experiences that are emotionally charged. Teachers who have endured violence and discrimination for speaking Spanish used metaphorical language to express their pain, making abstract experiences more accessible to readers. For example, one bilingual teacher recalled being physically punished by a nun for speaking Spanish in school, vividly illustrating the violent suppression of her language. This account echoes similar stories reported by bilingual preservice teachers in previous research (Ek et al., 2013), showing that such experiences are not isolated. These narratives emphasized the racialized realities of Latinx teachers and underscored the importance of trauma-informed approaches to support them.
Many of these Latinx educators shared their experiences as child language brokers, recounting how they interpreted for their families from a young age. These early experiences often motivated them to become dual immersion instructors, working with students who share similar backgrounds. Research indicates that language brokering can evoke complex emotions, including embarrassment and frustration (López et al., 2019), and has been linked to poor mental health outcomes (Kam, 2011). Recognizing the burden that language/culture/emotion brokering places on children of color (Subramoney et al., 2024), bilingual educators were driven by a desire to ease this responsibility for bilingual youth by educating the pipeline of future bilingual professionals. By acknowledging that language gaps are often used to frame students of color in schooling, these teachers reframe bilingual education as a solution to bridge such gaps—foregrounding persistence, community collaboration, and the affirmation of heritage language as central to student success.
One limitation of the present study is its reliance on a small sample size from a specific region. Therefore, these findings may not fully represent the diverse experiences of bilingual Latinx teachers. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these educators use metaphors to conceptualize language, future research should explore larger, more diverse samples and examine different communication genres. Analyzing teachers’ conceptual metaphors provides valuable insights into their experiences, stances, and ideologies regarding Spanish and English. Given that the use and impact of metaphors can vary by culture (Magaña, 2020; Ondish et al., 2019), it would also be beneficial to investigate how metaphors are used in the context of other heritage languages across various cultural backgrounds in the U.S.
It is essential to continue developing pedagogical content that elevates the voices, stories, struggles, and histories of diverse Latinx communities—particularly those who defy rigid categories, such as people of mixed racial heritage, undocumented immigrants, individuals with diverse gender identities, and speakers of Indigenous languages from Spanish-speaking countries (Baquedano-López, 2021). Expanding research in this area can enhance our understanding of Latinx educators’ contributions to language programs while fostering more affirming spaces for instructors. In short, the narratives underscore that supporting bilingual educators—particularly instructors of color—requires both pedagogical innovation and institutional commitment. Their use of metaphors to conceptualize bilingualism offers a pedagogical tool for fostering teacher resilience, family engagement, as well as student and community advocacy in both teacher preparation and K–12 classrooms.
Creating safe spaces for bilingual educators to share their language and identity narratives is crucial for healing and fostering pride (Nuñez et al., 2021). These spaces offer opportunities to honor their resistance and resilience, allowing them to transform their experiences into positive change for their students (Aguirre-Muñoz et al., 2024). Ultimately, supporting bilingual teachers is essential because they play a critical role in shaping culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogical practices, which are key to engaging students of color (Paris & Alim, 2017).
Implications
These findings suggest the importance of embedding critical language awareness, metaphor analysis, and identity reflection into heritage language teacher education programs. Teacher candidates who identify as heritage speakers benefit from structured opportunities to examine internalized ideologies (Ek et al., 2013; Nuñez et al., 2021) and to develop instructional strategies that validate non-standard varieties of Spanish as legitimate and valuable. Incorporating conceptual metaphor analysis into teacher preparation can deepen candidates’ understanding of how their lived experiences influence classroom practice and provide them with language to advocate for asset-based approaches to bilingual education.
Within classroom contexts, teachers can adapt metaphor-based reflection activities to support student engagement and self-efficacy. For example, inviting students to craft their own bilingual “journey” or “roots” narratives can strengthen their metalinguistic awareness and affirm their cultural identities (Colombi, 2015; Pando & Aguirre-Muñoz, 2018). Teachers can model ways to connect these metaphors to family engagement—inviting parents to “accompany” the journey—thus reinforcing the collectivist values prevalent in many Latinx communities. These practices not only build trust between home and school but also position students’ bilingualism as a shared source of pride and responsibility.
The results also reinforce the need for policies that sustain and expand the bilingual educator workforce, particularly teachers of color serving language-minoritized students. This includes funding for bilingual certification pathways, district-level instructional coaching, and leadership development programs that center heritage language expertise. Policy frameworks should also formalize recognition of bilingual educators’ cultural and linguistic contributions in evaluation, hiring, and promotion systems (Flores & García, 2017). These measures can improve retention, counter the shortage of qualified bilingual teachers, and signal institutional commitment to culturally sustaining pedagogy.
Supporting Instructors of Color
Beyond academic discussion, this study points to concrete steps for supporting bilingual teachers of color as they work to create affirming educational spaces. One key priority is to integrate teacher narratives into PD, using their lived experiences as case studies for guided discussions on language ideologies, metaphor use, and classroom practice. Embedding these insights in ongoing training can help educators translate metaphorical framings—such as journey, structure, and resource—into strategies that validate students’ bilingual identities.
Another avenue is the development of community-based learning networks. Regional “Bilingual Teacher Circles” can serve as collaborative spaces for instructors of color to design culturally sustaining lesson materials, mentor early-career teachers, and partner with families. Collaborations with cultural centers, libraries, and advocacy groups can extend this work to the broader community, using formats such as storytelling events, bilingual anthologies, or digital media to celebrate and sustain heritage language practices.
Institutional support remains critical. School and district leaders should receive targeted training on the asset-based contributions of bilingual educators, paired with case studies that illustrate how valuing teachers’ linguistic expertise strengthens school culture and improves student outcomes. Recognizing and rewarding the cultural and linguistic knowledge that instructors of color bring to their classrooms can improve retention while signaling a deeper commitment to equity and inclusion.
By linking pedagogical practices, institutional structures, and community engagement, these initiatives aim to create affirming and inclusive educational environments that recognize the struggles, resilience, and linguistic richness instructors of color bring to their classrooms. In doing so, they align with the principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris & Alim, 2017) and respond to ongoing calls for equity-focused reforms in heritage language education.
Gap is considered as part of the domain of journey, because it presented as an obstacle to reaching the journey.