Re-Framing the Master Narratives of Dis/ability Through an Emotion Lens

362 Pages·2016·1.61 MB·English

Re-Framing the Master Narratives of Dis/ability Through an Emotion Lens:
Voices of Latina/o Students with Learning Disabilities
by
David Isaac Hernández-Saca

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

Approved July 2016 by the
Graduate Supervisory Committee:

Alfredo J. Artiles, Chair
David J. Connor
Matthew T. Prior

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
August 2016
ABSTRACT

This study re-frames learning disabilities (LD) through the emotion-laden talk of
four Latina/o students with LD. The research questions included: 1) What are the
emotion-laden talk of Latina/o students about being labeled with LD? 2) What are
Latina/o students' emotion-laden talk of the idea of LD? I identified master narratives, the
"pre-existent sociocultural forms of interpretation. They are meant to delineate and
confine the local interpretation strategies and agency constellations in individual subjects
as well as in social institutions," (Bamberg, 2004, p. 287) within the following literatures
to inform my research questions and conceptual framework: a) historiography and
interdisciplinary literature on LD; b) policy (i.e., Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA)), c) the academic and d) social and emotional dimensions of LD; and e)
student voice research with students with LD. Interdisciplinary, critical ethnographic and
qualitative research methods such as taking into account issues of power, etic and emic
perspectives, in-depth interviewing, field notes were used. Total participants1 included:
four students, three parents and three teachers. More specifically, descriptive coding,
identification of emotion-laden talk, a thematic analysis, memoing and intersectional and
cultural-historical developmental constructs were used to analyze students’ emotion-
laden talk. Emotion-laden talk about being labeled with LD included the hegemony of
smartness, disability microaggressions, on the trinity of LD: help + teachers + literacy
troubles, on being bullied, embarrassment to ask for assistance from others and help as
hope. The emotion-laden talk about the idea of LD included LD as double-edge sword,
LDness as X, the meaning of LD as resource, trouble with information processing,

1 All names are pseudonym in this study.
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speech, and silence, the salience of the intersection of disability, ethnicity and language
and other markers of difference, struggles due to lack of understanding and LD myths.
This study provides a discussion and implications for theory, research, policy, and
practice.
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DEDICATION

I dedicate this dissertation study to my family. Specifically, my mother, Maria
Eugenia Saca, father, Rafael Antonio Hernández Sr., sister, Heidi Gilda Dolores
Hernández, and brothers, Jose Antonio Saca, Carlos Roberto Hernández-Saca, Rafael
Antonio Hernández-Saca Jr., and Julio Salvador Hernández-Saca. Also, I dedicate this
dissertation to my partner, Leon Christopher Begay and each of the student, parent and
teacher participants of this study.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Completing a dissertation is a social enterprise. I could not have done it with the
countless hours, love and support from my dissertation chair, Dr. Artiles, dissertation
committee members, Dr. Connor and Dr. Prior, friends, family and partner, Leon C.
Begay. Thank you Leon for your patience. I am forever thankful to your support. Thank
you to Dr. Kozleski for all your support also during the initial development of this study
and for your participation and mentorship in my Ph.D. program throughout the years.
I am extremely appreciative to Dr. Artiles’ mentorship and for embodying the
highest expectations that have always send the message: I believe in you. These
expectations have pushed me beyond what I thought I could do. Within our conversations
Dr. Artiles’ critical questions have always challenged me to reframe, through multiple
perspectives, for deeper and critical analysis toward justice and integrity not only
professionally, but personally. Dr. Connor’s support lead to the development of my
interview protocols and I am extremely thankful. Dr. Connor’s unwavering support has
been a reassuring voice in not only my journey to accomplish this dissertation, but in my
academic career. Dr. Prior’s mentorship, methodologically, as it relates to the construct of
emotion has been beyond words. Thank you, Dr. Prior, for being you and being willing to
share all the endless emails with reading attachments about emotion. The unique
contributions of this dissertation regarding emotion, is directly related to your
mentorship, Dr. Prior and your high expectations as it relates to the study of emotion. I
am thankful to Dr. Doris Warriner for introducing us.
Thank you to Dr. Artiles for also creating a Ph.D. program where he developed
multiple systems of support, such as the Sociocultural Research Group (SRG), that I had
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the privilege of joining since 2010. Throughout my tenure within my doctoral program
this intellectual space has contributed to my development as a current and future scholar.
There I have met “critical friends” such as Dr. Neal, Dr. Huber, Dr. Papacek, Dr.
Gonzalez, Dr. Lin, Dr. Waitoller, Dr. King, Dr. Mruczek, Dr. Chapple, Dr. Kilinc, Dr.
Tefera, Dr. Sandoval, Dr. Dinn-You Liou, Dr. Bertrand, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Casanova, Dr.
McGuire, Dr. Rhoden, Dr. de Roock, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Figueroa, Sarah Diaz, Evelyn
Baca, and many more who have positively influenced my development as a scholar.
A special thank you to Dr. McBride-Schreiner who supported me in the last
marathon miles in completing this dissertation study as a copyeditor. I am very blessed
for all you did for me, and am forever grateful to you. Thank you for reminding me to
have courage. Thank you to Manuel Guti Ayech for serving as the study’s backward and
forward Spanish to English translator for the parent interview protocols. Thank you
Marta Estelles Frade for your help with translation as well. I am indebted to Dr. Lagunas
for connecting me with her sister, Mariaisabel. Mariaisabel conducted the Spanish
translations for the parent interview data.
Thank you to my family for always believing in my ability to pursue my personal
and professional goals and for their spiritual and moral support. I could not have done it
without the value of hard work that each of you instilled in me. Starting, doing and
finishing a dissertation is a social journey and I am humbled and cognizant of all these
people in my life that made this dissertation happen through their love and support.
Lastly, I want to thank the students, parents and teachers of the study, without their
participation I could not have learned what I did about the meaning of being labeled LD
and the idea of LD. Mil gracias and thank YOU, all.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………......xii
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………......……..xiii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1
The Problem and Its Significance: From Personal History to Collective
Identities.......................................................................................................1
LD Master Narratives in a Time of Growing Differences.…..…………....7
Master Narratives of the Social and Emotional Dimensions of LD.….…12
Students with LD’s Voices: A Critical Perspective...…………………....14
Purpose and Research Questions………………………………………...15
2 LITERATURE REVIEW & CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK……………....16
Cultural-Historical, Policy, and Academic Professional Master Narratives
of LD……………………………………………………………………..17
Cultural-Historical Master Narratives of LD.……………………….17
Policy Master Narratives………………………………….………...20
Professional Master Narratives of LD…………………….………...24
Neurological Deficits……………….………...………………..25
Cognitive Deficits……………….………...……………….......27
The Social and Emotional Dimensions of LD…………………31
Promising Responses to Master Narratives: Research on LD Student
Perspectives……………………………………………………………...34
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CHAPTER Page
The Voices of Girls with LD……………………………………......36
Conceptual Framework………………………………………………......42
Disrupting Master Narratives: Accounting for Emotion, Culture,
Power & Privilege………………………………………….............44
Why (Not) Emotion? …………………………….…….......…..........46
What is Emotion? …………………………….…….......…................47
Narrative………………………………………………………….….48
The Narrative Space..………………………………………………...49
The Interactive, Dynamic and Identity Work of Narrative and Discourse
of Emotionality………………………………………………………51
3 METHODS .......................................................................................................56
Researcher Positionality.………………………………………………....56
District and School Site Access & Description……………………….....59
Participants…………………………….………………………………....65
Focal Student Participants..………………………………………......67
Parent Participants......……………………………………………......68
Teacher Participant.………………………………………………......69
Data Collection Procedures…………………………………………........69
Student Interviews..………………………………………………......70
Teacher and Parent Interviews………………………………………...72
Data Analysis Procedures…..………………………………………........74
Student Interviews…..…………………………………………….....74
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CHAPTER Page
1. Descriptive Coding……………………….....……………….76
2. Identification of Emotion-Laden Talk……………………….76
3. Coding Emotion Implicative WHATs and Intensifiers………77
4. Memoing……………………….....……………….…………78
5. Thematic Analysis……………………….....………………...79
6. Ethnographic Information and Materials…………………….80
7. Crafting of Findings Chapters……………………….....……80
Teacher and Parent Interviews……………………….....………………....80
Credibility/Trustworthiness……………………….....………………......81
Triangulation……………………….....………………...……………82
Researcher Positionality……………………….....………………......82
Peer Debriefing……………………….....………………...…………82
Prolonged Field Engagement……………………….....……………..82
Thick, Detailed Description……………………….....………………83
4 SOPHIA CRUZ……………………………………………………………….84
Sophia’s Background and Home Sociocultural Contexts………………..84
Meeting Sophia Cruz and (Troubling) Sociodemographic and Identity
Factors……………………………………………………………….84
Sophia’s Contexts Outside of School and Family Members…….…...91
Navigating Schooling: Sophia and Luciana’s Agency…………..…...93
Coming to Terms with Being Labeled LD…………………………...95
Sophia’s General LD Associations…………………………………..98
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CHAPTER Page
Luciana’s Perspectives Regarding Sophia’s LD……………………100
The Salience of Sociocultural Contextualization……………….…..103
Sophia’s Emotion-Laden Talk about Being Labeled with LD and the Idea
of LD………………………………………………….…….......….....104
Sophia’s Emotion-Laden Talk about Being Labeled with LD…………104
The Hegemony of Smartness…………………………….……........104
Disability Microaggressions…………………………….……..........116
Sophia’s Emotion-Laden Talk of the Idea of LD………………………124
LD as a Double-Edged Sword…………………………….…….......125
LDness as X…………………………….…….......…........................129
LDness as Polymorphous…………………………….……......135
5 DANIEL MARTINEZ…………………………………………………….....143
Daniel’s Background and Sociocultural Home and School Contexts.....143
Daniel’s Family and Home Context…………………………….…..146
Mia’s Beliefs about Daniel’s and Her Own LD…………………….152
Mia’s Perspectives Regarding Her Community……………………156
Daniel’s Multidimensional Identities and Literacies………………..157
Daniel’s School Context…………………………….…….......….....158
Daniel’s Current LD Classification…………………………….…...159
Daniel’s Emotion-Laden Talk about Being Labeled with LD and the Idea
of LD…………………………………………………………………....163
On the Trinity of LD: Help + Teachers + Literacy Troubles………164
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