Educational language policy and the role of advocacy among English Language Professionals in the United States: An historical and case study analysis

Reform-oriented efforts geared toward transformative education and equal educational opportunities for all U.S. school children (regardless of race, gender, or cultural/linguistic background) are underway and advocacy is emerging as an important topic of discussion and debate among language-ineducation specialists, applied linguists included.;In this dissertation, the author (1) draws on library-based and archival research to situate and trace the subject of advocacy within the broader, historical framework of the social sciences within the U.S.; (2) explores diverse origins, conceptualizations, and personal experiences of advocacy among select English Language Professionals (ELPs) via interviews; and (3) aims to move ELPs toward a more comprehensive understanding of and strategy for advocacy by presenting the first framework for advocacy in the field.;Library and archival research focuses on the emergence, development, and importance of the first U.S. social science organization--the American Social Science Association (ASSA). The pattern of growth, development, and evolution with respect to the present-day relationship between research-generated knowledge and advocacy-oriented action among ELPs.;With respect to modern-day understandings and experiences of advocacy, interviews were conducted with prominent ELPs in the following areas: civil rights law, second language acquisition, bilingual education, literacy development, organizational lobbying, language policy and planning, K--12 school administration, and English education. Interview data and analysis is organized according to three central themes: (1) the conceptualization of advocacy as a process; (2) the complexities part-and-parcel to the process of making research-generated knowledge accessible and applicable to a non-specialist audience/context; and (3) the need to discuss advocacy-oriented efforts and opportunities within the context of professional organizations specifically with respect to issues of professional development, educational leadership, and teacher education.;Finally, the Heuristic for Advocacy among English Language Professionals is presented and described. This model, providing ELPs with a structured and functional framework by which the process of advocacy can be more comprehensively understood and discussed, is comprised of five interwoven and non-sequential stages---Inquiry, Consciousness, Critique, Vision, and Action. The heuristic proposes a continuum in which the process of generating research-based knowledge is valued and positively linked to advocacy-oriented efforts.