Socialized Silence of Students of Color in Community College Composition Classes

Abstract

This hermeneutic phenomenological study was designed to analyze the experiences of Students of Color with socialized silence in community college composition classes. The research sought to understand both the impacts of socialized silence on Students of Color and their descriptions of the composition instructors’ curriculum, behaviors, and practices that created or perpetuated that silence. Participants were Students of Color at the Community College of Aurora in Aurora, Colorado who had completed a composition course in the prior academic year and who self-reported as having experienced socialized silence. Participants were interviewed twice in a semi-structured format. The resulting data was thematically analyzed through the theoretical framework of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. The study concluded that Students of Color are impacted by race-evasive and White centering practices and behaviors that impose silence and create harmful classroom environments where Students of Color must self-silence for protection. Recommendations are made for the institution, curriculum, instructors, students, and future research. Notable in the recommendations are ways to decenter Whiteness and to center Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP). Culturally Sustaining curriculum and pedagogy have the potential to disrupt these silencing structures and empower voice, creating spaces where Students of Color can become transformative agents of change.