A raciolinguistic perspective on career readiness standards in career and technical education: Professionalism and communication skills as white linguistic practices

In this paper, we draw on raciolinguistic ideologies and chronotopes to critique career readiness, a race-evasive educational policy discourse that purportedly benefits all students, as grounded in white linguistic ideologies. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, we analyze state-level career readiness policy documents from Pennsylvania and interviews with teachers and administrators from an ethnographic study at a career and technical education center. Findings show how educators reproduce notions of career readiness as an implicit endorsement of white linguistic norms, informed by standard language ideology, which delegitimizes the linguistic practices of racialized speakers. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for school systems to move toward more inclusive and equitable educational policies and practices for English learners in U.S. schools.