Immigrant Parents’ Ideological Positioning on Bilingualism

Abstract

It is critical for educators to understand how the official educational policy of the United States, which reflects dominant language ideologies, renders a particular view of immigrant families and students. Educational policy explicitly emphasizes the need for linguistically diverse students to acquire standard English, implicitly problematizing and devaluing linguistic diversity. Immigrant parents are aware of the importance of learning the socially dominant language, but they also wish their children to maintain their heritage languages for familial unity and intergenerational communication. Despite their positive stance toward bilingualism, immigrant parents struggle with encouraging their children to continue developing skills in their heritage languages. Immigrant parents’ challenges in supporting their children’s bilingualism are deeply related to the deficit views implicitly generated by the educational policy. This article concludes with pedagogical implications for educators to honor linguistic and cultural resources that linguistically diverse immigrants and families can offer.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional Resources

1. Martinez, R. A. (2018). Beyond the English learner label: Recognizing the richness of bi/multilingual students’ linguistic repertoires. The Reading Teacher, 71, 515-522.

This article problematizes the label English learner for its deficit orientation toward linguistically diverse students because this term implies monolingualism as a normalized condition and creates a view of linguistically diverse students as struggling learners. Instead, the author argues that bilingual learners’ code-switching or alternating two or more languages in speech and writing should be considered as creative skills in using languages for communication reflecting their bilingual proficiency. The author further suggests that acknowledging the richness of bilingual students’ linguistic resources can transform the deficit discourses on bilingual learners’ skills and ability as readers and writers.

2. Louie, B., & Davis-Welton, K. (2016). Family literacy project: Bilingual picture books by English learners. The Reading Teacher, 69, 597-606.

This article introduces a family literacy project in which culturally and linguistically diverse students and their families collaborated with in-service and pre-service teachers enrolling in university literacy instruction courses. The project was designed to value families’ funds of knowledge and build on the students’ linguistic and cultural resources. Because this article provides details of how the project was implemented, it allows teacher educators and teachers to replicate the project with necessary modifications to create collaborative opportunities for teachers, teacher candidates, students, and families.

3. Protacio, M. S., & Edwards, P. A. (2015). Restructuring sharing time for English learners and their parents. The Reading Teachers, 68, 413-421.

This article introduces a way to transform sharing time for young English language learners in a classroom. Although sharing time is a common practice in US early childhood classrooms, immigrant families may be unfamiliar with this type of practice. The authors suggest that detailed guidelines can encourage immigrant families and children to prepare sharing time with more confidence. Furthermore, culturally specific artifacts can motivate families to provide constructive support for children during sharing time. The article highlights a culturally responsive approach to sharing time that can promote English language learners’ engagement in classroom activities while encouraging their families’ involvement.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kwangok Song

Kwangok Song is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at the University of Kansas.