Briya Public Charter School is a nationally recognized, two-generation school that has served immigrant families in Washington, DC, for more than 30 years. At Briya, students contribute to the school through participation in curriculum design and leadership-focused programming. These engagements enhance their learning and develop important skills…

Although Traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Church Education (TCE) has been involved in literacy teaching for over two millennia, its potential as a model and an asset for adult literacy programmes has not been recognised by literacy providers. This paper examines how people of different generations acquire and practise literacy within TCE, including…

The increasing number of English learners in local communities in the U.S. include both children and their family members. There is an urgent need to provide educational support for both generations of English learners. In this report from the field, a partnership program using a two-generation approach is described. Based on interviews,…

In this article, we present findings of a research study centered around a 10-week digital production workshop developed specifically for families in an urban school board, a population rich with culturally diverse immigrant families and English language learners (ELLs). The aim of this research was to support parents/guardians in an urban…

Racial and ethnic diversity has increased dramatically over the past 35 years, enriching our public schools with students whose families embody a global village. Of the children born in the U.S. to at least one foreign-born parent, the majority are Hispanic. This is a pattern that reflects the recent rise of immigration from Latin America.…

Although they are often overlooked by policymakers, intergenerational approaches to literacy and learning have huge potential across a range of agendas and particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable families. Research evidence reveals the considerable benefits of family learning for both children and adults. Fostering a culture of learning…

The current investigation examined whether inter-generational transfer of risk could be revealed through mothers' and preschool-aged children's expressive language, and whether continuity of risk persisted in these children's academic abilities, 3 years later. Participating families were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a…

Using oral survey methods, this study examined potential language maintenance or loss of Mayan languages among the Guatemalan-Maya communities of Southeast Florida. Among dislocated immigrants and their children, the language of the dominant socio-economic forces often displaces other languages (Fishman, 1967). A Guatemalan community in Los…

This study investigates the learning exchange between three- to six-year-old children and their grandparents, in Sylheti/Bengali-speaking families of Bangladeshi origin and monolingual English-speaking families living in east London. The following concepts from sociocultural theory are applied to this new area of intergenerational learning:…

Family literacy has developed over the past decade into an increasingly significant--and often contested--area of research, practice, and policymaking in the fields of literacy and family studies as well as in the broader arenas of education and schooling. The purpose of this chapter is to give the reader a better understanding of the general…