In this article I examine the perceptions of third grade minoritized emergent bilinguals (Spanish/English) in a US classroom as they articulate how family members serve as a source of jocularity. By taking a sociocultural perspective on humor as a resource, I seek to render visible the relational and linguistic connections between these students…

The purpose of this study was to examine Mexican and Mexican-American mothers' perspectives about the construction of two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in the context of an urban area in South Texas and to analyze the factors that contribute to their decision about their children's participation in such programs. Our main…

Drawing on Asian Critical Race Theory, this qualitative case study analyzed first-generation Chinese immigrant parents' language ideologies on their children's heritage language (HL) maintenance in the United States. The findings revealed parents' persistence in preserving their HLs for their children, as they considered HLs to be an integral…

In this article, I explore the narratives and experiences of four Latinx mothers and fathers, Alma, Rose, Valente and Samuel, who participated with their adolescent daughters (grades nine-10), Blanca, Elizabeth, Rocky and Reyna in Somos Escritores/We are Writers writing workshops. Somos Escritores was a family engagement space, created with and…

Japanese immigrants opened a Saturday school in a small Northeastern town to teach Japanese to their children as a heritage language. Because of parents' limited time and resources, a Saturday school worked well. The school became a place to share culture as well as teach language. Background, curriculum, and factors contributing to success are…

Reviews a book that emphasizes the role of families in maintaining minority languages and, ultimately, cultures. The book sees efforts to preserve and restore minority languages as societal reform efforts that lead to appreciation of other cultures as well. Three sections cover introductory considerations, case studies of threatened languages, and…

The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether the Hmong language and culture were shifting or were being maintained within a generational cross-section of 12 Hmong participants in Merced, California. Data was collected in the form of interviews, questionnaires, Internet research, and library research. The results of the study showed that…

Focus groups and interviews with 37 teachers and 4 principals examined their roles and experiences in Papahana Kaiapuni, a K-12 program taught entirely in Hawaiian. Teachers integrated Hawaiian culture into the curriculum and viewed the program as a model of school reform for Native Hawaiians. The program transformed many teachers' views of…

Discusses the role that schools, communities, and parents can play in transmitting American Indian culture and language to Indian children, focusing on the experiences of the Hualapai Indians and Peach Springs School District in Arizona. (three references) (MDM)

Discusses the reasons for the decline and loss of American Indian languages in the United States and efforts to reverse this trend, including the effects of the Native American Indian Languages Acts of 1990 and 1992. It is argued that linguistic diversity and renewal has important social, cultural, and intellectual implications. (35 references)…

Surveys of 105 U.S.-born, Chinese-American and Korean-American students in southern California high schools found that those who adapted to the mainstream culture while maintaining their heritage language and culture had higher academic achievement than those who wholly adopted mainstream values and lifestyles. (Contains 21 references.) (SV)

Discusses the ways in which various American Indian community schools and programs have addressed the concept of language and cultural maintenance and renewal, focusing on the role of bilingual programs, classroom interactions, community involvement, and indigenous teachers. The perspectives of the Yupik Indians on indigenous education are…

In the past 25 years, both content and context of American Indian education have changed tremendously, largely due to a dynamic interplay between federal language policy and initiatives generated by Indian schools and communities. This paper integrates a historical analysis of federal language policy with comparative ethnographic data from Indian…

Reviews research on maintaining and revitalizing American Indian languages, focusing on the interrelationship of language and culture; Fishman's theoretical paradigm for reversing language shift; national and tribal language policies; and examples of native language instruction at the early childhood, elementary, secondary, and tribal college…