Adult refugees often turn to informal learning opportunities, such as family literacy programs, to learn English. These programs often promote dominant, neoliberal ideologies and invoke a deficit lens that intends to fix newcomers. This chapter looks at the learning experiences of Kurdish refugees who participated in a family literacy program in…

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways emergent bilingual first-graders draw on multiple linguistic resources during reading assessments and the participation of their Spanish-dominant parents in those assessments, as children engaged in English and Spanish retelling tasks. Informed by a translanguaging lens, sociopsycholinguistic and…

Over the past century in the U.S., stronger parental involvement in children's education has been encouraged and, more recently, codified into state teaching standards. Despite this, fully engaging parents as equal and respected partners has remained elusive. The quest seems particularly perplexing when attempting to enhance participation of…

This article draws upon three years of interviews and participant observation research in the Chelsea Public Schools, to discuss the impact of the Chelsea Family Literacy Program on promoting Latin American immigrant mothers' involvement in their children's education. The authors present the voices of Latin American immigrant mothers who describe…

Building on Freire's (1970) emancipatory learning theory and Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth (CCW) approach, this article examines parents' participation in a family literacy project. Specifically, we focus on 10 Latina mothers and explore their interactions and relationships as a type of meaningful parental involvement. The research…

The aim of this article is to make visible many ways in which a group of parents of marginalized status participate in their children's schooling and to reveal something of the societal machinery that can render invisible many admirable parental efforts. Adapting somewhat the analysis of Graue et al. (2001), the author outlines strands within the…

At least 5.1 million U.S. students in kindergarten through 12th grade are English Language Learners today--10.5 percent of the entire student population. That amount is expected to grow to 25% by the year 2025. Numbers on the educational levels of these students' parents vary, though it appears that at least one-third of the heads-of-household…

The social nature of language learning and development has been widely acknowledged, as has the importance of family relationships in language learning processes. The role that the first language plays in the literacy development of English language learners (ELLs) and their families is irrefutable. Advocates of family literacy programs have…

With the study rise of the Hispanic population in the United States over the last 25-years there has been a languished progression of this populations' educational attainment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to tap into the "black-box" of ten academically successful Latino students from San Antonio by capturing the life history…

This volume in the TESOL Classroom Practice Series presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with children and adolescent language learners. These practices take into account the unique needs and characteristics of these age groups and reflect a wide range of educational contexts, goals, and challenges from classrooms in…

This working paper explores reasons to encourage parents of English language learners (ELLs) to be involved in the learning process at the middle school level. Barriers to parental involvement of language minority students will be identified and successful, research-based strategies to increase parental involvement will be introduced. Five…

An examination of family literacy programs was made in this newsletter issue to reveal the trends and practices of these programs and their contribution to the development of children of refugee parents. The examination found that most effective and innovative programs recognize that literacy instruction is more effective when it is content based…

The purpose of this working paper is to review current literature on literacy programs for parents of English language learners (ELLs). The paper includes a summary of five literacy programs for ELL parents throughout the United States of America. Four of these were system-wide interventions affecting more than one school or classroom. Each…

The Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) developed and field-tested the REEP Family Literacy Curriculum during the REEP Family English and Learning Project. The project was intended to help parents improve their English language skills and increase their involvement with their children's schooling. The curriculum was developed to…

This fact sheet explains that family literacy programs have been recognized as a way to help children succeed in school while adults develop literacy skills. The Even Start Family Literacy Program is the major family literacy initiative of the U.S. Department of Education. It uses an educational model with four components: adult education and…