This article aims to share a collaboration between TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Literacy professionals to provide a family literacy night for multi-language learners after school at the elementary level. First, a review of research that highlights the important factors to the collaboration is outlined. This is…

Emergent Bilingual families interact with their children across their shared languages and resources, creating unique literacy activities. As a form of family engagement, teachers can observe these created literacies within Emergent Bilingual families, and attempt to transport such practices into classrooms. There is, however, a danger that the…

Background: A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted to test whether the offer of Family Skills, a programme targeted at the parents of reception year (4-5 year-old) pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL), raised attainment. Purpose: There is little existing evidence of whether family literacy programmes delivered in school…

This qualitative case study examines an after-school, bilingual family literacy programme that brought together several groups to form a community of practice (CoP) that worked to support the literacy development of English language learners and their families. We explored the following question: How do parents, teachers, students, and other…

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…

This article reports on a family literacy program that began with the creation and implementation of a Welcome Center in an elementary school in the Southwest United States. This center was intended to be a place where recent immigrant students and their families, teachers, as well as other community members, came together to participate in…

How do ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs shape adult learners, and how do adult learners, in turn, shape their programs? Beyond the acquisition of important skills (such as greater fluency in the English language) what are the bigger internal meanings for adults of participating in ABE/ESOL…