Building Bridges Through Bilingualism: Approaches to Parent-Teacher Communication in the Southwest

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: Home-School Relations in Traditional and New Immigrant Destinations: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Although less traditional locales are currently experiencing higher growth in their Latino immigrant and English learner (EL) populations, several states in the Southwest still have among the densest populations of these students (Gándara & Hopkins, 2010). To explore how family-school relationships are developed in more traditional contexts, this paper investigates teachers’ approaches to communication and involvement with immigrant parents across three states: California, Arizona, and Texas. The presentation provides an important point of comparison for the symposium’s other papers, and it offers lessons for Wisconsin and other New Latino Diaspora sites.
Prior research describes barriers to communication and involvement faced by many immigrant parents (Valdes, 1996). These barriers are troubling, given the benefits of parent involvement on achievement (Shaver & Walls, 1998) and the urgent need to improve outcomes for Latino immigrants and ELs. Although research suggests reasons for the disconnect between immigrant families and schools, including differing expectations (Chavkin & Gonzalez, 1995) and unfamiliarity with U.S. school practices (Moles, 1993), few studies have explored how educators can strategically bridge this disconnect in their everyday practices.
Based on 475 surveys and 19 interviews of elementary teachers of ELs and immigrant students across eight urban districts, this paper examines teachers’ levels and forms of parent communication. The survey data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses to explore teachers’ reported levels of parent interaction as well as their methods for communicating with parents. The interview data were coded to garner descriptions of teachers’ everyday approaches to parent communication.
The data revealed that bilingual teachers in particular (i.e., fluent or native speakers and readers/writers of English and Spanish) reported the highest levels of contact from EL and immigrant parents. For example, 33 percent of bilingual teachers reported hearing from parents once a week or more, compared to just 14 percent of monolingual teachers. Additionally, bilingual teachers were significantly more likely to report interacting with immigrant and EL parents informally at school. During interviews, teachers noted the importance of these interactions for building relationships with parents, which typically occur when parents drop off or pick up their children. These “curbside conversations” give teachers time to get to know parents and invite them to participate in classroom activities. The interview data also highlighted bilingual teachers’ use of a "team approach" to parent involvement, where they seek to work together with parents to solve problems and share information. In contrast, other teachers described more traditional expectations of parents, including asking them to make copies or grade papers.
Findings from this paper call for schools and educators to rethink their relationships with immigrant and EL parents. They demonstrate the need for schools to support the inclusion of bilingual teachers and staff, who can use language as a tool for engaging parents and inviting them to become involved. They also indicate the need for educators to expand their notions of family involvement when working with immigrant parents and to engage parents in less formal and institutionalized ways.

Author

• Megan Hopkins, Northwestern University