Intersection of Child Language Brokering, Self-Efficacy, and Student Voice in the Middle Grades: Ali's Experience

• In Event: Roundtable Session 49
  In Roundtable Session: Middle School Literacy and Language

Abstract

Child language brokering (CLB) is a term used to describe children of immigrant families who act as translators for family members or teachers to assist with cultural and linguistic mediation (Antonini, 2010). There has been some research describing the different dimensions of CLB (Morales & Hanson, 2005; Orellana, 2003; Tse, 1995), but very little has been written about the methodological implications of engaging child language brokers in a research study. The following study describes the interactions of a young adolescent Iraqi male who assisted the principal investigator with interviews in her study of young adolescent English language learners. The paper examines the benefits and dilemmas of engaging youth to assist with cultural and linguistic mediation in a research study.

Author

• Cynthia C. Reyes, The University of Vermont