Being Seen and Heard: Language and Literacy Development of Two Guatemalan Students in the United States

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-5 - Exploring Languaging and Literacies in Schools and Beyond

Abstract

This paper discusses a small piece of a larger ethnographic case study that documents the at-school and out-of-school literacy practices of recently-arrived, multilingual Guatemalan youth living and learning in the U.S. The study aims to better understand ways in which student participants access information, experience, and knowledge from across their diverse linguistic repertoires—which include an Indigenous language, Spanish, and English—and from the cultural contexts in which they are, or have been, living and schooled. This paper analyzes the educational experiences and English-language and literacy development of two Quiché-speaking brothers as reflected in their journal writing, classroom personalities and participation, and articulated beliefs and reflections on their linguistic shifts and personal growth across their first year of U.S. schooling.

Author

• Rebecca Linares, Montclair State University