Social Literacy Practices in a Refugee-Background Family From Burma

• In Event: Amplifying Voices and Experiences: Representations of Languages, Literacies, and Identities Among Refugee-Background Children and Families

Abstract

Drawing upon New Literacy Studies (Barton et al., 2000; Gee, 1991; Heath, 1993; Street, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1997), this qualitative case study explores the social literacy practices of a refugee-background family from Burma during their resettlement in the United States. Data sources included interviews, field notes based on observations during home visits, audio recordings of conversations, and artifacts offered by the participants. My bilingual background and transnational experiences enabled me to build trusting relationships with the participants (Author 4, 2022). During the home visits, I played the role of a “moderate participant observer” (Spradley, 1987). For example, when the family shared their experiences related to literacy, identity, and culture, I was the outsider and listened to them. When the participants asked me questions or invited me to share my experience, I shared my thoughts and my transnational experience as an insider. After the data collection was complete, I engaged in data analysis, which included coding, categorizing, and identifying patterns.
Based on the data analysis, findings present these major themes: the parents’ literacy practices related to cooking their traditional food, such as: watching cooking videos in two languages, writing shopping lists, going to Southeast Asian stores to get spices & reading information on packages; brokering literacy practices which include older silings helping their parents translate, read, and write in Burmese and English at parent-teacher conferences,doctor’s appointments, and during case workers; and, younger siblings’ literacy practices including watching cartoons in two languages, playing video games, chatting with each other in two languages, and taking care of the a younger brother). These findings highlight the family’s multiple identities and various social literacy practices. The findings suggest that the refugee-background families’ literacy practices, which are usually invisible in the dominant discourse, should be valued in formal educational settings. This work provided an opportunity for the participants to share their family literacy practices, and in this way centered around amplifying the voices of families from refugee backgrounds.

Author

• Aijuan Cun, University of New Mexico
  Presenting Author