Elegant and Syncretic Sophistication in Family Language Policies: A Case Study of Emergent Bilingual Families

• In Event: Teacher and Family Perspectives in Language Policies and Language Instruction

Abstract

In this collective case study, we examine how emergent bilingual families employ literacy syncretism to shape their family language policies. Syncretic literacies draw upon families’ immediate resources and languages to inform meaning making. Through this syncretic process grandparents, parents, and children develop a sophisticated and nimble praxis with their languages at home and in the greater community. Findings demonstrate that families develop sustained and creative syncretic literacy practices, while interacting with various family members on school homework, reading, and game-playing. Children and parents enact a family language policy of resistance as they privilege their native language, while incorporating the cultural practices of their newer Midwestern community. Such intersections reveal the elegant sophistication of emergent bilingual families’ language policies.

Authors

• Annie Garcia, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Rong Zhang, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Alejandro Baquero-Sierra, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Trish Morita-Mullaney, Purdue University
  Presenting Author