Transnational Literacies: A Literature-Based Exploration of Family-Led Heritage Language Maintenance

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: (Re)Imagining Language, Identity, and Belonging Across Transnational Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores how immigrant families engage in transnational literacy practices to maintain heritage languages across generations. Drawing on literature in transnationalism and New Literacy Studies, the paper repositions language maintenance as a dynamic process involving digital media, storytelling, material artifacts, and cross-border relationships. Synthesizing studies from multiple contexts, it highlights how families creatively navigate sociopolitical and linguistic tensions. The paper argues for broader recognition of these often-invisible literacies within educational and policy frameworks. It invites educators to rethink how they partner with families in sustaining multilingualism as a lived and globally embedded practice.

Author

• Deepshikha Banerjee, Boston College