Platicando con Padres de Nuestra Comunidad: Insights into Latine Parents’ Language Goals

• In Event: Creando Senderos en Comunidad: Working Towards Lifelong Language Learning with Latine Communities

Abstract

In 2023, our research collective hosted a Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) Parent Summit in Chicago. This full-day event, conducted in both Spanish and English, offered Latine parents the chance to engage with Latine scholars through interactive workshops. Topics included types of language programs for their children and resources to support Spanish maintenance and parent advocacy. The event concluded with a plática, allowing us to hear directly from parents and understand their hopes for multilingualism.

As Chicanas and/or mothers of bilingual Latine children, we engage in research informed by Chicana feminist theory and our own lived experiences with limited bilingual support in schools, barriers to DLBE access, and the disconnect between bilingualism research and school communities. Through a plática with 15 Spanish-speaking Latine parents, we examined how race and language intersect, creating space for parents to reflect critically on their language experiences and educational goals for their children. We used pláticas as a method to create a welcome, communal space for reflective conversation (Avila, 1999; Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016).

Our analysis revealed three key themes: (1) Challenges accessing bilingual education, (2) Developing critical awareness, and (3) Becoming language advocates. Latine parents who participated in the plática strongly preferred that their children continue learning Spanish in school rather than transition to English-only instruction. One parent shared,

"They said [my child] didn’t qualify to be in the bilingual program because they understood and spoke more English than Spanish. It's true that they spoke very little Spanish, but they were given that test, and they said they answered more in English than in Spanish..."

Federal policy requires students designated as English learners to receive language services in order to eventually transition to English-only instruction. However, this inadvertently denies support for developing multilingualism in students who are English dominant, but whose parents want their children to maintain Spanish. This summit created a space where Latine parents could critically reflect on systemic inequities and myths around bilingualism:

"I thought I would confuse my daughters if I enrolled them in [dual language], so they could learn both languages. But now that I know... what I experienced here and what many people think about these kinds of programs isn’t actually true."

The summit was designed for research to reach the surrounding community, and parents were grateful to have access to information that resists deficit framings of bilingualism. Finally, participants expressed a desire to advocate for access to DLBE programs.

"I feel excited that she has an opportunity I never had. I never attended any school in Spanish until college, when I took my first Spanish class. My worlds were always separate."

This data highlights the need to include parents in conversations around language education. Many participants expressed a strong desire for more spaces like the summit, where they could access research and resources in Spanish, connect with other parents, and share common goals for their children's linguistic and academic development. Engaging parents as partners is essential for building more equitable and culturally sustaining bilingual education systems.

Authors

• Nancy Domínguez-Fret, Northern Illinois University

• Yaniz Rodríguez, Northern Illinois University

• Ramona Alcalá, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Megan Tzeitel Marshall, University of Chicago

• P. Zitlali Morales, University of Illinois at Chicago