Young Children as Oral Historians: Transnational Children’s (Counter)narratives Reframing Im/migration and Mobilizing Their Multilingual Assets

• In Event: Critical Counter-Narratives as Transformative Praxis in Urban Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Objective
English hegemony and monolingual ideologies, along with a long-standing history of viewing immigrant children through deficit-based perspectives, continue to marginalize immigrant children and silence their voices in U.S. K-12 classrooms. These learning environments, particularly in today’s dehumanizing sociopolitical climate, lead many transnational children to turn away from learning and maintaining their heritage language and culture (Author, 2022). This is especially true for those living in predominantly white states or areas with limited access to multilingual resources, world language classes, and ethnic enclaves.
For these children, heritage language maintenance often relies primarily on family efforts or community-based heritage language (CBHL) schools. Yet, existing studies point out that CBHL schools, despite their significance, frequently lack structured curriculum and culturally relevant materials, and meaningful engagement with children from immigrant families (Lee & Wright, 2014; Li & Wen, 2015). Korean community-based HL schools are no exception (Lee & Wright, 2014).

In this study, we designed, implemented, and examined a virtual heritage language program at a Korean CBHL school in Michigan during the global pandemic. Using asset-based perspectives, this project positioned children as oral historians who can document the stories of their family members in and across countries by drawing on their full linguistic repertoire using various tools and multimodal forms. We sought to examine how the children engage in learning in the virtual space and how they drew on their linguistic repertoires and funds of knowledge as they gathered, preserved, and interpreted the oral histories.

Conceptual Framework
We draw on the concepts of transnational literacies (Author et al, 2019; Skerrett, 2015), funds of knowledge (González et al., 2005), and translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014). These concepts help us attend to how children, whose everyday lives involve linguistic, cultural, and geographic crossings, engage in literacy practices and represent themselves through those practices. As we examined the children’s engagement in conducting oral histories and presenting their own and others’ stories, we focused on how they made full use of their linguistic repertoires (e.g., Korean, English, honorifics, multimodal forms) (García & Wei, 2014) and drew on their funds of knowledge—their unique knowledge, experiences, and skills from their immigrant household.

Methods and Data Sources
This ethnographic case study (Dyson & Genishi, 2005) focuses on eight young transnational children, born in the U.S., who participated in the class (ages 5-9). Over the course of the year, 173 child-generated multimodal and written artifacts, observations, and field notes were collected and analyzed. The data was analyzed thematically using inductive and deductive approaches.

Findings and Significance
The findings illustrate transnational children’s (counter)narratives, showcased through their oral history and book-making projects, challenge dominant assumptions about im/immigration and childhood. The children’s agency, creativity, and flexibility in collecting and sharing oral histories using multimodal and multilingual resources also disrupted prevailing narratives and stereotypes about immigrant children’s literacy practices and knowledge. The study illuminates the importance of creating space for (counter)narratives and affirming transnational children’s identities through oral history and encouraging flexible crossings of languages and modes.

Authors

• Jungmin Kwon, Michigan State University

• Patricia A. Edwards, Michigan State University