Mediating Multilingualism: Chinese Families’ Transnational Practices in Dual Language Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum in collaboration: Exploring multilingual family and community literacy practices as resources for curriculum development

Abstract

1. Objective
Dual language bilingual education programs (DLBE), which pose numerous learning advantages, have increased since 2000 (Liebtag & Haugen, 2015). However, children of immigrant families whose home languages differ from the program’s languages of instruction are often underserved (Kleyn & Reyes, 2011). While bilingual education research highlights the benefits of family involvement, this needs to be further analyzed in relation to how transnational families support their multilingual children's learning.

This study explored how four Chinese bilingual families with children in a Spanish-English DLBE program drew on transnational cultural and linguistic resources to support their children’s academic and language development.

2. Framework
Grounded in Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which builds on the legacy of Vygotsky, the study understands families and children as operating within intersecting activity systems with shared goals (Engeström, 1987).

In tandem, a transnational feminist framework shifts the lens from national boundaries to global flows, focusing on how immigrant families draw on multiple cultural worlds to construct hybrid identities. Anzaldúa’s (1987) concept of "borderlands" further informs this study, positioning the families' lived experiences as sites of negotiation.

3. Methods
This qualitative study included four first-generation Chinese bilingual families.

4. Data Sources
Aligned with the AERA 2026 theme aiming to use methods that surface cultural and intergenerational knowledge, data sources included semi-structured interviews, focus groups, photo-elicitation, and artifacts such as voice journals and student homework.

Data Analysis
Analysis combined CHAT-based inductive coding with deductive mapping integrating the visual and narrative data while resisting Anglophone centric models to allow themes to emerge.

5. Results
The study captured how the Chinese bilingual families mobilized their resources to support children’s development through three processes: (1) Adult family members actively engaged in multilingual mediation, drawing on translanguaging practices, heritage languages, and culturally-embedded strategies rooted in their own migration and language histories. These practices position multilingual development as socially co-constructed within transnational contexts; (2) The role of informal, family-based learning strategies—such as translating homework, accessing extended family support, and integrating culturally-traditional methods surfaced. These approaches transcend institutional frameworks of language learning (Kwon et al., 2019; Martínez-Álvarez & Ghiso, 2017); (3) Families leveraged Confucian-informed educational values (i.e., academic diligence, respect for teachers, and the moral imperative of learning) to guide their children's journeys. These culturally-grounded frameworks shaped home-based practices and parental engagement, which played a vital role in sustaining multilingual growth.

Collectively, these findings challenge dominant paradigms of family involvement and align with Gutiérrez et al. (2017), who called for recognizing the ingenuity embedded in everyday life. Far from passive, these families constructed educational pathways shaped by cultural memory and lived experience.

6. Significance
This study repositions immigrant families as knowledge-holders and storytellers. Families’ everyday practices “unforget” cultural histories and contribute to alternative, culturally grounded visions for equitable, multilingual futures in education (2026 AERA Theme, para. 3).

These findings call for a reconceptualization of family involvement and multilingualism in education–one that recognizes culturally specific forms of agency, symbolic practices, and the educational value of transnational experiences.

Authors

• SooJin Jeon, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Patricia Martínez-Álvarez, Teachers College, Columbia University