From Family Helper to Business Facilitator: Reconceptualizing Child Language Brokering Through Communication Accommodation Theory

• In Event: Language Brokering in Diverse Contexts: Implications for Schools

Abstract

Objective
This paper has two objectives. First, it proposes drawing from Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) for studying language brokering skills. CAT is a communication based theory widely used for analyzing and understanding intergroup, interpersonal, and intercultural dynamics and communication (Gallois et al., 2005). A great amount of research on child language brokering is rooted in developmental and psychological perspectives offering a rich but human development-centered perspective on language brokering skills (Crafter & Iqbal, 2021; Dorner et al., 2007; Valdés, 2003). Communication studies opens the possibilities of developing new frameworks to recognize and measure such skills and experiences. Similarly, Guntzviller (2017) tested Multiple Goals Theory, also rooted in communications studies, in their study of Mother-Child Spanish-Speakers. This paper’s second objective is to shed light on the intersection of immigrant communities and direct sales companies, a context relevant to many language brokering families with children.

Framework
CAT is applied in this study to explore one language broker's experience translating information about health products and facilitating transactions for her mother’s work as a direct sales representative. Applying this theoretical lens in the unconventional context of direct sales illuminates the sophisticated, dynamic, adaptive nature of child language brokering and the cultural aspects of this business model, which provide unexpected community and resources.

Methods and Data Sources
The data examined was collected over a multi-year period, as part of a study of seven middle school-aged Latino child language brokers in the South-Central Los Angeles community. The methods for the study involved multiple recorded semi-structured interviews with the language broker, one joint interview with the broker and her mother, relevant documents related to the health products being sold, and informal observations of the language brokering in her school and after-school settings.

Results
The recorded interviews captured detailed narratives of specific brokering episodes and a proctored language brokering exercise in which the young broker and mother simulated a client interaction. Analysis revealed that the language broker employed diverse communication accommodation strategies to facilitate the promotion, selling, and transactions. The broker strategically converged and diverged linguistically and culturally, adapting her communication style to match client backgrounds while maintaining her mother's business objectives. These strategies included code-switching for technical health terminology, cultural translation of product benefits, and social accommodation to build client trust and rapport.

Significance
The study contributes to reconceptualizing child language brokering as a sophisticated intercultural communication practice, with implications for recognizing these skills in educational contexts as they relate to professional contexts. Additionally, the opportunity to elucidate the cultural components of direct sales business tactics provides insight on practices that make participation accessible and attractive to immigrant families. Ultimately, by demonstrating the complexity of children's communication accommodation abilities, this work helps imagine new educational research directions that value community-based linguistic practices and position family language brokering as a professional skill development.

Author

• Krissia Martinez, University of Texas at Austin