Moving Past Doorway Interactions: Understanding refugee parent—preschool teacher communication while navigating linguistic and cultural barriers

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS09 Topic - Solicited Content: Refugee Children

Abstract

Strong parent–teacher communication creates opportunities for refugee families to be partners in their children’s early education, improving outcomes and empowering families (Gaitin, 2012). However, multiple barriers exist concerning communication between refugee parents and preschool teachers, including language and cultural differences and limited time/resources (Rah, Choi, & Nguyễn, 2009). A lack of interaction-pathways isolates parents from their children’s education and hinders teachers’ ability to meet their students’ needs (Szente & Hoot, 2006). Considering the scarcity of literature and the importance of these interactions, this study aimed to (a) gain insight on how preschool teachers and refugee parents interact and (b) collect their recommendations on how to strengthen communication pathways despite present obstacles.
Participants included ten refugee mothers with five from various countries in the Middle East and five from Myanmar. They spoke an array of languages, with many speaking more than one while they learned English (see Table 1). Further, two teachers participated with one from an infant room and the other a preschool room. The infant room teacher was a former Eritrean refugee and the preschool room teacher was European American. Seven mothers had children in the preschool classroom, one had a child in the infant room, and one had children in both. We employed two types of qualitative methods, including naturalistic observations at drop-off and pick-up times and semi-structured interviews in order to meet the aims of the study.
Researchers utilized axial and open coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), in which open codes were assigned to understand the frequency, initiation, and type of communication as well as organize the recommended strategies. Data were continually analyzed, and credibility was established through research team debriefings and member checks with the teachers (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Aim 1: Observational findings, supported by participants’ reports, indicated that no communication between the two parties occurred the majority of the time. For instance, out of 548 witnessed opportunities of communication, 62.59% of them resulted in no interaction. Across the interactions that did occur, analyses revealed six different types of communication including: non-verbal, one-short phrase exchanges, small exchanges, social conversation, childcare topics, and child-mediated talk (see Table 2). Overall, parents and teachers were more likely to engage in shorter forms of communication, with parents initiating more of the time.
Aim 2: To strengthen communication between the two parties, parents recommended: using translators or signs/pictures, having more support in learning English, and participating within the classroom. Teachers recommended: utilizing smiles and gestures to welcome parents, encouraging and affirming their language and transition accomplishments, creating opportunities for classroom volunteering, and sharing experiences outside of the classroom.
These findings give insight to the various ways refugee parents and teachers communicate; however, they also reflect the challenges that resulted in no interactions between the two parties. The implications of their suggestions function as a first step in understanding the individual needs of both parties in order to move towards effective communication and stronger support systems for refugee children.

Authors

• Dana Conlin, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Amanda C Barnes, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel Boit, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Linda Hestenes, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author