“Our Beautiful Family”: A study of English Language Learners’ dual language identity texts and linguistic identity in a family literacy program
Date
2019-01-11
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Abstract
This study investigates how three families characterize their linguistic identity while co-authoring dual language identity texts in Arabic and English. As a community-engaged research project, it also seeks to determine how facilitators of family literacy programs can use dual language identity texts to better address the learning needs of both young and adult learners. The Linguistic Portrait Silhouette task provides insights concerning how children and parents relate to their languages in terms of expertise, affiliation and inheritance. The findings suggest that the participants are in the process of constructing an identity as Arabic and English speakers and point to the importance of children’s school experiences and contextual factors (i.e., being a primary caregiver), in shaping their identity. Lastly, interview data indicate that such projects can increase the personal relevance of learning tasks, promote accountability, address issues of accessibility for newcomers, encourage collaboration, and provide a tool for documenting families’ growth.
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Applied Linguistics, Second Language Pedagogy, Dual Language Identity Texts, English Language Learning, Dual Language Learners, Literacy, Community-Engaged Research
Citation
Bajt, A. (2019). “Our Beautiful Family”: A study of English Language Learners’ dual language identity texts and linguistic identity in a family literacy program (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.