Erika Feinauer

Reasons for enrollment at a Spanish–English two-way immersion charter school among highly motivated parents from a diverse community

This study builds on previous work to examine parent reasons for enrolling their children in a two-way immersion (TWI) charter school. This work goes beyond ethno linguistic background variables (language, ethnicity), to include other key variables such as education level, income, religion, household distance from school, and family structure. This study takes place in one school-wide TWI program in a charter school where parents must choose and actively pursue enrollment. These highly motivated parents articulate, in their own voice, their reasons for choosing to enroll their children in this school. Using open-coding strategies, six overarching categories emerged from parent responses about their reasons for enrollment: Bilingualisms/Biliteracy, Educational Experiences, Future and Career Opportunities, Cultural Immersion/Diversity, Preserving Heritage, and Proximity to Home. Chi-square statistics are used to compare demographic characteristics across these six reasons. Our findings show that parents from many different background characteristics share a desire for their child to participate in TWI education. Additionally, there are many factors outside of language dominance that are relevant to parental decisions for enrollment. These data clearly showcase a highly motivated and diverse parent population who report various reasons for choosing the school for their children.

Examining the Sociolinguistic Context in Schools and Neighborhoods of Pre-adolescent Latino Students: Implications for Ethnic Identity

This study examined the sociolinguistic contexts of neighborhoods and schools in two predominantly Latino communities in the United States. We used census data to assess social and ethnic composition and observational data to compare and contrast environmental print, language use, and availability of community services in Spanish in these schools and neighborhoods. Structured interviews with pre-adolescent (5th grade) students raised questions about how these sociolinguistic contexts might contribute to ways they viewed themselves as part of their ethnic community. Observational results revealed striking differences in the prevalence and use of Spanish across these two communities. Student interviews raised questions about how pre-adolescent Latino students in these two very different sociolinguistic contexts may see themselves in relation to their ethnic group. Implications for supporting ethnic-identity-development processes are discussed.

Cross-Language Transfer of Early Literacy Skills: An Examination of Young Learners in a Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Elementary School

The present study investigates the relationship between first-language literacy skills and the acquisition of second-language reading skills for K–2 grade students enrolled in a Spanish–English two-way bilingual immersion program. Students received literacy instruction in their first language and oral language support in their second language. One hundred seventy-four students were administered subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson (Woodcock-Munoz) in English and Spanish. Findings support the theory of cross-linguistic transfer from the first language to the second language across both constrained and unconstrained literacy skills for both monolingual and bilingual students included in this study. However, findings also suggest interesting differences across language groups.

Expressions of ethnic identity in pre-adolescent Latino students: implications for culturally relevant pedagogy

This study describes how 72 fifth-grade Latina/Latino students express their sense of belonging to their ethnic group. The purpose of this study is to help teachers gain specific understanding of the ways that pre-adolescent Latina/Latino students express belonging to their ethnic group, in order to become more effective at implementing culturally relevant and inclusive pedagogy. Students in this study spoke in concrete and descriptive ways about ethnic food, their language and their families when asked about the ‘ethnic things’ in their lives. Findings from this study underscore the importance of listening for expressions of ethnicity among pre-adolescents in order to better support ethnic identity development, as well as school and family connections, for ethnic minority students at the crucial age of transition.

Home Language and Literacy Practices of Parents at One Spanish-English Two-Way Immersion Charter School

This study looks at how parents in one Spanish-English two-way immersion (TWI) charter school report their participation in various home language and literacy practices. Parent groups, based on a cluster analysis, highlight the heterogeneity of Latino parents at the school while acknowledging the commonalities as well. Four parent groups emerged based not only on primary language, but also ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and proximity to the school. Chi-square analyses revealed significant differences across parent groups in terms of reported home language and literacy practices. Implications are discussed for educators in TWI programs, who seek to more fully draw on the linguistic resources that their students bring with them to school, especially in supporting the maintenance and development of the Spanish language.

Taking a closer look at Latino parents at one Spanish–English two-way immersion charter school

Scholars who work with Latino/as in the USA have long been calling for a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of the US-based Latino population. Two-way Immersion (TWI) bilingual education programmes are an interesting context in which to examine the Latino parent communities in the USA. Overall, the language enrichment nature of TWI programmes attracts diverse parents from across many different demographic groups, and for a variety of reasons. This study uses an innovative application of cluster analysis to examine the parent population at one TWI Spanish–English elementary school. Survey questions asked were: parents’ income, educational achievement, ethnicity, language spoken at home, religious affiliation, country of origin and residential distance from the school. Our analyses reveal that parents in our sample can be classified into four distinct groups based on the combinations of included characteristics. Our analyses show the emergence of three Latino parent clusters and one Caucasian parent cluster. These analyses show how accounting for the different social dimensions of these parents’ lives simultaneously can provide a more nuanced understanding of the Latino parents at this school.

The Simple School Belonging Scale: Working Toward a Unidimensional Measure of Student Belonging

ABSTRACT Research focused on student belonging has sometimes used available measures in a unidimensional way despite evidence of multidimensionality in these scales. This study introduces a new unidimensional measure of school belonging that is psychometrically robust with preliminary evidence of construct validity that we call the Simple School Belonging Scale (SSBS).

Rethinking the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis: Modeling the Linguistic Threshold among young Spanish–English Bilinguals

This study uses a discontinuous-linear regression methodological approach to test the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis (LTH). Specifically, we investigate the following hypotheses: (1) the rate of transfer of literacy skills from L1 to L2 is a function of L2 oral language ability, (2) the rate of transfer from L1 to L2 accelerates when students cross a specified threshold(s) of L2 language oral ability, and (3) discontinuous change-point regression models fit the data better than linear regression interaction models. Across literacy skills, discontinuous change-point regression models revealed levels of L2 oral language at which transfer from L1 to L2 literacy was maximized, suggesting that the relationship between L2 language and cross-linguistic transfer is not constant for the young Spanish–English bilinguals in our study. Further, discontinuous change-point regression models fit the data better than linear interaction models, suggesting the importance of using models that better match the theoretical assumptions underpinning the LTH.