Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

Spanish

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)

This paper examines parent engagement efforts of a one-way Spanish immersion school by critiquing the development and results of a school climate survey and the school’s “charter.” Analyses focus on the perceptions and the portrayals of Spanish-speaking families. Discussion will explore: How can language immersion schools engage all families equally?    

Objectives: Schools typically consider “parent involvement” as a one-way relationship—from school to parents—which leads to deficit-driven models (Calabrese Barton, Drake, Perez, St. Louis, & George, 2004). We join scholars who criticize these approaches (Baquedano-López, Alexander, & Hernandez, 2013) in our analysis of the perceptions and experiences of Mexican immigrant parents whose children attended a one-way, Spanish immersion school (SIES, a pseudonym). Our research questions were: How did parents view SIES’ school climate? How did Spanish-speaking parents, in particular, navigate this climate? 

Framework: Our work is framed by Ecologies of Parental Engagement (EPE), a culturally-affirming framework for parent engagement (Calabrese Barton, et al., 2004), which we merge with Foucault’s concepts of power (2001). In doing so, we aim to provide depth and clarity to native Spanish speakers’ perspectives, which—even in this Spanish-dominant environment—were often marginalized (Valdés, 1997).

Methods: Recognizing that a school-climate survey in 2012 did not reach all families, we worked in partnership with SIES to administer a translated survey in 2013. We received 19 responses (75%). We analyzed the open-ended responses using a constructivist approach to grounded-theory (Charmaz, 2003).

Results and Implications: Respondents believed in SIES’ mission and generally felt welcomed at the school. However, they also felt that the school lacked organizational capacity, and ironically, many blamed themselves for the communication barriers that they navigated. That is, we found that many native Spanish-speaking parents felt discouraged in SIES’ climate, but blamed this on their own (lack of) English language or ability to be involved. This is disheartening: how are parents to exercise their relational power when they see language as a deterrent to engagement, even in a school where the immersion language is their own? Our conclusion will discuss implications for both research and practice.