Beyond individual language brokering: Family literacy brokering

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic data from everyday practices within an Afghan-origin family in Denmark, the present study takes a language brokering perspective to investigate literacy—doing things with texts. It shows that literacy is social, multilingual, multimodal, and imbued with attitudes, norms, and values. Additionally whereas several previous research concentrate on one youth or child language broker, the study illustrates that language brokering involves multiple parties and develops multidirectional interactions, particularly when the family is relatively newly arrived. Furthermore, focusing on literacy events provides insights into how discussing language within interactional settings may advance processes of learning and participation in social practices. Methodologically, the study applies a linguistic ethnographic approach and engages both emic and etic views to the family members’ negotiations of social and linguistic practices, identities, and relations.