Learning from Bilingual Family Literacies

Abstract

This ethnographic study explores the literacies of bilingual families living in the Rio Grande Valley on the U.S.—Mexico border. Murillo argues that immigrant families living on the border play an important role in their children’s literacy development, but that their voices are seldom heard in schools due to powerful and persistent deficit views of Spanish and Spanish-speaking families. To counter these views, Murillo describes the literacy practices that bilingual families engage in on a daily basis, and reports bilingual parents’ views about literacy in Spanish and English. To encourage and guide language arts educators who wish to use bilingual family literacies as resources for teaching and learning, Murillo identifies key themes and instructional strategies that bilingual and monolingual teachers alike can use with bilingual readers and their families.