“Mi'ja, You Should Be a Writer”: Latino Parental Support of Their First-Generation Children

Abstract

This retrospective interview study investigated the role of parental support in the writing growth of eight first-generation Latino college students in the years prior to admission to a 4-year university. All of the students came from low-income households in urban settings and spoke zero English at the time they entered kindergarten. Participants provided a nuanced view of the ways parents simultaneously provided support and barriers to their writing growth prior to college. This article suggests the need for teachers and researchers to reexamine assumptions about the literacy experiences first-generation Latinos bring to the undergraduate writing curriculum from their home communities.