ERIC Number: EJ1032682
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1534-8458
EISSN: N/A
Maternal Perceptions of Agency in Intergenerational Transmission of Spanish: The Case of Latinos in the U.S. Midwest
Velázquez, Isabel
Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, v13 n3 p135-152 2014
This article examines the ways in which a group of first-generation Latino immigrants to the U.S. Midwest conceptualized their role in their children's bilingual development. Respondents were asked to identify the individuals or institutions on which their children's language and academic development depended, as well as household practices perceived as conducive to Spanish maintenance, and perceived obstacles to their children's use of Spanish in the domains of home, school, and community. Discussion centers on maternal perceptions of agency because of the centrality of the mother in intergenerational minority language transmission. It is argued here that immigrant mothers' perceptions of agency are impacted by several factors. Among them: the experience of migration, the power imbalance created when their children are more fluent than the parents are in the majority language and culture, and finally, by the negotiation of ideological tensions between members of intra-community Latino networks of solidarity and the community at large.
Descriptors: Mother Attitudes, Spanish, Hispanic Americans, Immigrants, Bilingualism, Language Acquisition, Parent Role, Language Maintenance, Barriers, Empowerment, Parent Child Relationship, Children, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Language Attitudes, Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Nebraska
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A