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Learning Home Language Practices From Padres Mexicanos Para Promover Bilingual, Biliterate, and Bicultural Children

Abstract

This article reports findings from a research study of Mexican American bilingual parents’ beliefs about how their home language practices shape young emergent bilingual children’s use of Spanish and English. Drawing upon our living, studying, and teaching experiences under subtractive conditions of schooling, we explore parental attitudes toward Spanish/English bilingualism. Through the lens of language regard, the study examines challenges to home language maintenance among bilingual families as described by the parents of first-grade students in a transitional bilingual education program in Central Texas, as well as the parents’ hopes that their children can become proficient bilinguals and successful students. Through analysis of parents’ self-reported language attitudes and home language practices, we offer insights and recommendations for bilingual parents and educators and directions for further research.