Family Talk about Language Diversity and Culture

Family literature circles are literacy events that provide children with the opportunity to talk about a book in whatever language they choose at home prior to discussing it in English as required at school. These discussions help to create a context for language acquisition in the child's first and second language. While state law restricts one's use of children's first languages in the classroom, one can still support these languages through partnering with parents. Parent and child discourse in the home around literature is one option for creating space to use language as a resource. Language-as-resource emphasizes multiple strategies for language acquisition and development, offering benefits for both the student and society. The authors examine the issues about language diversity and culture that first- and second-grade students and their families raised as they discussed children's literature and the resources of parents and the literacy experiences available in homes. They focused on the data from three families during their critical conversations about literature.