UC Santa Barbara

Most language brokers are preadolescent, adolescent, and young adult children of immigrant families who have no formal training, but who linguistically and culturally mediate for family and members of mainstream culture (i.e., brokees). Through the lens of supportive communication, communal coping, and a resilience and thriving perspective, I explored: (a) how family language brokees and members of U.S. mainstream culture provide supportive communication (or a lack of supportive communication) to young brokers, and (b) how brokers feel toward the support they receive. Thirty-one Latina/o early adolescents (7th and 8th grade students) were interviewed to shed light on the specific types of support (i.e., emotional, esteem, informational, instrumental) or communal coping that was either present or lacking when reflecting on their brokering experiences. Results showed that language brokers engaged in communal coping with family members, but they did not appear to engage in communal coping with members from U.S. mainstream culture. The most prevalent type of support from both family and mainstream members was informational support. With respect to a lack of supportive communication, brokers frequently reported that their family did not provide enough emotional support, while U.S. mainstream members did not provide enough informational support. Overall, brokers were pleased when they received support because it made them feel efficacious about helping their family, as well as proud.