The Words Become One’s Own: Immigrant Women’s Perspectives on Family Literacy Activities
Abstract
This article explores the perspectives of 2 Mexican immigrant women enrolled in an English as a Second Language family literacy program in California. Through describing the women’s participation in storybook reading and writing short compositions, the article illustrates how these learners were able to expand on their current literacy practices in order to adopt new school literacies they could share with their children. To this end, the article explores the learners’ histories with L1 literacy practices and discusses the ways that classroom participation in new L2 genres was congruent with these women’s sense of their own identities, and their goals for themselves and their children. In so doing, the article contends that Bakhtin’s (1981, 1986) theories of language can provide helpful guidance for teachers who want to build on the strengths of adult learners in such programs.