Primary education for children in bilingual immigrant families can be challenging for parents. They often face problems of cultural inconsistency, that is, a lack of understanding of certain self-evident norms and traditions. For example, in the United States, it is common practice for parents to attend school, while in South Korea this behavior is considered impolite. Parents can also experience psychological discomfort when communicating with teachers due to language barriers. Therefore, family engagement is the most common approach to reduce the distance between teachers and parents and improve communication. This paper aims to discuss how family engagement and other teaching strategies address the needs of dual language learners.
Dual Language Learners and Family Engagement
Dual language learners (DLL) are students who are educated in a language different from the one, primarily spoken at their homes. Interestingly, these students often also face a different cultural setting. DLLs usually are US-born children of immigrants, and sometimes of US-born parents. The most populous immigrant groups in California are Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog. Since the immigrant population usually presents a considerable cohort of US citizens there are widespread educational practices developed specifically for the DLLs. For instance, the strategy of family engagement was created to improve the communication between the DLL’s parents and teachers.
The US educational system recognizes the importance of the family in the process of learning new knowledge. Therefore, the concept of engagement was introduced at an early stage in the scientific discussion of DLL learning strategies. The idea behind this concept is to provide broader expectations for the families of students, that is, the perception of them as a strong partner with many opportunities. In other words, the modern US educational system is based on the idea that the family has more wisdom about the education of children than the school curriculum. In this regard, one of the main goals and objectives of the system is to create the prerequisites for improved interaction between families and schools.
Equally important are such generally accepted concepts in the educational system as cultural capital, social capital, and human capital, as well as the approach based on the ecological theory fundamentals. In general, the ecological theory considers the children’s developmental systems such as proximal systems and distal systems. Proximal systems are the systems common for learners like school, and home, this is a tangible system in which the students exist. At the same time, the distal system is the concept that describes the more intangible, ideological aspects of learning like culture and neighborhoods.
There is also a perception that these two systems present a bi-directional interaction, which is also studied. According to the theory, the only way to establish optimal learning is to harmonize the two systems. Then, the concept of cultural capital embodies the idea of the cultural knowledge, beliefs, and customs inherent among the students’ family members. At the same time, social capital refers to the students’ social networks as valuable assets of support and influence. Finally, human capital is the concept describing students ‘personal qualities that help them succeed in the learning process. These qualities may include the initial education, competencies, and skills, as well as the personal attributes.
Scholarly Discourse
Scholars generally recognize the family engagement approach as correct and offer ways to implement this approach within the school curriculum and lesson plans. For example, Quin et al. (2018) recognize the importance of introducing the ecological model for students ‘learning development and consider the most critical factors inherent in the model, such as teacher’s support that has a high positive relation with the student’s engagement. The scholars also admit the great influence on behalf of the students’ community, family, and peers. Quin et al. (2018) determined the factors perceived as protective concerning the learning success. These are teacher support, academic grades, prior engagement, family management practices, and others. The risk factors included antisocial peer affiliation, community disorganization, absences from school, and school dropout.
Although these factors were developed for the 10th and 11th graders, they are also appropriate for younger students, as they discuss the common situation of receiving education by younger and older children. Interestingly, these factors could be introduced into the initial and more generally perceived family engagement approach since, according to the scholars ’report, they have shown a high potential. The presented information can as well be used to develop the requirements and evaluations of the students ’success and when looking for the red flags in students’ school performance. For example, teachers could develop questionnaires for parents where family members could answer questions related to the presence or absence of risk factors or supportive factors.
Consultation is one of the acceptable forms of family engagement in the learning process. Teachers can provide valuable insights on which home-based family practices will be most effective for DLL students. For instance, there are widespread and commonly accepted practices or characteristics of family engagement. These practices include joint decision making, regular two-way communication, collaboration with teachers and exchange of knowledge, learning in-home and in the community, and joint family-program setting of learning goals. Therefore, the consultations can be seen as the feature of the two-way communication between the teachers and family.
Smith et al. (2019) assert that consultations are an appropriate way of promoting family-school engagement. They positively correlate with the children’s social-behavioral competence, academic achievement, and mental health. No less important, consultations affect the relational outcomes, parent practices, and parent attitudes (Smith et al., 2019). Therefore, the scholars conclude that there is strong evidence that consultations improve the critical students’ outcomes. Importantly, this claim also correlates with the family engagement approach.
Interestingly, given that the practice of counseling is so beneficial for both teachers and students, teachers should include weekly parenting counseling in their curriculum and create separate programs to engage and motivate parents. The implementation of such plans will create an environment in which children can receive support in learning both at home and school. Given the general difficulties faced by DLLs, this educational environment can be an indispensable condition for the quality assimilation of new knowledge.
Teacher-training programs are a particular factor that has a positive influence on DLL’s educational success. Interestingly, these practices can be seen in the framework of the ecological theory, as an inherent part of the proximal system which usually consists of students ‘family and school support systems. Smith and Sheridan (2017) studied how the teacher-training practices (TTP) influence the DLLs’ social-emotional, behavioral and academic development. The scholars reported that the TTP also impacted the teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and family engagement practices. The latter showed a high positive correlation, providing evidence for advice to implement the TTP as a handy tool to improve the students’ school performance. Smith and Sheridan suggested considering the TTP components like communication strategies, problem-solving and collaborative planning to develop future TTP practices. The practices studied were professional development programs, teacher in-service programs, and preservice university courses. Given the above, the school administrations should encourage the teachers ‘professional development and create the prerequisites for it. This may include the special school-based courses and programs, created in partnership with the Ministry of Education or the particular scholarly and expert groups or organizations.
Sibley and Brabeck (2017) studied the educational process in terms of the benefits and success of Latino immigrant students. Not surprisingly, the scholars reported the lower opportunities for the children raised in immigrant families, especially in graduating colleges and universities. They also admitted that the disadvantages could be traced back to primary education, and emphasized the importance of effective teachers’ work with young students from immigrant families. According to scholars, Latino students present a considerable share of the US workforce. Therefore, their needs should be addressed immediately and in a proper way. This position is very sensible, and it provides evidence that scientists are concerned with how DLLs are educated from an earlier stage.
Thus, it was discussed how the family engagement strategies and special teaching approaches address the needs of the dual language learners. DLLs are a special group whose interests should be considered in the provision of primary education services. Since these students face great learning difficulties due to differences in language and culture, family involvement and support can be a significant factor in success. Equally important is the consultation of teachers who seek professional development.