Latino Families and Parental Involvement: A Case Study of Home Literature Conversations in a Primary Bilingual Classroom

Abstract

This dissertation study describes and interprets the dialogue between Latino parents and their children during home literature conversations. The participating students were enrolled in my first and second grade classroom in East Los Angeles, California. I was guided by the following research questions in this qualitative teacher research study: a) What is the nature of the home literature discussions, specifically what types of talk do parents and children use to think about the books they read together? and b) What are parents' perspectives on their involvement with the school and with their child's literacy development? Data sources connected to the children's dialogue at home and parent perspectives included audiotapes, transcripts, response journals, interviews, teaching journal and field notes. All families participated in home literature conversations and five families consistently audiotaped their conversations at home.The findings from this research demonstrate that Latino parents use a variety of strategies to sustain and expand the reading process of their children. The structure and routine each family set for themselves supported and encouraged their child to relate their personal experience, world experience, and other text experiences to extend meaning. Their talk supported comprehension for the different genres they selected providing opportunities for their children to grow in confidence, become articulate, and be able to engage in rich conversation about books. Additionally, this study revealed that Latino parents' definition of parental involvement differed from those suggested by the school.