Mothers’ Intimate, Imaginative Literacy Practices as Pushback

Abstract

This qualitative study explores literacy practices in homes of Latino families in a lowsocioeconomic Rio Grande Valley city. Participants included 14 recent immigrant Latina mothers whose children attended lower primary grades. For the first data set from 2013 to 2015, we collected data through semi-structured interviews. For the 2016 data set and in a different neighborhood of the city, we conducted open-ended survey questionnaires. Both data sets involved participant observation. We drew from a sociocultural framework, specifically New Literacy Studies and Funds of Knowledge. Results showed that mothers were imaginative, intentional, resistant, and resourceful in teaching their children to read and write in Spanish. They shared different resources and strategies routinely implemented at home to maintain their children's heritage language. Additionally, the mothers recognized the importance of maintaining their children's heritage language and they felt powerful as they compensated for inadequate Spanish instruction in local schools. We discuss implications for empowering Latina mothers' in teaching first language literacy to their children.