Supporting Online Learning in an Unfamiliar Language: Immigrant Parents and Remote Schooling during COVID-19

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative study of 22 Latina mothers and their experiences supporting their children’s remote education during COVID-19. Drawing on digital literacies and mujerista theory, the authors analyzed focus group data to find the following: Latina mothers’ struggles involved not just understanding online learning platforms but an educational system that was not responsive to the economic constraints and stressors faced by families; Latina mothers perceived the school district’s response to COVID-19 as performative and inadequate; Latina mothers developed mother-child pedagogies or pedagogies in which the mother and child are involved in teaching to and learning from each other. The findings lend support to the idea that the digital literacy divide does not exist outside of social and economic structures, and to the resourcefulness of everyday Latina mothers.

In Solidarity: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Family Engagement and Home Learning Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In addition to existing social and educational inequities, these immigrant families experienced schools as a hostile environment, even when moving to online learning spaces. These findings echoed other studies that documented the long history of inequitable treatments for nondominant families in general (Fennimore, 2017;Barajas-López & Ishimaru, 2020) and how inequitable family disengagement practices negatively impacted the remote learning experiences of immigrant families and bilingual students during the pandemic (Cioè-Peña, 2022;Chen, 2021). While remote learning is no longer a reality of public schooling, inequitable family disengagement practices will continue to be enacted if not recognized and eliminated, which certainly threaten home-school relationships and perpetuate educational inequities.…”

Supporting English Language Development of English Language Learners in Virtual Kindergarten: A Parents’ Perspective

“…The participants in the study felt challenged, uncomfortable, and sad when communicating with their child's educator online. Families with limited proficiency, who once felt confident communicating with educators, now experienced anxiety and insecurity using virtual platforms (Chen, 2021). The effects of virtual learning coincide with longstanding barriers to teacher-parent communication, such as lack of translation services, impersonal forms of communication (email, messages), and limited cultural and personal trust and understanding among families (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017).…”

“…The shift to online learning removed the casual social interaction between parents and educators, leaving many parents of language learners observing a new form of anxiety and insecurity with communication (Chen, 2021).…”