DOCUMENT RESUME ED 394 357 FL 023 792 AUTHOR Tse, Lucy; McQuillan, Jeff TITLE Culture,Language, and Literacy: The Effects of Child Brokering on Language Minority Education. PUB DATE Apr 96 NOTE 32p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New York, NY, April 8-12, 1996). PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Children; Cognitive Processes; *Cultural Context; *English (Second Language); Language Attitudes; *Language Minorities; *Language Role; Language Usage; Limited English Speaking; Literacy; Translation IDENTIFIERS *Language Brokering ABSTRACT Three studies of language brokering among linguistic minority (LM) children are reviewed and discussed. In child language brokering, children act as linguistic mediators, not translators or interpreters, for their limited-English-proficient parents and relatives. The purpose of the studies was to describe brokering in LM communities and to examine its effects from the perspectives of culture and affect, cognition, and language and literacy. In the first study, 9 children aged 3-14 who brokered in various linguistic communities were interviewed. Data obtained were used to construct surveys used in the two subsequent studies. In the second study, 64 Chinese and Vietnamese-American students participated, and in the third, 35 Latino students were surveyed. Students were asked to report on their brokering activities and how they believed it affected them culturally and linguistically. In addition, self-report data on language proficiency were gathered. Results suggest that brokers assumed the role of surrogate parent, for themselves and siblings, and gained confidence, independence, knowledge, and trust when compared with other children. However, they also experienced increased stress. Brokering children also acquired oral and written language skills quickly and attained adult-level reasoning. Implications are discussed. Contains 28 references. (MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Language Broker 1 Culture, Language, and Literacy: The Effects of Child Brokering on Language Minority Education Lucy Tse and Jeff McQuillan University of Southern California School of Education Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, April 8-12, 1996 PERMISSION To RE PROULft.E AND U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION E cucat,,a. besPa, mINATE THS klATF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTED B'r CENTER 'ERIC) ''.f'his document has been reproduced as ece,ved from the person or orcteerzahort rr originating Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction duality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Pmnts ot view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OEFil position or policy Running Head: LANGUAGE BROKER BEST COPY AVAILABLE Language Broker 2 Children Translating for Parents: The Effects of Language Brokering in Linguistic Minority Communities Little research has been done on the phenomenon of child language brokering (Downing & Dwyer, 1981; Geutemann, 1983; Schieffelin & Cochran-Smith, 1984; Shannon, 1990), where children act as linguistic intermediators for their limited English proficient Unlike translators and interpreters, child language brokers mediate parents and relatives. This paper reviews the findings of three studies of communication, not merely transmit it. language brokering among a diverse group of linguistic minority (LM) students. The minority (LM) communities purpose of these studies was to describe brokering in linguistic 1) culture and affect, 2) cognition, and and to examine its effects from three perspectives: 3) language and literacy. We will first provide very brief reviews of the literature in all three areas We will then present our results, discuss the findings, and consider the pedagogical and policy implications of brokering. Literature Review Cultural and Affective Perspectives The little research on language brokering to date suggests that brokers perform a far Schieffelin and Cochran-Smith (1984), broader role than that of interpreter and translator. for example, examined the home and school interactions of a 9-year-old Sino-Vietnamese student, finding that the subject, V., both translated and mediated communication for the In addition, the researchers noted that V. acted as a socializing agent for the family fitmily. Ii Language Broker 3 by transmitting important cultural information to them. Harris and Sherwood (1978) provide between an example of how brokers influence and to a great extent determine the interactions While interpreting for her father in a business interaction, their Italian-Canadian the parties. subject, B, judges the culturally and linguistically appropriate versions of her father's words In to convey the message in such a way as to increase the chances for a successful outcome. father's anger on herself: one interaction, she does this at the risk of drawing some of her "Dig li che e un imbecille!" (Tell him he's a nitwit). Father to B: B to 3rd party: "My father won!t accept your offer." (p. 157) Father angrily in Italian: "Why didn't you tell him what I told you?" In his role as language broker, B greatly effects the success and failure of the interactions beyond what any mere literal translator might do. The added responsibilities of this mediating and decision making appear to result in increased confidence for brokers. Shannon (1990), who examined the hrokering experiences of Spanish-speaking Adan and his youi.ger sister Leti, suggests that as brokers' efficacy increases, their level of confidence increases. A certain status was accorded to the child brokers in the family, and their effectiveness as brokers in a variety of circumstances meant increased prestige among siblings, parents, and the extended family. Literacy and Language Translation and bilingualism A few investigators have looked at language brokering from the points of view of translation and bilingualism. Harris and Sherwood (1978) claim that translation is an innate `i Language Broker 4 skill of all bilinguals, citing evidence from children as young as three years old (Harris, Harris notes that translation is not a simple cognitive or linguistic task of decoding; 1980). rather, it requires the application of other knowledge in order to extract meaning from the words and context, with comprehension of the oral or written text. Malakoff and Hakuta (1991) found that bilingual children can not only translate, but do so quite accurately. Their Spanish/English child bilinguals, found that they made two studies, involving a total of 68 few errors in either language when translating. Malakoff and Hakuta's analysis emphasizes that translation, even that done by a child, is not a simple, surface-level decoding process, but a rather complex series of linguistic manipulations. Language acquisition The scattering of available studies also suggests that brokering results in increased found that while no formal first and second language acquisition. Shannon (1990) likely result measurement of acquisition was possible, the demands of brokering would very Schieffelin and in increased vocabulary knowledge in both languages for her subjects. also provide evidence of likely language acquisition by their subject, Cochran-Smith (1984) V.. who brokered in a variety of situations for his parents, displaying a high level of It seems probable that with such wide contact with "sophistication in literacy skills" (17). otherwise unfamiliar, adult-level language, there was acquisition taking place. Several Heller studies on brokering in French-English schools in Canada (Heller, 1984, 1987, 1989; and Barker, 1988) show that bilinguals in those settings must develop a wide array of Language Broker 5 vc.cabulary to deal with both social and academic language demands, the results of which are likely to result in further acquisition (Tomlinson, 1989). Cognition The tasks that brokers are asked to take on are often cognitively far above what they or their non-brokering peers are asked to carry out in school. Shannon (1990), Schieffelin and Cochran-Smith (1984), and Downing and Dwyer (1981) all found that the child brokers they examined carried out adult-level tasks, such as negotiating with social service agencies and making decisions on educational matters for themselves and their siblings. The Studies The three studies we review here, McQuillan & Tse (in press), Tse (1994a & in Several press), focussed on a diverse group of LM adults who brokered as children. research questions were fcrmulated based on the available research. We will focus in this paper only on the following four: 1. What were the settings, who were the participants, and what was the nature of the language brokering they had engaged in? 2. How did brokering affect the informants acquisition of both their first and second languages? 3. How did brokering relate to in- and out-of-school literacy, in terms of the types of texts read? Language Broker 6 4. What were the perceived cognitive demands made upon brokers as compared to their non-brokering peers, and how did these relate to the tasks brokers performed at school? Subjects and Methodology In the first study, nine subjects who brokered as children were interviewed. They had been chosen based upon their diversity of language usage and age in order to provide for a maximum var'ation sampling (McMillan and Schumacher, 1989) within various linguistic All of the minority communities as well as a range of ages of arrival (from 3 to 14 years). subjects had native or near-native levels of English language proficiency and their self-reported levels of L1 oral and literacy skills range from none to high. Their first languages included Cambodian, Cantonese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The data collected in the init:al study was used to construct the surveys used in the In the first, 64 Chinese and Both involved high school subjects. two subsequent studies. Vietnamese-American students took part, and in the second, 35 Latino students were surveyed. The survey asked the students to report on their brokering activities and how they In addition, self-report data was believed it affected them culrarally and linguistically. collected on language proficiency. For the sake of brevity, selected results from the three studies will be presented together. Language Broker 7 Results Prevalence of Brokering Table 1 shows that 90% of the Chinese and Vietnamese subjects reported brokering, and of those who hadn't, all but one had an older sibling who brokered. Together with the finding from the Latino subjects of 100% reporting brokering, this suggests that brokering is widespread among LM students. Insert Table 1 about here Settings, participants and types of brokering The subjects reported performing many types of brokering in various situations in and In school, they reported serving as interpreters and orally translating texts for out of school. their parents, answering phone calls from teachers and school officials, and translating written communication from the schools in the form of notes, announcements, and permissions slips. One subject in the initial study, Anita, recalled orally translating mortgage agreements, bank statements, credit card bills, and other financial documents for her parents at the age of 12 and 13. Table 2 shows the types of documents that the surveyed subjects reported translating. Insert Table 2 about here Language Broker 8 Outside of school, the subjects reported brokering in settings that include banks, Several commented that they government offices, stores, restaurants, and doctors' offices. (See Table 3) could not imagine a setting in which they had not brokered. Insert Table 3 about here The primary agents involved in brokering were a parent and another adult, such as a Subjects also reported brokering for their teacher, clerk, or other institutional officials. siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, veers in schools, neighborhood children, and parents' friends and acquaintances. The results are shown in Table 4. Insert Table 4 about here Cultural and affective effects Perhaps the most salient feature of the data as it relates to cultural and affective effects was that all of the subjects reported taking on parental duties for themselves and their Notes brought home, for example, siblings, what we term acting as "surrogate parents." In many instances, permission slips were signed by the were often not shown to parents. subjects themselves or by the parents, who did not have knowledge of their contents. Nearly all of the informants in the original study noted that their parents generally entrusted them with handling school matters independently or with minimal parental Language Broker 9 involvement and this resulted in them sometimes taking on sole responsibility for mailing educational decisions. One subject, Maria, recalled that she often "felt like the adult," making important educational decisions and only later informing her parents. Two other subjects, Anita and Rebecca, mentioned often by-passing their parents when taking care of younger siblings in such things as writing letters to school, signing notices, and contacting Several of the subjects reported taking advantage of this trust teachers and administrators. when dealing with what they considered small matters, such as signing their own permission However, they did not consider this to be an abuse of confidence, but rather, just slips. another way of assuming tasks that their parents were unable to perform, thereby relieving them of the burden. Two other effects of brokering reported by the informants are increased general knowledge of the world and broadened cultural understanding. Three informants, Laura, Gina, and Jennifer all mentioned that because they were asked to explain cultural differences The to the different parties they brokered between, they gained valuable insight into each. brokering was performed in wide arrays of situations, resulti ig in the acquisition of knowledge about how institutions function, such as banks and government offices, and the appropriate types of interactions in different social and cultural settings. Some of the negative aspects of brokering reported by the informants are added stress and burden associated with increased responsibility, which some said resulted in frustration, Several subjects said that at times they felt resentful toward resentment, and embarrassment. their parents and siblings for demanding enormous amounts of time and attention. Gina o