Between Two Words: The Academic Challenges of Generation 1.5 Latino

Students”

Leticia BarajasUniversity of Cincinnati

Hispanics in the U.S. today

In Ohio:• 354,674 people – 3.1 percent of Ohio’s total population

• 63.4 percent increase in population since 2000

• 49,000 enrolled in public schools (2.8 percent of Ohio’s total

student)• 76,000 were born outside the U.S.

United States Census of Bureau 2010o Hispanics: the largest and fastest ethnic

minority

• 43% growth in the last 10 years

• 16.3% of the U.S. population

• Every state saw a surgeo Reasons:

• Migration from Mexico, Central and South

America

• Tendency for larger households

Race or origin?

New Hispanic community

• Latinos and Hispanics have been considered as a homogeneous group.• Numerous cultures whose race, beliefs and customs can be

extremely diverse

• Largely represented group in the U.S.:

The children of the first immigrants

▫ U.S. born Latinos will represent 13 percent of the total population while Hispanic immigrants will remain at five percent (Gonzalez, 2010)

• Median age of 24.5 years compared to 38.8 years for Ohioans• The median age of this new generation is 14 years old

New Hispanic community

•Teachers should be aware of the variables affecting the performance of these students in the classroom.

•Challenges and opportunities of these learners in the classroom.

LATINO GENERATION 1.5• Do not fit in the traditional categories

oESL or international student or first

generation immigrants have low levels

of acculturation.

oLater generation U.S. born English

dominant Latinos share most of the

values and culture of the American

society.• Immigrant students from Spanish speaking

countries that moved to the U.S. when they were children or teenagers and enrolled middle school or high school (Masterson, 2006).

• The definition has been expanded to include those learners that were born in the U.S. but grew up speaking Spanish at home (Harklau, 2003, Singhal, 2004, Torres, 2003).

Characteristics of Generation 1.5 Latinos

• Great diversity among new Hispanics • Family backgrounds, age of arrival, educational

experience, language proficiency

• Invisible immigrants (Torres, 2003).

▫Lack an accent and are familiar with the U.S.

culture.

• They tend to live their native culture at home

and the U.S. culture at school (Asher, Case &

Zhong, 2009).

Educational Issues

• Lag behind the rest of the U.S. population (Haras, Lopez, & Ferry, 2008). • Hispanic community high school

dropout is rate is 17.2% Non-U.S. born Latinos 32.9% U.S. born Latinos 8.5%

• Why are they having these issues ?• Come to the U.S. with limited academic background• Families with limited economic resources

• Schools in poor urban sectors• Low expectations from teachers• Cannot go to college

The Role of the Latino Family

• Central role: takes priority over other matters • Twofold implications:

▫Support and encouragement to succeed in school Half parents are likely to be undocumented (Gonzalez, 2010) Limited education or economic resources

▫Other duties: Offer financial support, take care of other members of the

family, devote time to social events

• School can become a burden. Living in two worlds:▫Demands of student’s life American norms▫High school students

Lack of information Campus live

Cultural Identity

• Individuals can choose whether to maintain behaviors associated with their native culture or to adopt the new culture (Gatbonton, Trofimovich & Magid, 2005).

• Teachers need to understand how cultural identity of Generation 1.5 students impacts learning in the classroom.

• Negotiation of two worlds and two languages▫ Make a decision: create another identity or reaffirm

their cultural heritage▫ Most Generation 1.5 Latinos, even those have

adopted many values of the American culture, value, experience and take pride in their Latino identity.

Language Practices

• Language identifies ethnic identity▫ Cultural preference, age of arrival, presence of other

new immigrants in the community.

Wide-ranging linguistic features:▫ English dominant without complete communicative

range in the language. Community dialect features Parents encourage learning English Lack of identification with the language (Singhal, 2004)

▫ Dual nonnative speakers Lose Spanish with acquiring academic English Speak Spanish at home but do not know

how to read and write use it formally

Literacy Practices

• “Ear learners”: learned English by listening and speaking but not reading and writing.▫ Well developed communicative strategies▫ Not equipped with formal instruction in English▫ Non-salient grammatical structures missing

• Theory of two dimensions of language proficiency (Cummings, 1981)▫ U.S. born Latinos VS immigrant Latino students

COGNITIVE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE PROFICIENCYTwo stages to learn a language:1. Interpersonal skills (as short as 2 years)2. CALP (5-7 years)

Literacy Practices

•Exhibit features of second language writers▫Lack of familiarity with academic

English▫Limited grammatical fluency

Fossilized structures: morpheme-ed in past participle, lack of subject-verb agreement

•Students are placed in conventional ESL courses▫Ineffective solution (Masterson, 2007)

Recommendations• Evaluate approach to Generation 1.5 Latino students (and other

diverse populations).▫ Evaluate if policies and services provided are culturally sensitive.

Parents do not understand the purpose of fairs, school counselors, community services, extracurricular activities, and parent groups

Assistance/Support Tutoring opportunities

• ESL/lower classes VS staying with mainstream students based on the child’s abilty

Lower expectation placed with other lower level students.

• Understand academic and economic limitations ▫ College: no access to financial aid, grants and loans.▫ 2 year colleges

• Balance the continuous transition in between two worlds and balance between cultural expectations.▫ Concept of autonomy▫ Concept of authority (advocate for the kids)

Recommendations• Embrace cultural diversity and linguistic flexibility in

the classroom▫ Linguistic practices express ethnic affiliation with

heritage speech community.▫ Acknowledgment of diverse cultural practices and

vernacular languages in academic context as an opportunity for potential learning.

• ‘Third space” a place where ‘the primary standard discourse’ and ‘the second diverse discourse’ become compatible (Gutierrez, 1999).

▫Bridging the language and culture from home and school as a way to facilitate the students' intellectual development.

Open discussion and brainstorming:

•Do you recognize a third space in your classroom?

•With the activities you already have with your kids, how would you refine these activities in order to support 1. 5 Generation Latinos?

¡Muchas gracias!