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Tapping In: Understanding how Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families engage and learn with broadcast and digital media
Amber Maria Levinson
Stanford Graduate School of Education Lopatin Fellowship Report
Abstract: This report summarizes findings from my above-‐titled dissertation study, which the Amir Lopatin Fellowship helped make possible. This mixed methods study examines how seven low-‐income, Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families – both parents and children – used various types of screen media (television, computers, mobile devices, etc.) with a particular focus on what language and literacy experiences families engaged in using media. Methods included six months of ethnography, and an “intervention” in which I gave each family an iPad loaded with language-‐ and literacy-‐related apps and documented how each family used their tablets via qualitative and quantitative use data. The Amir Lopatin Fellowship funded the iPads and apps for each family, in addition to other essential research expenses. Findings reveal a diverse range of learning activities and practices among families, including using technology as a “bridge” between home and school contexts. Parents saw media as a positive contributor to both their and their children's English learning, and parents attempted to learn English from the media their children engaged with. The iPad "intervention" also revealed ways that, given access to high-‐quality content, families developed new language-‐ and literacy-‐related practices such as using ebooks and creative storytelling tools. Family members also used iPads for a variety of media practices established prior to the study, showing how a new device does not necessarily alter existing media routines, but rather content is an essential factor. Based on the findings I argue that media is an important focus of study for understanding the language-‐ and literacy-‐related experiences of Latino immigrant children and their families, and that links between media practices and the development of language and literacy skills merit much greater attention than has been afforded in the past. I also argue that there is a dearth of interactive media programs designed with Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families in mind. As Internet and device access is growing rapidly in this population there is a significant opportunity to design tools that support learning in ways that draw upon families' particular needs and strengths. This report contains major findings and a few selected data examples. The full dissertation with complete data and discussion will be freely available via Stanford University Library web site.
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Background & Rationale Digital media use for work, play, and learning is on the rise. This is true not only for adults but also for children of all ages. How does media time in families’ day relate to learning? As devices proliferate and time spent with both “old” and “new” media increases, research needs to address questions about how these technologies can support productive learning and development. This dissertation is an attempt to better understand the possibilities of learning with media, and to contribute to how family media ecologies are considered in relationship to learning. Family media ecology is not only the physical setting (availability and pervasiveness of media devices) but also the social and cultural context (routines, practices, rules and beliefs) that shape how media is used. Past research on family media use has focused predominantly on mainstream culture and middle-‐class families, with little attention paid to minority and underserved groups. Nationally representative survey data on young children and media show that children zero to eight from low-‐income families consume more screen media than their middle-‐ and high-‐income counterparts (Common Sense Media, 2011; 2013). Hispanic-‐Latino children have been shown to consume more television, but have less access to computers and the Internet than (non-‐Hispanic) white children (Espinosa et al., 2006). The average time spent with screen media overall for children zero to eight years old is nearly two hours per day (Common Sense Media, 2013) – yet there has been very little light shed on what content children from non-‐dominant backgrounds access and what role this media plays in development, learning and family life (Katz, 2010). Although research has shown a positive relationship between computer access and scores on early cogntitive development scores, and a negative relationship between watching television and these scores (Espinosa et al., 2006), existing large-‐scale research has not been able to pinpoint what impact media use patterns may have on children’s schooling and learning. This dissertation seeks to contribute toward informing researchers, educators and media producers about how low-‐income Latino immigrant families – whose primary language is not English – engage with media, and what entry points for English learning media might provide. Why Hispanic-‐Latino Families? On the whole, Hispanic-‐Latino families in the United States face greater risks on a number of fronts than do European-‐heritage or African-‐American families. Recent estimates show a larger proportion of Hispanic-‐Latino children living in poverty as compared to children of other backgrounds (Lopez & Velasco, 2011, cited in Vaala, 2013). Hispanic-‐Latino youth have higher school dropout rates and higher rates of teenage pregnancy (Pew Hispanic Center, 2009). Hispanic-‐Latino families, particularly those at low income levels, may have less access to center-‐based early childhood programs – a potential disadvantage that is compounded by the challenge many children face attending school in a language that is new to them (Vaala, 2013). Concern regarding the literacy development of children from Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families has grown largely because of the “disproportionate underachievement” (Reese & Gallimore, 2000, p. 103) of minority students – including Hispanic-‐Latino children – in U.S. schools and the so-‐called “achievement gap” between Hispanic-‐Latino and white students (e.g. Bali & Alvarez, 2004). Hispanic-‐Latino children who
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enter school without the necessary English skills to access mainstream education face additional hurdles. Although popular belief might imagine these school-‐age children quickly “absorbing” a new language with little effort, in-‐depth research has shown that becoming a competent English user is often a long and challenging journey that is not adequately supported in schools (Valdés, Capitelli & Álvarez, 2011). As Valdés and colleagues point out, this issue can be particularly accute in underresourced areas and schools with large populations of English learners. Espinosa et al.’s (2006) nationally representative study among language-‐minority, largely Spanish-‐speaking children has found that technology access at home is linked to acheivement scores in grades K-‐3 but also highly co-‐related to socio-‐economic status. The authors recommend more in-‐depth research on this topic to further investigate the role of these resources in children’s home activities.
At the same time, basic access to devices and the Internet among Latino families is growing rapidly; in some instances at higher rates than families from other ethnic groups. According to recent Pew Internet & American Life polls, for example, Latino adults possess smartphones and tablet computers at similar or higher rates as compared to White and Black non-‐Hispanic adults (Lopez, Gonzalez-‐Barrera & Patten, 2013).1 Recent data shows a rapid rise in technology activities among Hispanic-‐Latinos in the United States, particularly among those born outside the United States and those who are primarily Spanish speakers (López et al., 2013). Given the great challenges families face and their growing access to media, questions arise as to how individuals and families are leveraging these tools, as well as how media could in some way help Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families and their children to obtain greater access to opportunities and resources.
At present, although free and low-‐cost educational media are exploding in the marketplace, parents may not always be sure about how to best take advantage of them, and feel anxious about their potential effects on young children. Takeuchi (2011) calls attention to the present-‐day “transition period,” in which new technologies are opening up new possibilities, but are also still met, understandably, with apprehension. As Gutnick et al. (2011) point out, our society is still in search of the “right balance” of media in children’s lives:
A vigorous national dialogue is taking place over the right balance between media consumption, the potential negative impact that inappropriate digital content can have on vulnerable children, and the worry that children are increasingly leading physically inactive lives. These legitimate concerns must be juxtaposed with emerging evidence from the learning sciences and innovative practices showing how well-‐deployed digital media can promote new skills, raise achievement, and bring children together across time and space. (p. 2)
As acknowledged in the passage, fears around media use are warranted and important to address. Parents who have immigrated to United States and are not fluent in English – not 1 López et al (2013) report that 86 per cent of Latino and 84 per cent of whites own cell phones, while 49 per cent of Latinos and 46 per cent of whites own smartphones.
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to mention many aspects of technology – may experience these feelings particularly acutely (Tripp, 2011). However, young children and their families also may stand to benefit a great deal from certain types of media, and these apprehensions may be – as the saying goes – “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.” This study seeks to identify ways that family media use can lead to growth, development and family interactions, rather than inactivity and isolation. It also highlights the importance of media content as an important factor, as opposed to measures of screen time, device ownership or Internet use alone. Although literature on the topic of Hispanic-‐Latino families and digital media use is not yet well-‐developed, recent initiatives such as the Aprendiendo Juntos Council led by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop have made this area of research a primary focus. In June 2012, JGC in partnership with the National Center for Family Literacy and the National Council of La Raza led the first forum bringing together scholars working in this field. This group of partners then formed the Aprendiendo Juntos Council and have continued to convene scholars including myself to chart a course for new research on this subject. Members of the council have identified several important directions for future study, including how to leverage Internet technologies to connect and engage parents and their children’s schools (Constantakis & Valdés, 2013), how families use media to access information and services in their communities (Katz, 2013) and internet use among immigrant parents and U.S.-‐born children (Tripp, 2013). This dissertation research is one contribution to this effort to begin to understand how Hispanic-‐Latino families use and learn with media and what the opportunities might be to engage and benefit family learning for this population. My dissertation uses ethnographic methods to construct rich portraits of seven Hispanic-‐ Latino immigrants and their young children’s media-‐related activities and values. This study contributes to current knowledge in education and learning sciences for several reasons. It helps to fill a gap in empirical data on how recently immigrated Latino families with young children employ media for learning (if at all) and what role media plays in development. Second, the study takes a holistic look at family practices and family learning, identifying ways that both parents and children are making use of media and how social arrangements and interactions shape learning and behavior around media at home. Finally, the study provides a glimpse into what role new media devices (specifically tablet computers) take on in these households when families acquire them. While qualitative case studies with a small number of families do not offer the generalizability of larger, randomized studies, they have the depth to help lay the groundwork for future research, capturing detailed accounts of family life and providing a nuanced account of home practices among Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families. Research Questions and Methods Participants
Participants were low-‐income, Hispanic-‐Latino families living in an urban part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Each family had one child between the ages of five and seven years
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old, and other siblings ranged from two to nine years old. Parents were all born and raised in Latin America. Eight parents (four families) were Mexican-‐origin, four parents (two families) were Salvadoran-‐origin, and one family consisted of one Peruvian and one Nicaraguan parent. All families’ primary home language was Spanish and children had their most consistent exposure to English in school settings.
This study used a mixed-‐methods approach – ethnographic interviews and observations (recorded using audio and field notes) to construct detailed portraits of family media use as well as quantitative data that was generated via a usage tracker (AppStat) on the iPads and the Families and Media (FAM) survey. The FAM survey was developed by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center in collaboration with the YouthLAB team (led by Brigid Barron and including myself), and was distributed to a nationally representative sample as well as an oversample of Hispanic-‐Latino parents. Using the survey allowed me to compare case families’ responses with those of the larger sample, on items including how often parents used the Internet for learning, frequency of educational media use by children, device ownership and others. Participant demographics are summarized in Table 2 below. Table 1: Participants At-‐a-‐Glance
Parent Names
Gender, Name (Age) of Children
Parents’ Time in U.S.
Parents’ Country of Origin
Parent Education Attained in country of origin unless specified
Father’s occupation
Mother’s occupation
Érica & Saúl Martínez
2 boys: David (6)*, Saúl Jr. (8)
6 months (mother, children) 11 years (father)
Mexico 9th grade (mother) Primary school (father)
Restaurant kitchen staff (nights)
Stay-‐at-‐home mom, then cashier (began work in last month of study)
Natalia & Miguel Acosta
2 girls Amanda (5)*; Shelly (2.5)
7 years (mother) 11 years (father)
El Salvador Primary school (both parents)
Construction worker
Stay-‐at-‐home mom with informal, part-‐time food business at home
Rebeca Rivera; César
2 girls: Jessica (6)* Yelitza (3)
9 years Mexico 9th grade and pursuing GED in U.S. (mother); primary school (father)
Steel manufacturing employee
Cleaner (nights); waitress; odd jobs
Lorena & Eduardo Aguirre
1 boy, 1 girl: Eduardo (6)* Naomi (8)
9 years Mexico College (both parents)
Carpinter/ Construction worker
Stay-‐at-‐home mom; some in-‐home childcare for other families
Sara & Manuel Morales
1 girl: Estela (6)*
10 years Mexico Primary school (both parents)
Construction worker
House cleaner
Karina & Jorge Parra
1 girl: Bryanna (5)*
10 years Peru (mother) Nicaragua
High school (mother) Primary school
Construction worker, odd jobs
Stay-‐at-‐home mom
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(father) (father) José Rubén & Carmen Orozco
1 boy: Brandon (6)*
7 years (mother) 12 years (father)
El Salvador 9th grade (mother) Some college (father)
Supermarket stocker (nights)
Fast food kitchen staff
Research Questions and Procedures
Given the lack of existing research on this particular topic, I approached it with open questions designed to identify emerging patterns and examples. The three research questions for this study are: 1. What language and literacy experiences does media provide or facilitate for children who are developing as dual language learners and for parents who are also learning English? 2. What language-‐ and literacy-‐related media practices and activities do families engage in, either solo or together, as part of their daily routines? 3. What family dynamics and practices develop around a newly introduced tablet device loaded with a small set of high quality literacy and language resources? To collect data, I visited participants in their homes once every two weeks. Data sources are listed in Table 2 below, along with the research question(s) that these methods were designed to answer. Table 2: Data Sources
Tools RQ Topics/Information Gathered Implementation Semi-‐structured interviews with parents (audio recorded) The two 50-‐60 minute parent interviews touch on different sets of themes as well as attempt to chart the changes that may occur during the data collection period.
1-‐3 Family media history and parents’ personal beliefs and attitudes toward media and technology; Examples of ways in which media is and isn’t used in the home; Types of content favored by the family; Questions about family members’ interests and relationships to media use; Practices regarding media and school-‐related tasks or communications (homework, communicating with teachers, etc); Stategies for accessing information about services (health, transportation, etc); Strategies for choosing media for self and children; Daily family routines and the role of media in these; Social settings for media use/co-‐engagement; Use of media for language learning.
Initial interview at beginning of data collection; one on the final visit.
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Artifact-‐based, semi-‐structured interviews with focal children (audio and video recorded).
1-‐3 I asked children to show me media content that they access, sometimes with a parent particularly for joint practices. Prompts probed children to further explain what they were doing/seeing.
Short artifact-‐based interviews incorporated into observation sessions, and an extended one conducted during the second-‐to-‐last visit.
Inventory of home devices
1, 2 Families provided a tour of home media devices. During this tour I photographed devices in the home and the ways in which they are situated in the home (e.g., computer in a bedroom, television in the living room, etc).
Created at study outset and updated.
Maps of media use by family members
1, 2 From speaking to different family members during interviews and observations create maps of different settings in which family members use media and what they access there. Settings include school, home, libraries, community centers, church, friends’ and relatives’ homes, etc.
Created from information accumulated over the six months, particularly interviews.
In-‐home observations (recorded on audio and field notes with Livescribe recorder/pen)
1-‐3 During these visits I observed families’ daily routines and any media activities that are present. I often asked families to explain or clarify certain practices or choices. I audio recorded all of these sessions and took photographs of media setups. Some interactions were video recorded.
2-‐3 observations per month, per family (bi-‐weekly). Each observation approximately 90 minutes and was logged via Livescribe.
iPad Usage Data (quantitative reports) In addition to AppStat, Reading Rainbow also generated logs of ebooks used/time used and these were collected as well when available.
3 Families’ use of the iPads was tracked by the “AppStat” app. AppStat creates a log of each app used, including the number of times the app was opened and the total amount of time the app was used. These logs, in turn, served as prompts which I used to ask families about their use of the iPads, who used them, for what, why and so on.
iPads distributed after three months of observations (on 7th visit). AppStat data recorded and reset at each visit (approximately every 2 weeks).
Families and Media Survey The families and media survey, developed by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center with support from the LIFE Center and derived in part from prior ethnographic and pilot work by Brigid Barron and our YouthLAB team.
1, 2 Items on media access, content and devices used as well as learning-‐related items measuring parents’ perception of benefits from informal educational media use, ways of choosing media, and frequency of media-‐related learning activities. In addition to being used in the present study this survey was distributed to a large nationwide sample (n=1577) including an oversample of Hispanic parents (n=682) and African-‐American parents (n=290). Thus survey data includes:
1. Data provided by families in the case study sample
2. The responses from Hispanic-‐Latino parents nationwide for comparison.
Survey administered to parents immediately prior to families receiving their iPads (6th visit). Survey completed on paper and survey administering session was audio recorded.
iPad intervention
In the “iPad intervention,” families were each given an iPad after the first three months of home visits. Each iPad was loaded with a selection of apps that related in some way to language or literacy. For example, some were ebooks or language-‐learning tools, while other apps were not explicitly designed for language or literacy learning but provided rich experiences with text or spoken language, such as the Barefoot World Atlas. Table 3
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below summarizes the apps included on the iPads. In addition to this “core” selection of apps, I also included a few apps for each family that were selected based on children’s age(s) and/or particular interests of family members. Table 3 summarizes the core group of apps. A full description including the custom apps is available in the dissertation itself, as is a full list of criteria and methods used for selecting apps. Table 3. Apps Installed on Families’ iPads Ebooks (individual and collections) Language Reading Rainbow English only MemeTales English with some Spanish selections available. La Gallina Roja English & Spanish La liebre y la Tortuga
Spanish only
La Luna
eBook: English only. Film has no verbal language.
iBooks Content available in English, Spanish and other languages Phonics/Early Reading Games & Activities
ABC Kit for 5 Can be set to either English or Spanish. Duck Duck Moose Reading
English only
3. Word Wagon English only 4. Endless ABC
English only
Writing, Storytelling & Creative Tools
iDiary Controls are in English (writing can be in any language) Toontastic Instructions in English only Toontastic Jr. Instructions in English only Superhero Comic Book Maker Instructions in English only Princess Fairytale Maker Instructions in English only Over Instructions in English only My Story Instructions in English only Draw and Tell Instructions in English only Shadow Puppet2 Controls in English (minimal) Other apps with narration or text
WWF Together English only Leo’s Pad English only Barefoot World Atlas Text and narration can be set to either Spanish or English PBS Play and Learn English and Spanish Video Apps
PBS Kids
English only
YouTube
All languages
English Learning Apps (adult/general audience)
2 Added one month after iPads were distributed.
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iTranslate Can translate between several languages including English-‐Spanish or Spanish-‐English
Wlingua Vocabulary Designed for Spanish speakers learning English Wlingua Designed for Spanish speakers learning English Voxy Designed for Spanish speakers learning English Busuu Designed for Spanish speakers learning English Duolingo Designed for Spanish speakers learning English Babbel inglés Designed for Spanish speakers learning English
IPads were equipped with the program AppStat, which tracked the amount of time families used each app. This data was collected and reset at each home visit (roughly every two weeks). The data also served as a basis for prompts for asking families about who used which apps, how they were used, for what purpose and so on. Data Analysis I used Dedoose online coding software to analyze the qualitative data, using a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). I began the coding process with line-‐by-‐line “open coding” to capture any and all emergent themes. After the first round of coding, I refined the coding scheme to organize and reflect the themes that emerged from the data. From this process, several codes emerged related to language or literacy learning. These marked concrete activities that might be associated with learning aspects of language or literacy, as well as beliefs related to learning, strategies parents used to locate content, the role of extended family in brokering access to language and media content, and so on), and these were the primary codes used for selecting and grouping examples shared in each data chapter of the dissertation, depending on the relevant research question(s). This combination of codes identified 1179 coded excerpts from interviews and observations. Using these themes and patterns that emerged in analysis, I constructed theoretical memos to draw together examples from interviews and observations that corresponded to codes and groups of related codes. A full list of major codes is provided in the methods chapter of the dissertation itself. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS, using descriptive statistics to compare cases in the small sample. Overview of Findings
My dissertation highlights six major findings, each illustrated by case examples. Below, I
provide an overview of findings that are discussed in full in the dissertation itself.
Finding 1: Prior to the iPad intervention, media was part of all families’ daily routines, offered diverse language experiences and was seen as valuable. Families all used media in both English and Spanish daily (despite popular belief that Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families do use only Spanish-‐language media). Parents felt that educational media contributed to their children’s language and literacy development as well as to their own.
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Parents believed that media contributed to their children’s English acquisition, not only because their children watched or played with programs in English, but because they observed a variety of interactions that occurred based on the media activity. Karina, mother of six-‐year-‐old Bryanna, expressed this sentiment: Karina: Porque de chiquita le ponía [Dora], entonces ella como que iba… a veces me sorprendía y hablaba algunas cosas en inglés. A: ¿Repetía cosas? K: Yeah. K: ¿Como qué tipo de cosas? K: Ah, los colores, empezó con los colores, ¿no? A: Ya, con los colores? Jorge: Y después cómo brincar. K: Como brincar, y ya ella lo hablaba, porque como se ponía en el televisor parada ahí, la Dora hablaba, le decía bríncale en inglés y ella lo repetía.
Karina’s description is representative of others who cited the ways their children actively engaged and produced language along with some media programs. Dora the Explorer, mentioned in the quote, and its spin-‐off Go Diego Go arose in multiple observations and interviews as a program that children actively interacted with, and the deliberate prompts and silences woven throughout the programs, intentionally designed to elicit viewer responses. Interaction with the educational television show Blues Clues, which researchers observed increasingly with children as they mastered content on the show, has been found to have positive impact on cognitive development (Anderson, Bryant, Wilder, Santomero, Williams & Crawley, 2000).
Examples of children’s interactions with media programs also occurred with other content. For example, five-‐year-‐old Amanda Acosta and three-‐year-‐old Shelly were avid viewers of Nick Jr.’s Bubble Guppies, an animated show set underwater whose main characters are preschool-‐age merfolk. One of the show’s prominent features is the interspersing of pop-‐style songs throughout, and the show encourages viewers to sing and dance along. As Amanda sang along word-‐by-‐word with the show, her mother Natalia commented, “Así practica mucho el inglés ella,” (“She practices English a lot that way”), echoing other parents’ theory that language learning is occuring when children repeated or interacted with programs. In addition to Bubble Guppies, Amanda also enjoyed Yo Gabba Gabba! and responded to the prompts for viewers to sing and dance. Both Bubble Guppies and Yo Gabba Gabba! include regular songs and routines that remain constant from one episode to the next, for example in Yo Gabba Gabba! “dancey dance time” is a routine invitation to participate occurs across episodes in the form of an upbeat song with the lyrics “We’ve got to jump (jump!), dance (dance!), shimmy them out / We’ve got to jump, dance, shimmy them out/ Let’s get the sillies out” which Amanda had learned and sang along with when she danced.
Karina: Because when she was little I put [Dora] on for her and she started like… sometimes she surprised me and said things in English. A: She repeated things? K: Yeah. A: Like what kinds of things? K: Ah, the colors, it started with the colors, no? A: Uh-huh, with the colors? K: Like hop, she said it, because since she would be sitting still in front of the TV, and Dora would say things, she would say hop in English and [Bryanna] would repeat it.
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As these examples illustrate, media could elicit language production as well as
listening. In one case family, media tools also allowed an opportunity for children to create their own media “shows” that were rich in language. Naomi and Eduardo Aguirre, encouraged by their father who had a personal interest in video production, created a series of videos where they “reported” about their lives, taking inspiration from shows they had watched such as Nickelodeon’s iCarly. These “shows” were platforms where Naomi and Eduardo communicated messages to their audience about themes such as conservation and nature, and shared details about their lives, taking the tone of media presenters they were familiar with from the programs they enjoyed. In this way, a creative and interactive language production activity was facilitated by media tools (in this case an iPod touch with video camera) and inspired by media programs.
In terms of language-‐related values, all parents interviewed in the study expressed that it was important to them for their children to learn both Spanish and English. These goals were expressed in multiple ways in addition to the types of media content present in the home, including parents’ choice of Spanish immersion school programs where Spanish was the primary language of instruction in the early grades and literacy was introduced first in Spanish.
Families used the tools they had access to in order to support their learning
endeavors and access various types of information. In my dissertation, I discuss this finding in two main categories of use:
1. Media facilitated ways of “bridging” home and school. This occurred through three main types of activities. First, families’ use of translator apps to support children’s schoolwork in English and to explore words a child heard at school; second, media as a means for deepening a child interest that was sparked in school; and third, families’ use of computer and mobile apps to strengthen children’s academic skills including English language and reading.
2. Parents used media to advance their own studies and/or careers. This category includes parents using translator apps for their own English learning or to communicate in work-‐related situations, and parents using free online video to access English instruction.
The select examples shared below illustrate these two categories of use that emerged in the data.
Finding 2: Prior to the iPad intervention, family media practices among the seven Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families were diverse and included resourceful and intentional strategies for using media for learning.
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Case example: Bridging home and school by exploring a school-‐sparked interest
Prior ethnographic research has shown that media, and online video, can be used by families to illustrate or further explore topics of child interest (Barron, Levinson, Matthews & Vea, in preparation). During the present study, a case example from six-‐year-‐old Brandon Orozco and his father José Rubén illustrated the way that media facilitated parent-‐child exploration of a theme the child became interested in at school – in this case important leaders in history.
Internet resources provided the means for families to access the types of information included in school curricula, but also allowed families to explore beyond and expand upon interests that were ignited in school (or elsewhere). Although this theme features more prominently in Chapter Seven in relationship to ebook use on the iPads, some families were already using Internet tools in this way before receiving their iPads. The online video platform YouTube emerged as an important resource that all seven families turned to, often for entertainment but in many cases also for various types of information and instruction. In the following case, YouTube provided the means for a father and son to further explore an interest that was sparked at school.
Six-‐year-‐old Brandon Orozco had a keen interest in people in history, and developed a practice with his father where the two searched for videos on YouTube about Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington and other famous leaders Brandon was curious about in the moment. A curious and inquisitive child, he often asked questions about people that had come up in school, either because of a particular holiday such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day or units the class was covering at the time. Although Brandon’s father José Rubén was one of the more educated parents in the study, having completed three semesters of college in El Salvador, he did not have many of the answers that Brandon sought and the two turned to YouTube as a way of learning more. As José Rubén explained: Entonces, ya, para que él vaya… porque él nos pregunta mucho también de César Chávez, de Martin Luther King, de Washington, de todos… porque me imagino que en la escuela se los mencionan y él viene con la idea de eso o quiere ver cómo son más o menos, a veces hay videos donde hay fotos, a veces hay videos donde está Martin Luther King hablando, y está ya con una idea de quién es, ya se percata de quién es la persona, quiénes son… Although numerous text resources are available online about any of these important names in history, in José Rubén view videos provided a way of representing information that was easier for Brandon to connect to at his age.
So, well, for him to… because he also asks us a lot about César Chavez, about Martin Luther King, Washington, about all of them… because I imagine that at school they mention them and he comes home with that idea or wants to see what they are like, sometimes there are videos with photos, sometimes there are videos where Martin Luther King is talking, and that way gets an idea of who he is, and he starts realizing who the person is, who they are.
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Porque es más fácil para él, para que él lo visualice y le entienda más bien, y todo, y así como uno de adulto, pues lo pongo a leer y todo y a veces entendemos más bien. Pero a veces si nos ponen a leer, a veces tal vez no lo entiende uno bien. Y así se lo representan o … como que él entiende un poquito más así la representación de los personajes… Though José Rubén and Brandon began exploring YouTube videos in order to learn about history-‐related topics, they expanded this to explore other interests as well. Brandon was also interested in animals, so father and son also researched animals and dinosaur species. José Rubén described one case in which Brandon’s questions were actually sparked by watching media – one of the Disney Ice Age movies. “Dice ‘Papi, ¿en esa época cómo era, que no había buses, no había…?’ entonces vemos documentales donde aparecen y todo.” (“He said ‘Dad, at that time what was it like, there weren’t any buses, there weren’t...?,’ so we watched documentaries where they show it and everything.”). In this way, media and particularly Internet video became a go-‐to resource for Brandon and José Rubén to learn about topics Brandon was interested in, taking advantage of both the information available as well as the visual nature of the material and in the case of historical figures, even seeing representations of events people from the past. Case example: A family using translator apps to understand a child’s homework
Supporting children in their homework efforts can be a challenge for parents, in particular if they have trouble understanding the homework instructions themselves. To overcome this challenge, three case families reported that they used translator apps to understand children’s homework assignments in English. The Aguirre family made particularly frequent use of translator apps (Google Translate and iTranslate) when eight-‐year-‐old Naomi was working on homework assignments in English. The field note excerpt below describes one example during one of the four home visits where Naomi Aguirre and her mother Lorena used a translator app to help understand homework instructions. The following example shows the way in which Lorena and Naomi leveraged the translator app to support their understanding of a two-‐part math word problem.
Because it’s easier for him, for him to visualize it and understand it better, and everything, and as adults sometimes we read and understand things better. But sometimes if we’re given something to read, sometimes we don’t understand it well. And this way [on the videos] they represent it or… like he understands the way the representation of the figures better that way.
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During this visit, eight-‐year-‐old Naomi and her mother Lorena were working with a pair of math word problems on a homework worksheet [see figure 4b] that Naomi had been assigned form homework. The word problems (shown in figure 4b) read: 1. The newspaper cost 50¢. Ron pays with a $5.00 bill. How much change should he get back? 2. The newspaper has three sections. The new section is 16 pages long. The arts section is 22 pages long The sports section is 20 pages long. How many pages are in the paper? Naomi read through these problems to her mother. Since the problems were written in English, as Naomi took in the English text she translated aloud into Spanish to her mother, in other words, what she read aloud was her translation of the problems into Spanish. This practice served a dual purpose, both allowing her mother to understand the problem and demonstrating to her mother that she understood the problem. Naomi succeeded in translating much of the wording deftly – for example, translating “paper,” which could be ambiguous, appropriately to “periódico,” which demonstrated that she comprehended at least some of the context as she was reading. She missed some meanings, however, for example the section of the newspaper was “18 pages long,” and Naomi translated it as 18 páginas largas [18 long pages], and neither she nor Lorena were able to make sense of the phrase “pages long.” Based on Naomi’s translation alone, Lorena was not able to fully grasp the problems, particularly the last lines where the key questions were posed (How many pages are in the paper? How much change should he get back [if paying 50 cents using a five dollar bill]?).
In order to understand the problems and be sure that she knew what they were asking, Lorena typed the key question at the end of the word problem into iTranslate on her iPad and translated it to Spanish. For the first question, Naomi had translated the meaning of the question correctly when she read it to her mother, but Lorena used the translator to in order to validate Naomi’s translation and reassure herself that they both understood it fully before determining the math operation needed.
Figure 4a. Naomi and Lorena working on a math word problem (younger brother Eduardo also at the table doing a separate activity).
Figure 4b. Photo of Naomi's assignment sheet
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Lorena: ¿Qué dice? Naomi: Dice: El periódico cuesta 50 centavos, Ron pagó con 5 dólares. ¿Cuánto dinero le van a regresar? L: Es “shou”… “should”… Mmm… ¿Leíste bien la pregunta? “Should…” [Lorena types into the translator]. Dice que cuánto cambio debería volver. [...] Dice: Cuánto debería… Dice: Should he get back? Entonces… N: Debería volver… L: Debería volver. Entonces, ¿cuánto le deberían devolver a él, si el periódico costó 50 centavos? N: Mmm… 5 dólares…
From this point, Lorena was able to help Naomi reason through the math problem, focusing on the mathematical operation rather than on ambiguities in the language of the problem. In this instance, the translator app acted as a support that helped Lorena feel more confident she understood the homework instructions and helped enable her to guide Naomi with the math task itself. The second problem was slightly more challenging for both mother and daughter to understand. Naomi: El periódico tiene tres secciones. El pedió… Lorena: The news… N: The news section is 16 pages. O sea que tiene dieciséis páginas. Hmm… Dieciséis páginas largas. Las artes sección es 22 páginas, hmm… (The news section has [whispering] L: Es como más, ¿no? (pausa) L: Fíjate lo que te dice, Naomi. ¿Qué dice? N: Es que no le entiendo. L: Ah, pues aquí está el “éste”. [Lorena picks up the iPad and types the question in]. How many… N: (whispering) Es una suma. L: ¿Ya ves? Mira dice…[showing the Spanish translation on the iPad screen] N: ¿Cuántas páginas aparecen en el periódico? L: ¿Ya viste? Si no entiendes la pregunta, no vas a saber. ¿Cuántas, qué es lo que tienes que hacer ahora para saber? N: ¿Eh? L: ¿Qué es lo que tienes que hacer? N: ¿Pues una suma? L: Sí. ¿Qué vas a sumar? N: ¿Tres más dieciséis? L: ¿Porqué tres? N: ¡Oh, no! Pero me estás diciendo como… L: Que tienes que resolver el problema. N: Yo le pondría éste…
Lorena: What does it say? Naomi: It says, the newspaper costs 50 cents, Ron paid with five dollars. How much money are they going to give back to him? L: It’s “shou”… “should”…Mmm, Did you read the problem right? “Should…” [Lorena types into the translator]. It says how much change should be returned. […] It says: How much should… It says… “should he get back?” So… N: Should be returned… L: Should be returned. So, how much should they return to him, if the newspaper cost 50 cents? N: Mmmm… 5 dollars…
N: [in English] “The news section is 16 pages.” So it has 16 pages. Hmm… 16 long pages. The arts secion has 22 pages, hmm… “the news section has…” [whispering] L: [referring to “long”] It’s like more, no? [pause] L: Pay attention to what it says, Naomi. What does it say? N: It’s just I don’t understand. L: Ah, well here is the “this”. [Lorena picks up the iPad and types the question in]. How many… N: [whispering] It’s addition. L: You see? Look it says [showing the Spanish translation on the iPad screen] N: [reading in Spanish] How many pages appear in the newspaper? L: You see? If you don’t understand the question, you won’t know. How many, what do you have to do now to find out? N: Hmm? L: What do you have to do? N: Addition? L: Yes. What are you going to add? N: Three plus 16? L: Why three? N: Oh, no! But you’re saying like… L: That you have to solve the problem. N: I would put this…
N: The newspaper has three sections. The newsp… L: “The news…” [in English]
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M: ¿Porqué? H: Porque le está sumando todas las páginas que hay para… Y acá te está diciendo: ¿Cuántas páginas están en el papel…? L: Periódico. N: “Pediórico”. Pe-‐riódico. ¿Hay cincuenta y ocho? L: ´Ora haz aquí las sumas y las haces tú solita. La primera las hubieras hecho y luego las hubiéramos completado. Y lo vas a sumar tú solita. N: 16 y 6, 22, y 20, es igual a… 7, 8… L: Solución… N: 58. ¿Ya está bien? L: Ajá. Solución. N: Ahora… […] L: Ya acabamos. In this case, Lorena clearly calls out the value of the translator app and explicitly tries to instill in Naomi the strategy of first making sure she understands the problem and using the translator app as a tool if she is not sure (“Ah, well here is the ‘this’”). In this way, Lorena not only used the translator app as a support for her own comprehension, but she modeled and explicitly encouraged this practice as something her daughter should do to clarify or confirm her understanding of text in a problem.
As shown in additional examples in the dissertation, translator apps presented many challenges as well, and parents guided children in trying to elicit the best translation from the program. However as shown in other examples in the dissertation, sometimes translator apps injected confusion by translating words or sentences incorrectly. Case example: Using Google Translate to request a salary raise
To illustrate how parents used digital media to further their own studies and careers, I share several examples in the dissertation. In one of these a father and construction worker, Miguel Acosta, used Google Translate when he was faced with the task of writing a letter to his boss to request a raise. This endeavor posed a challenge to Miguel, who felt he was able to speak in English but that he couldn’t read or write it, and he also felt he lacked strong writing/spelling skills in Spanish. Miguel typed the text of his letter into the translator, in Spanish. The translator provided the English version, which Miguel checked over using the “speak” function, to make sure it was accurate. Whereas Miguel felt he would have difficulty checking over the written English for accuracy, using the “speak” feature of the translator to have the letter read back to him aloud allowed him to use his aural comprehension skills to check the letter instead and reassure himself that that the letter was communicating his message correctly. The text entry in the translator also provides
L: Why? N: Because it’s adding all the pages that there are to… and here it says, “how many pages are in the paper [papel]…?” L: [Correcting to the appropriate translation of “paper”]: Newspaper. N: Newpaper. News-‐paper. There are 58? L: Now do the addition here and do it yourself. The first you did and then we completed it together. You do this one on your own. N: 16 and 6, 22, and 20 is equal to… 7, 8… L: Equals… N: 58. Is that good? L: Uh-‐huh. Equals. N: Now… L: We’re all done.
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accentuation and spelling correction that Miguel felt he needed due to his lack of formal experience with writing and grammar.
In Miguel’s example, the translator acted as a support for his particular needs by 1.) offering corrections in Spanish while he crafted the original letter, 2.) translating the letter into English and 3.) allowing him to listen to what the written letter sounded like when spoken aloud, using his knowledge of spoken English to validate the letter’s accuracy. In this way, Miguel was inventive in using his own knowledge of Spanish, English and the mechanics of the translator to create a product he felt comfortable using for this significant and potentially delicate communication. In other examples shared in the dissertation, parents used Internet resources such as translator apps, online video and language learning apps to further their own learning, either as part of an effort to learn English, attain their GED or secure employment.
The three case examples listed above illustrate just a few of the ways that families used technology to 1.) bridge home and school, and 2.) support parents’ studies or careers. Based on these data I argue that families used inventive ways to leverage the technology tools they had access to in order to solve problems, get information or further their knowledge.
Case parents’ descriptions of how their families came to adopt new media content or technologies often included relatives, friends or teachers as sources of exposure to these new tools. Nationally-‐representative survey responses from Hispanic-‐Latino parents showed that parents whose primary home language was not English were more likely to list these “social” sources of knowledge about media than were primarily English-‐speaking parents. Table 4 below shows this pattern among the Hispanic-‐Latino parents whose primary home language was mostly or only English (in blue) and mostly or only a non-‐English language.
Finding 3: Families’ routines and practices related to choosing technologies and content were highly informed and influenced by families’ networks of relatives, friends and teachers. Relatives and broader social networks were important motivators for technology use and introduced families to media practices and content. Connecting with families’ country of origin was a primary role that media played in families’ lives.
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In addition, staying connected to parents’ country of origin was a powerful driver for media use among families. Staying connected included calls (sometimes video-‐conferences), texting, sharing photos and videos, and so on, as well as accessing media produced in the country of origin. For example, familiar Latin American sit coms that parents had grown up with were popular viewing among families, and gave parents a sense of transmitting some of their native culture to their children now growing up in the U.S.
New language-‐ and literacy-‐related practices prompted by the iPads – or more
specifically bu the apps installed on the iPads – included ebook reading (by children alone and with parents) and use of creative storytelling tools.
Not all practices with the iPads were new however; family members also applied pre-‐established media practices to these new devices. This finding highlights how the iPads themselves were influential in facilitating new language-‐ and literacy-‐related activities because they were equipped with new content: language-‐ and literacy-‐related apps that parents were not aware of prior to the study. This finding suggests that where access to devices may no longer be as great of a challenge, families may still struggle with how to locate and access high quality educational apps. This difficulty is not necessarily exclusive to low-‐income families or those of non-‐dominant backgrounds. Recent research with affluent and highly educated parents suggests that these parents also have difficulty knowing how to select educational apps (Barron, Levinson, Matthews and Vea, in preparation).
0 5 10 15 20 25
Table 4. How do you and your child choose educational media?
Mainly or only English
Mainly or only another language
Finding 4: The impact of iPads was highly linked to the content installed on them. This content led to some new language-‐ and literacy-‐related media practices including child-‐led, interest-‐driven learning, and at the same time families also used the iPads for previously established media activities.
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The data on families’ iPad use is extensive and it was necessary to create a focus for analysis for the purposes of the dissertation. Table 5 shows families’ use of the iPads using the apps pre-‐installed (does not include apps that families downloaded independently, which varied widely). In this table there is a wide range of total use time (see right hand column), which related to families particular media routines as well as what other devices they had available. For example, the Rivera family did not have a working television during the time of the study, and this may account for their much greater use time on the iPad, as they were using for watching shows and movies as well as to listen to music.
In the analysis, I identified three app genres that were used fairly consistently by all seven families, and that were related to language and literacy: ebooks, creative storytelling tools and phonics apps (see use time per family in Table 6, below). In the analysis I focused on ebooks and storytelling tools to show examples of how these apps allowed for new language and literacy experiences for children and sometimes also for parents.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Table 6. Families' use of ebooks, creative storytelling and phonics apps (minutes)
eBooks
Creative Storytelling
Phonics
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Using Ebooks
My dissertation details several example of ebook use among families, highlighting two major points: 1.) ebooks and particularly the Reading Rainbow app (virtual library) allowed children to pursue their own interests through books on the app, including school related interests; and 2). parents in four families reported joint ebook reading with their children and found this useful for developing their English skills. The example below illustrates how one child used Reading Rainbow to pursue her interest in science.
Case Example: Jessica -‐ Exploring Science at Home
Among the nine children asked what they’d like to do when they grow up (seven focal children and two older siblings), second grader Jessica Rivera was the most decisive: she wanted to become a scientist. Science was Jessica’s favorite subject in school, and she already turned to traditional books as a resource for expanding on her interest. Among the literacy-‐related activities she and her family engaged with outside of school, Jessica enjoyed checking out science-‐related books (in addition to others) from the library. For example, one book she had brought home and was exploring during a home visit featured instructions for home science experiments, such as making a volcano using baking soda, which Jessica was excited to try out.
Jessica using the NG Planets eBook on Reading Rainbow at the kitchen table.
Table 7. Jessica’s Reading Rainbow history (total minutes in 3 months) with science-‐related books highlighted
36. Victor Vicuña’s Volcano Vacation 8.7 mins 35. Mail Harry to the Moon 11.2 mins 34. A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln 10.2 mins 33. Deep in the Swamp 3.7 mins 32. Let’s Visit Paris! – Bella and Harry Adventures
9.3 mins
31. Let’s Visit Athens! Bella and Harry Adventures
9.8 mins
30. Hello, Bumblebee Bat 3.3 mins 28. The Story of Hannukah 8.5 mins 27. The Ink Garden of Brother Theopane 0.3 mins 26. NG Readers Snakes 9.1 mins 25. Dinosaurs 5.5 mins 24. NG Readers Sharks 8.1 mins 23. A Picture Book of Harry Houdini 0.7 mins 22. Beauty and the Beaks: A Turkey’s Cautionary Tale
10.5 mins
21. Fiona’s Luck 11.8 mins 20. A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez 16.4 mins 19. Halloween Forest 14.1 mins 18. Over at the Castle 3.1 mins 17. Into the Deep 6.4 mins
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16. Me and My Dragon Scared of Halloween 1.8 mins 15. NG Readers Storms 7.9 mins 14. Miss Marin is a Martian 16.8 mins 13. Haunted Party 12.2 mins 12. Frances Frog’s Forever Friend 28.5 mins 11. I Like Gum 9.6 mins 10. A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. 17.0 mins 9. NG Readers Dolphins 21.2 mins 8. Rapunzel 28.1 mins 7. NG Readers Planets 14.6 mins 6. NG Readers Volcanoes 27.9 mins 5. NG Readers Titanic 61.0 mins 4. The Case of Vampire Vivian 10.9 mins 3. Sir Circumference and the Vikings Map 0.1 mins 2. Chickerella 23.6 mins 1. Me and My Dragon 5.2 mins TOTAL 448.6
mins
Ebooks were one of Jessica’s main activities with the iPad and added up to a considerable amount of time. The total amount of time Jessica’s family spent using Reading Rainbow was 1,329 minutes (over 22 hours, or an average of 110 minutes per week) in three months of the tablet intervention. As shown in Table 7, Jessica’s reading history on Reading Rainbow, she spent 448.6 minutes (approximately 37 minutes per week on average) with books in her own Reading Rainbow backpack. This time does not include the time spent on the app’s related games or video field trips, or time with books in her younger sister Yelitza’s backpack. Based on the Reading Log for Jessica’s own backpack, Jessica spent approximately 38 per cent of her reading time with books about science topics, many of them selected from the small collection of “National Geographic Kids” titles offered.
Images of National Geographic Kids Content on Reading Rainbow
Jessica’s example is just one that shows how Reading Rainbow, a library of ebook choices, on the iPads allowed children to explore their own interests through reading and listening to fiction and non-‐fiction. In addition, parent-‐child co-‐reading with ebooks that occurred in four families suggests that there is potential for these tools to engage families in joint activities.
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Jessica’s and several other examples presented in my dissertation suggest that ebooks can
engage children and parents in a language-‐ and literacy-‐related activity and thus raise a number of related questions. We know little about what learning value ebook reading at home offers children and adults, and what the best features of ebooks are to maximize learning for families like these. Questions that arise but that this study cannot answer include: How do children’s use of ebooks at home compare with other home reading experiences? How can we know whether families are simply listening and looking at pictures in ebooks, or also focusing on reading text? In addition to these questions for future research, the data presents challenges for design. What opportunities might ebooks provide for children to read at different levels depending on their current abilities or desires? Finally, as discussed in more depth in the final chapter of my dissertation, what are the opportunities to create electronic reading resources designed specifically for Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families where multiple generations are learning English? Creative Storytelling Tools
Another set of apps installed on families’ iPads was a small group of creative production apps, most of which involved some form of storytelling. These apps allowed for children, who were quite accustomed to consuming various types of media, to also create in some of the same genres, including animated cartoons, illustrated books and comics. In the research on literacy development, storytelling and narrative are highlighted as important building blocks (Cassell, 2004). “Outisde-‐in” writing skills, as terned by Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998) and use of decontextualized language are important aspects of literacy that begin in children’s early storytelling practices. As Cassell points out, “Children’s readiness for the outside–in aspects of writing literacy begins in play and storytelling activities that do not explicitly involve the decoding or creation of text” (p. 77).
The iPad apps provided access to production designed specifically for young users (as opposed to iMovie or other videomaking tools primarily for older users). The most popular creative apps among the children in the study were Toontastic, Toontastic Jr., Superhero Comic Book Maker and Princess Fairytale Maker, which share the function of allowing children to record stories by selecting backgrounds and characters, moving them and recording their own voice over dialogue or narration. While Superhero Comic Book Maker and Princess Fairytale Maker provide more basic functions – selecting one background and set of characters for a one-‐scene story. Toontastic is a richer tool that scaffolds the storytelling process – prompting children to record their story using a narrative arc with Setup, Challenge, Conflict, Climax and Resolution (in Toontastic). Toontastic Jr. offers a more supported and simplified structure (beginning, middle, end) for younger users, and starts each scene off, prompting children to finish it.
Children used storytelling tools in various ways, mostly narrating in Spanish but also sometimes using English. Some children used the narrative arc scaffolding in Toontastic to
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create cohesive stories. Others used creative storytelling tools as a stage for their imaginative play, creating single scenes or collections of unrelate scenes.
Findings from the iPad preparation process, wherein I evaluated hundreds of apps available
on the Apple AppStore, suggest that overall there is at present a very limited selection of quality mobile apps for Apple that offer language-‐ or literacy-‐related learning opportunities in Spanish (or both English and Spanish). There is a significant opportunity to design media-‐based learning tools specifically for Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families, particularly given this dearth of content envisioned with families of English learners in mind. Several selected apps, including ABC Kit for 5 and Barefoot Atlas, possess Spanish language options. However, the two media activities discussed under Finding 4 – ebook reading and creative storytelling – were largely limited to English-‐language materials due to the fact that the high quality Spanish-‐language or bilingual content available is very limited. This study did not include analyses of content available for Android, however designers often launch equivalent products in both marketplaces (or in iOS only) and there have been no indications that substantially more relevant resources are available on Android than on iOS.
In my view, the overall lack of appropriate Spanish-‐language or bilingual mobile apps, as well as language and literacy apps designed specifically for Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families, is unfortunate and represents a missed opportunity. For monolingual Spanish parents or parents with limited English proficiency, navigating and evaluating apps that are available in English only is a potential challenge. In addition, bilingual apps and ebooks could provide opportunities for language learning by allowing children and/or parents to understand content first in their native language, and then approach the English-‐language content with basic understanding of the context or story. Finally, Spanish-‐language media content has the potential to help support dual language learners in maintaining their first language, which is highly desirable, such that they acquire English in parallel rather than as a replacement. In
Finding 5: There was evidence that joint and/or collaborative language learning could and did occur between parents and children using media.
As evidenced in the examples shared in the dissertation to support Findings 1 and 2, parents reported having learned some English from watching TV or video with their children, and some parents used ebook reading on the iPads as a way to improve their English. Further research could explore how different types of content might invite co-‐engagement and collaborative learning among parents and children.
Finding 6: Currently there are few digital resources designed for Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families or that uniquely suit their needs. This presents a design opportunity for future tools to support this population.
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these ways Spanish-‐language and/or bilingual content could contribute to children’s learning in this population by providing quality media experiences in Spanish.
Conclusion In my dissertation I offer six findings, summarized above, that include practical implications for education practice and design. Based on these data, I argue that media does facilitate and provide significant language and literacy experiences in case families’ lives. As an overarching theoretical contribution and implication of this study, I assert that media presents an opportunity to support Hispanic-‐Latino immigrant families in their language and literacy learning at home, and merits further research to understand more precisely what and how learning is taking place.
The Lopatin Fellowship provided essential support that helped make this innovative study possible. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the Lopatin family for creating the fellowship to further Amir’s dreams. It is my honor to be part of this effort.
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