Chapter 10: ‘To Keep Nuestra Cultura’: Math, Language, and the Importance of Bilingual Spaces for Bilingual and Latinx Parents

This chapter explores parent involvement and participation in three bilingual mathematics workshops offered in Title 1 schools in central Texas. Specifically, I studied Latinx bilingual parents’ perceptions of how language supports their child’s bilingualism and how their participation in these workshops increased their own understanding of mathematics. Using interview data from The Mathematics and Language, Literacy Integration (MALLI) in dual language settings project, this chapter highlights the voices of Latinx parents and the cultural importance they place on having their children in a dual language program. This chapter acknowledges the need to create workshops designed specifically for Latinx bilingual parents to better bridge communication between school and home practices.

Research has shown that parents and family members who interact with children during the early years of life become integral contributors to children’s initial experiences with the development of literacy skills (Dearing et al., 2006; Englund et al., 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995; Nievar et al., 2011). From birth, children begin imitating behaviors that contribute to literacy as they follow the functions of conversations, writing, and reading (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Research promoting and supporting family engagement in literacy, then, is well documented (Dearing et al., 2006; Englund et al., 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995; Nievar et al., 2011). In mathematics, even as research examining mathematics development and parent involvement has slowly emerged in the last decade (Chang et al., 2015; Civil & Quintos, 2022; Colegrove & Krause, 2017; Stoehr et al., 2022; Wen et al., 2012; Wilder, 2017); the role and importance of families in mathematics education, particularly in bilingual contexts, continue to be understudied. Parents who practice language and mathematics education at home may not be aware of their contribution to their children’s mathematics education in their daily activities. Therefore, this research focuses on examining the role of parental and family engagement in mathematics through parent workshops, particularly within culturally and linguistically diverse families whose children are emergent-bilinguals (EB).

Research has indicated the importance of strong early-childhood mathematics education for later learning (Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014). While schools certainly play a role in strengthening early childhood mathematics education, there are multiple opportunities outside school, namely in the family setting that are mathematically rich but may go unnoticed by parents and teachers. Current findings also show that although parents support their children’s school success, they often struggle with finding ways to help their children with mathematical learning, as compared to literacy (Cannon & Ginsburg, 2008; Segers et al., 2015). Moreover, research on early childhood education highlights the need for connecting home practices and children’s mathematical content for learning achievement in bilingual contexts (DeFlorio & Beliakoff, 2015; Kleemans et al., 2012; Moll et al., 1992).

For parents, supporting mathematics at home poses uncertainty on how to help their children or whether they should be trying to do so (Cannon & Ginsburg, 2008). The literature on early childhood education and development points to the need to develop mathematical knowledge in parents and families so they feel better positioned to develop mathematics learning opportunities for their children (Cannon & Ginsburg, 2008; Kleemans, & Varhoeven, 2015; Nievar et al., 2011). The most essential aspect for us to consider while conducting the MALLI project was to view parents as intellectual resources (Civil, 2016), in order to facilitate an authentic two-way dialogue between school and home practices. To do so, schools must genuinely be interested in parent and family views, their use of mathematics at home, and explore ways in mathematics instruction that reflect parent and family knowledge and experiences. At the same time, the families of EB students can find benefits to learning about the school approaches to teaching mathematics and begin to explore connections between school mathematics and their everyday interactions with their children.