Latinx Children ’s Push and Pull of Spanish Literacy and Translanguaging

We explored 19 Latinx children’s literacies in Spanish and translanguaging by asking, “What are Latinx children’s experiences and beliefs regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing? How do tutorial staff and teacher candidates (TCs) help the youth to resist hegemonic and bracketing practices of Englishonly?” This study took place in a South Texas tutorial agency, where children voluntarily attended for afterschool homework help. Data sources consisted of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and hobby essay and newsletter articles as artifacts. Most children reported negative school-related language experiences and expressed dislike and unease regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing, although they lived less than 10 miles from the Mexico border. However, two tutorial staff and 15 TCs provided counter narratives and modeled that Spanish and translanguaging (hybrid language practices) are neither wrong nor hard. Schools’ accountability pressures and the U.S. socio-political milieu move language to the center (centripetal forces), while forces that resist normalization are centrifugal. Implications relate to how neighborhood educational centers, TCs, and teachers can help subaltern youth to resist centripetal language forces