Language Brokering

Name: ACTFL
Address: 1001 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA, 22314, United States
Telephone: (703) 894-2900
Price range: $

Heritage learners who use their language skills to interpret and translate for family members experience higher academic performance and greater self-efficacy

Children who interpret for their immigrant parents are referred to as language brokers. The present study examined the relationship of language brokering to academic performance, biculturalism, academic self-efficacy, and social self efficacy. The many adultlike experiences of children who broker on a regular basis suggest that their cognitive and socioemotional development may be accelerated relative to children of immigrant families who broker infrequently or not at all. 122 Latino adolescents from immigrant families were participants in the study. Results showed that, as expected, language brokering was positively related to biculturalism, and in turn, both of these variables were positively related to academic performance. In addition, the strongest predictor of academic performance was academic self-efficacy.Results also indicated that, to some degree, language brokering is a gendered activity, with females reporting more brokering than males.

The relationship of language brokering to academic performance, biculturalism, and self-efficacy among Latino adolescents. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 20(3), 283-297. from PsycINFO database.

Buriel, R., Perez, W., De Ment, T. L., Chavez, D. V., & Moran, V. R. (1998).

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Language Brokering