Bilingual language broker profiles and academic competence in Mexican-origin adolescents.

Abstract

We advance a tripartite framework of language use to encompass language skills, the practice of language skills, and the subjective experiences associated with language use among Mexican-origin adolescents who function as language brokers by translating and interpreting for their English-limited parents. Using data collected over 2 waves from a sample of 604 adolescents (Wave 1: M age ϭ 12.41, SD ϭ 0.97), this study identified 4 types of bilingual language broker profiles that capture the tripartite framework of language use: efficacious, moderate, ambivalent, and nonchalant. All 4 profiles emerged across waves and brokering recipients (i.e., mothers, fathers), except for Wave 1 brokering for mother, in which case only 3 profiles (i.e., efficacious, moderate, and ambivalent) emerged. Three profiles emerged across time: stable efficacious, stable moderate, and other. The efficacious and stable efficacious profiles showed the most consistent relation to adolescents' academic competence. Improving bilingual language proficiency, together with fostering more frequently positive brokering experiences, may be an avenue to improving academic competence among Mexican-origin adolescents in the United States.

Context, intersectionality, and resilience: Moving toward a more holistic study of bilingualism in cognitive science.

“…Kim et al (2018) used LPA to identify adolescent profiles by integrating broker experiences and contextual stressors, and identified protective and risk profiles. Using a three-part language use framework (proficiency, brokering frequency, subjective brokering experiences), Kim et al (2020) identified four profiles (efficacious, moderate, ambivalent, nonchalant) in Mexican-American adolescent bilingual brokers. This research indicates that bilingual brokering experiences are manifold.…”

The Phenotypic, Psychological, and Social Interplays of Skin Color and Developmental Outcomes among Mexican‐origin Adolescents

“…The current study utilized data collected from 2012 to 2015. Participants were 604 Mexican‐origin adolescents with at least one immigrant parent recruited from a metropolitan city in central Texas (Kim et al., 2020). Data collection occurred during Barack Obama’s presidency, and the political climate of Texas and the larger US was mixed, particularly regarding immigration.…”

Culturally relevant stressors as moderators of intergenerational transmission of mother-adolescent executive function in Mexican immigrant families

“…Therefore, we included adolescents’ self-reported age, gender, nativity (i.e., foreign-born or U.S.-born), and Spanish and English proficiency as covariates in our study. Specifically, adolescents’ proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding Spanish and English was assessed using a five-point scale validated for use with Mexican-origin adolescents (Kim et al, 2020 ), ranging from 1 = not well to 5 = extremely well (Cronbach’s alphas = 0.81 for Spanish and 0.82 for English). Past studies have found that self-report measures of language proficiency are correlated with objective measures of language proficiency (Dunn & Fox Tree, 2009 ).…”