1. Leticia Barajas University of Cincinnati
Between Two Words: The Academic Challenges of Generation 1.5 Latino Students”
Leticia Barajas
University of Cincinnati

2. Hispanics in the U.S. today
United States Census of Bureau 2010
Hispanics: the largest and fastest ethnic minority
43% growth in the last 10 years
16.3% of the U.S. population
Every state saw a surge
Reasons:
Migration from Mexico, Central and South America
Tendency for larger households
Race or origin?
In Ohio:
354,674 people – 3.1 percent of Ohio’s total population
63.4 percent increase in population since 2000
49,000 enrolled in public schools (2.8 percent of Ohio’s total student)
76,000 were born outside the U.S.

3. New Hispanic community
Latinos and Hispanics have been considered as a homogeneous group.
Numerous cultures whose race, beliefs and customs can be extremely diverse
Largely represented group in the U.S.:
The children of the first immigrants
U.S. born Latinos will represent 13 percent of the total population while Hispanic immigrants will remain at five percent (Gonzalez, 2010)
Median age of 24.5 years compared to 38.8 years for Ohioans
The median age of this new generation is 14 years old

4. New Hispanic community
Teachers should be aware of the variables affecting the performance of these students in the classroom.
Challenges and opportunities of these learners in the classroom.

5. LATINO GENERATION 1.5 Do not fit in the traditional categories
ESL or international student or first generation immigrants have low levels of acculturation.
Later generation U.S. born English dominant Latinos share most of the values and culture of the American society.
Immigrant students from Spanish speaking countries that moved to the U.S. when they were children or teenagers and enrolled middle school or high school (Masterson, 2006).
The definition has been expanded to include those learners that were born in the U.S. but grew up speaking Spanish at home (Harklau, 2003, Singhal, 2004, Torres, 2003).

6. Characteristics of Generation 1.5 Latinos
Great diversity among new Hispanics
Family backgrounds, age of arrival, educational experience, language proficiency
Invisible immigrants (Torres, 2003).
Lack an accent and are familiar with the U.S. culture.
They tend to live their native culture at home and the U.S. culture at school (Asher, Case & Zhong, 2009).

7. Educational Issues
Lag behind the rest of the U.S. population (Haras, Lopez, & Ferry, 2008).
Hispanic community high school dropout is rate is 17.2%
Non-U.S. born Latinos 32.9%
U.S. born Latinos 8.5%
Why are they having these issues ?
Come to the U.S. with limited academic background
Families with limited economic resources
Schools in poor urban sectors
Low expectations from teachers
Cannot go to college

8. The Role of the Latino Family
Central role: takes priority over other matters
Twofold implications:
Support and encouragement to succeed in school
Half parents are likely to be undocumented (Gonzalez, 2010)
Limited education or economic resources
Other duties:
Offer financial support, take care of other members of the family, devote time to social events
School can become a burden. Living in two worlds:
Demands of student’s life American norms
High school students
Lack of information
Campus live

9. Cultural Identity
Individuals can choose whether to maintain behaviors associated with their native culture or to adopt the new culture (Gatbonton, Trofimovich & Magid, 2005).
Teachers need to understand how cultural identity of Generation 1.5 students impacts learning in the classroom.
Negotiation of two worlds and two languages
Make a decision: create another identity or reaffirm their cultural heritage
Most Generation 1.5 Latinos, even those have adopted many values of the American culture, value, experience and take pride in their Latino identity.

10. Language Practices Language identifies ethnic identity
Cultural preference, age of arrival, presence of other new immigrants in the community.
Wide-ranging linguistic features:
English dominant without complete communicative range in the language.
Community dialect features
Parents encourage learning English
Lack of identification with the language (Singhal, 2004)
Dual nonnative speakers
Lose Spanish with acquiring academic English
Speak Spanish at home but do not know
how to read and write use it formally
Language Practices

11. “Ear learners”: learned English by listening and speaking but not reading and writing.
Well developed communicative strategies
Not equipped with formal instruction in English
Non-salient grammatical structures missing
Theory of two dimensions of language proficiency (Cummings, 1981)
U.S. born Latinos VS immigrant Latino students
COGNITIVE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Two stages to learn a language:
Interpersonal skills (as short as 2 years)
CALP (5-7 years)
Literacy Practices

12. Literacy Practices Exhibit features of second language writers
Lack of familiarity with academic English
Limited grammatical fluency
Fossilized structures: morpheme-ed in past participle, lack of subject-verb agreement
Students are placed in conventional ESL courses
Ineffective solution (Masterson, 2007)

13. Recommendations
Evaluate approach to Generation 1.5 Latino students (and other diverse populations).
Evaluate if policies and services provided are culturally sensitive.
Parents do not understand the purpose of fairs, school counselors, community services, extracurricular activities, and parent groups
Assistance/Support
Tutoring opportunities
ESL/lower classes VS staying with mainstream students based on the child’s abilty
Lower expectation placed with other lower level students.
Understand academic and economic limitations
College: no access to financial aid, grants and loans.
2 year colleges
Balance the continuous transition in between two worlds and balance between cultural expectations.
Concept of autonomy
Concept of authority (advocate for the kids)

14. Recommendations
Embrace cultural diversity and linguistic flexibility in the classroom
Linguistic practices express ethnic affiliation with heritage speech community.
Acknowledgment of diverse cultural practices and vernacular languages in academic context as an opportunity for potential learning.
‘Third space” a place where ‘the primary standard discourse’ and ‘the second diverse discourse’ become compatible (Gutierrez, 1999).
Bridging the language and culture from home and school as a way to facilitate the students' intellectual development.

15. Open discussion and brainstorming:
Do you recognize a third space in your classroom?
With the activities you already have with your kids, how would you refine these activities in order to support 1. 5 Generation Latinos?

16. ¡Muchas gracias!