Parents' and Children's Perspectives on Child Language Brokering: a Comparative Approach

Over the last decades, immigration has grown rapidly in Italy and the increasing number of immigrant children and family reunifications have confirmed this evolution. Immigrant children often learn the local language and culture faster than their parents and thus act as cultural and linguistic mediators for their families and community members contributing to the practice defined as Child Language Brokering (hereinafter CLB) (Antonini 2011, 2014, 2015, Orellana 2009). This presentation’s primary aim is to analyze CLB from the perspectives of both language brokers and their parents focusing on three main elements, the practice of language brokering, feelings towards this activity and family relations in order to determine whether children and parents share the same perceptions and opinions on this activity. To achieve this objective, structured in-depth questionnaires and follow-up interviews were administered to 10 language brokers, aged between 10 and 14, and to one of their parents living in the provinces of Forlì and Ravenna, in the Emilia Romagna region. By means of data analysis and combining qualitative and quantitative analyses (carried out using SPSS statistical software), a wide variety of brokering issues were investigated and will be discussed, such as frequency and purpose of the activity, how language brokers feel about this practice and parents reactions to their children serving as language brokers. The results highlight how language brokering is experienced as a shared activity carried out in the family’s best interests and during which not only words but also knowledge and values are conveyed.