Cover not available
Part of
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research
Edited by Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato and Ira Torresi
[Benjamins Translation Library 129] 2017
► pp. 65–80

Chapter 4
Dialoguing across differences

The past and future of language brokering research

This chapter provides an overview of the research that has been done on language brokering over the last three decades. It identifies the kinds of questions that have been asked and the framings that have driven the work, raising questions about why these and not other directions were pursued. Using this overview of the field, it suggests what is missing and what other kinds of questions could be asked. It also considers how each locus of investigation could be built upon and connected to others, in order to expand and deepen our understanding of the practice and its effects, and suggests what is needed for the next generation of research on this multidimensional topic.

Keywords: language brokering, research methodologies, translanguaging, literature review
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From invisibility to visibility
  • 3.Deficits and deviances
  • 4.Broadening the developmental lens
  • 5.Understanding the practice
  • 6.Families and communities
  • 7.Classrooms and schools
  • 8.Feelings
  • 9.New populations
  • 10.The future of language brokering research
  • References
Published online: 19 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.04ore
References
Acoach, C. Leah & Lynne M. Webb
2004 “The Influence of Language Brokering on Hispanic Teenagers' Acculturation, Academic Performance, and Nonverbal Decoding Skills: A Preliminary Study. Howard Journal of Communications 15:1. 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, Steven
2014 ”Translanguaging Tareas: Emergent Bilingual Youth as Language Brokers for Homework in Immigrant Families”. Language Arts 91:5. 326–339.Google Scholar
Antonini, Rachele
2010 “The Study of Child Language Brokering: Past, Current and Emerging Research”. mediAzioni 10. 1–23.Google Scholar
Bailey, Alison. & Marjorie F. Orellana
2015 “Adolescent Development and Everyday Language Practices: Implications for the Academic Literacy of Multilingual Learners”. Multilingual Learners and Academic Literacies: Sociocultural Contexts of Literacy Development in Adolescents ed. by Daniella Molle, ‎Edynn Sato, ‎Timothy Boals & Carol A. Hedgspeth, 53–74. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bauer, Elaine
2010 “Language Brokering: Practicing Active Citizenship”. mediAzioni 10. 125–146.Google Scholar
2013 “Reconstructing Moral Identities in Memories of Childhood Language Brokering Experiences. International Migration 51:5. 205–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bayley, Robert., Holly Hansen-Thomas & Juliet Langman
2005 “Language Brokering in a Middle School Science Class”. ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism ed. by James Cohen, Kara T. McAlister, Kellie Rolstad & Jeff MacSwan, 223–232. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Bolden, Galina B.
2012 “Across Languages and Cultures: Brokering Problems of Understanding in Conversational Repair”. Language in Society 41:1. 97–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borrero, Noah
2007 “Promoting Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in American Public Schools: Fostering the Assets of Bilingual Adolescents”. The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations 7:1. 195–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bucaria, Chiara & Linda Rossato
2010 “Former Child Language Brokers: Preliminary Observations on Practice, Attitudes and Relational Aspects.” mediAzioni 10. 239–268.Google Scholar
Buriel, Raymond, Julia Love & Terri L. De Ment.
2006 “The Relation of Language Brokering to Depression and Parent-child Bonding among Latino Adolescents”. Acculturation and Parent-child Relationships: Measurement and Development ed. by Marc H. Bornstein & Linda R. Cote, 249–270. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Buriel, Raymond, William Perez, Terri L. De Ment, David V. Chavez & Virginia R. Moran
1998 “The Relationship of Language Brokering to Academic Performance, Biculturalism, and Self-efficacy among Latino Adolescents”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 20:3. 283–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carbone, Paula M. & Marjorie F. Orellana
2010 “Developing Academic Identities: Persuasive Writing as a Tool to Strengthen Emergent Academic Identities”. Research in the Teaching of English 44:3. 292–316.Google Scholar
Chao, Ruth K.
2006 “The Prevalence and Consequences of Adolescents’ Language Brokering for Their Immigrant Parents”. ”. Acculturation and Parent-child Relationships: Measurement and Development ed. by Marc H. Bornstein & Linda R. Cote, 271–296. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Cline, Tony, Sarah Crafter, Lindsay O’Dell & Guida de Abreu
2011 “Young People’s Representations of Language Brokering”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 32:3. 207–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cline, Tony, Guida de Abreu, Lindsay O’Dell & Sarah Crafter
2010 “Recent Research on Child Language Brokering in the United Kingdom”. mediAzioni 10. 105–124.Google Scholar
Coyoca, Anne Marie & Jin Sook Lee
2009 “A Typology of Language-brokering Events in Dual-language Immersion Classrooms”. Bilingual Research Journal 32:3. 260–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Degener, Janna L.
2010 “‘Sometimes My Mother Does Not Understand, Then I Need to Translate’: Child and Youth Language Brokering in Berlin-Neuköln (Germany)”. mediAzioni 10. 346–367.Google Scholar
del Torto, Lisa M.
2010 “Child Language Brokers All Grown Up: Interpreting in Multigenerational Italian-Canadian Family Interaction”. mediAzioni 10. 147–181.Google Scholar
Dorner, Lisa M., Marjorie F. Orellana & Christine P. Li-Grining
2007 “‘I Helped My Mom, and It Helped Me’: Translating the Skills of Language Brokers into Improved Standardized Test Scores”. American Journal of Education 113. 451–478. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
D’warte, Jacqueline
2014 “Linguistic Repertoires: Teachers and Students Explore Their Everyday Language Worlds”. Language Arts 91:5. 352–362.Google Scholar
Eksner, Julia H. & Marjorie F. Orellana
2012 “Shifting in the Zone: Latina/o Child Language Brokers and the Co-construction of Knowledge”. Ethos 40:2. 196–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fein, Esther B.
1997 “Language Barriers Are Hindering Health Care”. New York Times, November 23. 23 & A1.Google Scholar
García, Ofelia
2008 Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
García Sánchez, Inmaculada M.
2010 “(Re)Shaping Practices in Translation: How Moroccan Immigrant Children and Families Navigate Continuity and Change”. mediAzioni 10. 182–214.Google Scholar
(2012) “Language Socialization and Exclusion”. The Handbook of Language Socialization ed. by Alessandro Duranti, Elinor Ochs & Bambi Schieffelin, 391–420. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
García Sánchez, Inmaculada M. & Marjorie F. Orellana
2006 “The Construction of Moral and Social Identity in Immigrant Children's Narratives-in-translation”. Linguistics and Education 17:3. 209–239. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
García Sánchez, Inmaculada M., Marjorie F. Orellana & Megan Hopkins
2011 “Facilitating Intercultural Communication in Parent – Teacher Conferences: Lessons From Child Translators”. Multicultural Perspectives 13:3. 148–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guan, Shu Sha A., Patricia M. Greenfield & Marjorie F. Orellana
2014 “Translating into Understanding Language Brokering and Prosocial Development in Emerging Adults from Immigrant Families”. Journal of Adolescent Research 29:3. 331–355. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guo, Zhiyan
2014 Young Children as Intercultural Mediators: Mandarin-speaking Families in Britain. London: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Guske, Iris
2010 “Familial and Institutional Dependence on Bilingual and Bicultural Go-betweens – Effects on Minority Children”. mediAzioni 10. 325–345.Google Scholar
Hall, Nigel
2004 “The Child in the Middle: Agency and Diplomacy in Language Brokering Events”. Claims, Changes and Challenges in Translation Studies ed. by Gyde Hansen, Kirsten Malmkjaer & Daniel Gile, 285–296. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hall, Nigel. & Anne Robinson
1999 “The Language Brokering Activity of Children in Pakistani Families in the UK”. Unpublished research report. [URL] (last viewed April 19, 2015).
Hall, Nigel & Sylvia Sham
2007 “Language Brokering as Young People’s Work: Evidence from Chinese Adolescents in England”. Language and Education 21:1. 16–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harris, Brian & Bianca Sherwood
1978 “Translating as an Innate Skill”. Language Interpretation and Communication ed. by David Gerver & H. Wallace Sinaiko, 155–170. New York: Plenum. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hua, Josephine M. & Catherine L. Costigan
2012 “The Familial Context of Adolescent Language Brokering within Immigrant Chinese Families in Canada”. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 41:7. 894–906. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jimenez, Robert
1996 “The Reading Strategies of Bilingual Latina/o Students Who Are Successful English Readers: Opportunities and Obstacles”. Reading Research Quarterly 31:1. 90–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, C. J. & Edison J. Trickett
2005 “Immigrant Adolescents Behaving as Culture Brokers: A Study of Families from the Former Soviet Union”. The Journal of Social Psychology 145:4. 405–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, Curtis J., Edison J. Trickett & Dina Birman
2012 “Determinants and Consequences of Child Culture Brokering in Families from the Former Soviet Union”. American Journal of Community Psychology 50:1–2. 182–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kam, Jennifer A.
2011 “The Effects of Language Brokering Frequency and Feelings on Mexican-heritage Youth's Mental Health and Risky Behaviors”. Journal of Communication 61:3. 455–475. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Katz, Vikki S.
2010 “How Children of Immigrants Use Media to Connect Their Families to the Community: The Case of Latinos in South Los Angeles”. Journal of Children and Media 4:3. 298–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 Kids in the Middle: How Children of Immigrants Negotiate Community Interactions for Their Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Kemsley, Hilary
1994 “Many Chinese Immigrants Need Children to Translate”. Years ahead column. Ottawa Citizen, June 21. B4.Google Scholar
Kwon, Hyeyoung
2013 “The Hidden Injury of Class in Korean-American Language Brokers’ Lives”. Childhood 21:1. 56–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leopold, Werner F.
1939–1949 Speech Development of a Bilingual Child: A Linguist’s Record. Volumes I-IV. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Love, Julia A. & Raymond Buriel
2007 “Language Brokering, Autonomy, Parent-child Bonding, Biculturalism, and Depression: A Study of Mexican American Adolescents from Immigrant Families”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 29:4. 472–491. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lucas, Siân E.
2014 “‘Mum, if You’ve Got a Doctor’s Appointment Take Me or My Sister’: Contributions of a Child Language Broker”. Participation, Citizenship and Intergenerational Relations in Children and Young People’s Lives: Children and Adults in Conversation ed. by Joanne Westwood, Cath Larkins, Dan Moxon, Yasmin Perry & Nigel Thomas, 82–93. Houndmills (Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK) & New York: Palgrave Pivot. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malakoff, Marguerite E.
1991 “Natural Translation Ability in French-English Bilingual School-Age Children: A Study of Source Language Errors in Naive Child-translators”. Doctoral dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
1992 “Translation Ability: A Natural Bilingual and Metalinguistic Skill”. Advances in Psychology 83. 515–529. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malakoff, Marguerite E. & Kenji Hakuta
1991 “Translation Skill and Metalinguistic Awareness in Bilinguals”. Language Processing in Bilingual Children ed. by Ellen Bialystok, 141–166. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martinez, Charles R., Heather H. McClure & J. Mark Eddy
2009 “Language Brokering Contexts and Behavioral and Emotional Adjustment among Latino Parents and Adolescents”. The Journal of Early Adolescence 29:1. 71–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martinez, Ramón A., Marjorie F. Orellana, Mariana Pacheco & Paula Carbone
2008 “Found in Translation: Connecting Translating Experiences to Academic Writing”. Language Arts 85:6. 421–431.Google Scholar
McQuillan, Jeff & Lucy Tse
1995 “Child Language Brokering in Linguistic Minority Communities: Effects on Cultural Interaction, Cognition, and Literacy”. Language and Education 9:3. 195–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meyer, Bernd, Kristin Bührig, Ortrun Kliche & Birte Pawlack
2010a “Nurses as Interpreters: Aspects of Interpreter Training for Bilingual Medical Employees”. Multilingualism at Work: From Policies to Practices in Public, Medical and Business Settings ed. by Bernd Meyer & Birgit Apfelbaum, 163–184. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meyer, Bernd, Birte Pawlack & Kristin Ortrun
2010b “Family Interpreters in Hospitals: Good Reasons for Bad Practice?”. mediAzioni 10. 297–324.Google Scholar
Morales, Alejandro & David Aguayo
2010 “Parents and Children Talk about Their Language Brokering Experiences: The Case of a Mexican Immigrant Family”. mediAzioni 10. 215–238.Google Scholar
Morales, Alejandro & William E. Hanson
2005 “Language Brokering: An Integrative Review of the Literature”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 27:4. 471–503. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morales, Alejandro, Oksana F. Yakushko & Antonio J. Castro
2012 “Language Brokering among Mexican-immigrant Families in the Midwest: A Multiple Case Study”. The Counseling Pyschologist 40. 520–553. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nash, Afaf
2014 “Participation and Conversational Involvement in Brokered Medical Interviews: A Case of Iraqi Patients in Southern California”. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Olmedo, Irma M.
2003 “Language Mediation among Emergent Bilingual Children”. Linguistics and Education 14:2. 143–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orellana, Marjorie F.
2009 Translating Childhoods: Immigrant Youth, Language and Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
2011 “Bilingual Youth: The Language Demands of a Globalized Future”. Huffington Post, August 17. [URL] (last viewed April 19, 2015).
Orellana, Marjorie F., Lisa Dorner & Lucila Pulido
2003a “Accessing Assets: Immigrant Youth's Work as Family Translators or "Para-phrasers”. Social Problems 50:4. 505–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orellana, Marjorie F., Danny C. Martínez, Clifford H. Lee & Elizabeth Montano
2012 “Language as a Tool in Diverse Forms of Learning”. Linguistics and Education 23. 373–387. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orellana, Marjorie F., Jennifer Reynolds, Lisa Dorner & Maria Meza
2003b “In Other Words: Translating or ‘Para-phrasing’ as a Family Literacy Practice in Immigrant Households”. Reading Research Quarterly 38. 12–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Parke, Ross D. & Raymond Buriel
1998 “Socialization in the Family: Ethnic and Ecological Perspectives”. The Handbook of Child Psychology: Social, Emotional, and Personality Development ed. by Nancy Eisenberg, 463–552. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Perry, Kristen H.
2009 “Genres, Contexts, and Literacy Practices: Literacy Brokering among Sudanese Refugee Families”. Reading Research Quarterly 44:3. 256–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 “‘Mama, Sign This Note’: Young Refugee Children’s Brokering of Literacy Practices”. Language Arts 91:5. 313–325.Google Scholar
Phoenix, Ann
2009 “Adult Reconstructions of Childhood Language Brokering”. Conference of the Migration Studies Seminar Series, UCLA, February 20th.Google Scholar
Prokopiou, Evangelia, Tony Cline & Sarah Crafter
2013 “Child Language Brokering in Schools: Why Does It Matter?” Race Equality Teaching 31:3. 33–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Puzio, Kelly, Cristopher S. Keyes, Mikel W. Cole & Robert T. Jiménez
2013 “Language Differentiation: Collaborative Translation to Support Bilingual Reading”. Bilingual Research Journal 36:3. 329–349. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, Jennifer F. & Marjorie F. Orellana
2009 “New Immigrant Youth Interpreting in White Public Space”. American Anthropologist 111:2. 211–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shannon, Sheila M.
1987 “English in El Barrio: A Sociolinguistic Study of Second Language Contact”. Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University.Google Scholar
1990 “English in the Barrio: The Quality of Contact among Immigrant Children”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 12:3. 256–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Song, Miri
1997 “‘You're Becoming More and More English’: Investigating Chinese Siblings’ Cultural Identities”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 23:3. 343–362. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trickett, Edison J. & Curtis J. Jones
2007 “Adolescent Culture Brokering and Family Functioning: A Study of Families from Vietnam”. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 13:2. 143–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tse, Lucy
1995 “Language Brokering among Latino Adolescents: Prevalence, Attitudes, and School Performance”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 17:2. 180–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 “Who Decides?: The Effects of Language Brokering on Home-school Communication”. The Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students 16. 225–234.Google Scholar
Umaña-Taylor, Adriana
2003 “Language Brokering as a Stressor for Immigrant Children and Their Families”. Points and Counterpoints: Controversial Relationships and Family Issues in the 21st Century ed. by Marilyn Coleman & Lawrence Ganong, 157–159. Los Angeles: Roxbury.Google Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe
2003 Expanding Definitions of Giftedness: Young Interpreters of Immigrant Background. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Abel
1999 “Gender Roles and Settlement Activities among Children and Their Immigrant Families”. American Behavioral Scientist 42:4. 720–742. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weisskirch, Robert S.
2006 “Emotional Aspects of Language Brokering among Mexican American Adults”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 27:4. 332–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “Family Relationships, Self-esteem, and Self-efficacy among Language Brokering Mexican American Emerging Adults”. Journal of Child and Family Studies 22. 1147–1155. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weisskirch, Robert S., & Sylvia A. Alva
2002 “Language Brokering and the Acculturation of Latino Children”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 24:3. 369–378. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Dorner, Lisa M. & Sujin Kim
2024. Language Brokering Over Time: A Study of Citizenship Becoming Through a Transliteracies Framework. Journal of Language, Identity & Education ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
García-Sánchez, Inmaculada M.
2018. Children as Interactional Brokers of Care. Annual Review of Anthropology 47:1 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Romero‐Moreno, Aran & Mireia Vargas‐Urpí
2022. The gift of language: An anthropological approach to child language brokering in Barcelona. Children & Society 36:3 ► pp. 415 ff. DOI logo
Rubio‐Carbonero, Gema
2022. Communication in Persons with Acquired Speech Impairment: The Role of Family as Language Brokers. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 32:1 ► pp. 161 ff. DOI logo
Thoma, Nadja & Anna-Katharina Draxl
2023. Transforming language brokering policies at school: Learning from students with transnational biographies. European Educational Research Journal 22:4 ► pp. 463 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.