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Article published In:
Preparing Teachers for Addressing the Sociocultural Issues with Asian Pacific Immigrants and Refugees
Edited by Yin Lam Lee-Johnson and Hsiao-Chin Kuo
[Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 31:1] 2021
► pp. 15–37

Analyzing Burmese refugee children’s multimodal work

A case study

 | University of New Mexico
Researchers have investigated how family literacy practices can effectively support children’s literacy development in school. However, few studies have explored the lived experiences of Burmese refugee families in the United States. Utilizing a social semiotics multimodal perspective, this qualitative study examines how two Burmese refugee children made meaning by blending different modes. The data sources include video recordings, artifacts, and interviews. The findings illustrate three major themes that span time and space: family past experiences across global contexts, representation of current life experiences in the United States, and family beliefs carried across global contexts and Gawa’s dream for the future. The findings also show that the participants drew upon multimodal semiotic resources to create and share family storybooks. Implications include the importance of integrating multimodal perspectives into classroom learning and the possibilities of bridging home and school literacy.
Keywords: Burmese refugees, parents and children, family literacy, multimodality, home and school
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theoretical perspectives
  • Literature review
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Study context
    • Researcher’s positionality
    • Data sources
      • Interviews
      • Video recordings
      • Participants’ artifacts
      • Informal conversations
  • Data analysis
  • Findings
    • Family past experiences across global contexts
    • Multimodal communication: Representation of current life experiences in the United States
    • Family beliefs carried across global contexts and Gawa’s dream for the future
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • References
Published online: 1 September 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00055.cun
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