“Somos fieles creyentes”: children’s construction of spiritual and literate identities at home
English Teaching: Practice & Critique
ISSN: 2059-5727
Article publication date: 29 April 2022
Issue publication date: 25 July 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Set in a Mexican-American community of a US Gulf Coast state, the purpose of this paper was to describe how three young siblings and their family members constructed their spiritual, ethnic and communicative identities within the context of a virtual family literacy program during COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
This project was approached as an illustrative case study that focused on one family’s engagement with a children’s book in which the protagonists retell the legend of the Catholic patroness of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Findings
The case study illustrates how the children's spiritual/religious identities were inseparably intertwined with their home literacy practices and their identities as communicators with others. The children’s everyday spiritual/religious practices, routines and activities motivated familial conversations and dialogue that engage and support children’s literacy development.
Originality/value
Although there is a large corpus of scholarship about secular early literacy program for families with preschool children, there are few that describe the recognition and inclusion of families’ spiritual/religious identities.
Keywords
Citation
Dávila, D. (2022), "“Somos fieles creyentes”: children’s construction of spiritual and literate identities at home", English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 238-253. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-09-2021-0124
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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