Dual-language engagement: Concerted cultivation of Spanish use among students, teachers, and parents

Exploring parent, student, and teacher language moves is essential to develop and implement strategies that cultivate Spanish use in support of dual-language engagement. We used Lareau's concerted cultivation framework to explore language use at a K-8 dual-language immersion school. A case-study design integrating content analysis was used to analyze parent, teacher, and student interview and classroom observation data. Concerted cultivation of Spanish was evident across students' organization of daily life, language use, and institutional intervention. Parents and teachers' shared messaging revealed a synergistic dimension of concerted cultivation; serving as a model for supporting children's dual-language engagement.