(Im)migrant women’s translingual literacy practices as problem-solving and learning resources: perspectives from a community-based English literacy program

This paper calls for an expansion of translingual studies to include the examination of learners beyond university contexts to further our understanding of translingual literacies and practices. The authors present findings from a larger ethnographic study about practices and repertoires that (im)migrant women mobilize and employ when learning how to write in a community-based English literacy program. The study provides insights into the intersections of their identities as mothers and professionals and their literacy learning. Findings show how these women drew on diverse modalities and literacies to navigate new conventions for writing and challenges they face as (im)migrants in the United States, illustrating how their practices are linked to their professional and gendered identities. The findings illustrate the need to expand translingual studies to further theorize multilingual lives, language learning, and literacy practices cultivated in non-traditional education programs.