From Phonetic to Proficient

Advancing Refugee Parents’ Literacy to Foster Educational Involvement

Abstract

This study investigates how Emergent Bilinguals shape refugee parents’ engagement in their children’s education. In 2024, 48 adult refugee parents participated in 13-week English as a Second Language (ESL) classes provided by Catholic Charities in a Midwestern state. Using classroom instruction, home visits, interviews, and language assessments, the study examined participants’ English proficiency, literacy development, and the effectiveness of instructional strategies. Limited English skills were found to create significant barriers to school involvement; however, when instruction was individualized, culturally responsive, and supported by multimodal tools and technology, parents demonstrated measurable progress and increased confidence. The findings underscore that personalized, scaffolded literacy instruction enhances both language development and learner self-efficacy. Multimodal strategies effectively improve oral and written proficiency while connecting learning to real-life tasks and strengthening parental involvement in their children’s education. Overall, integrating Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) practices with family-focused goals fosters learner autonomy, linguistic competence, and active participation in both school and home contexts. These results suggest that community-based ESL programs can serve as a critical bridge, empowering refugee parents to become active partners in their children’s academic success.