Publications
Academic Journals
2024
Unravelling Child Language Brokering for Health: Understanding the complexities behind children’s interpreting for health care
The Journal of Leadership, Equity and Research
Martinez, K., Orellana, M. F., Murillo, M. A. and Rodriguez, M. A.
Abstract: The U.S. healthcare system struggles to provide adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients. As a result, health providers and patients rely on ad hoc interpreters, including children, to communicate. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, whom we refer to as child language brokers, are important linguistic and cultural conduits for their communities and bridge language differences in vital contexts, such as health and medical settings. In this paper, we explore the experiences of 17 adolescent language brokers and consider the settings, tasks, and people they engage with when language brokering for health. Findings illustrate that child language brokering is a real and important component for immigrant family health, that child language brokering for health is not a uniform experience, and that language brokering for health can sometimes have severe ramifications.
2023
Attention Teachers: There are Child Language Brokers in the Classroom
NCTE Peer Reviewed Journal
Martinez, K.
Abstract: One in five children in the United States speaks a language other than English at home (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2021). As a result, schools across the US serve student populations with diverse linguistic skills and experiences, including those of multilingual students developing proficiency in English. As multilingual students develop English proficiency, they are often called upon to mediate language and culture outside of school by helping to negotiate English with family and community members. Many scholars refer to this mediation as child language brokering (Antonini, 2010; McQuillan & Tse, 1995). A great deal of literature on the subject frames child language brokering as a last resort to bridge language differences in spaces where linguistic resources are limited. This framing can sometimes overshadow the fact that language brokering is a whole language learning activity that involves children, their families, and communities.
2017
Health Insurance, from a Child Language Broker's Perspective
International Migration, 55: 31–43
Martinez, K., Orellana, M. F., Murillo, M. A. and Rodriguez, M. A.
Abstract: In the midst of dramatic changes to American health care law there is need to understand the challenges that vulnerable populations encounter in obtaining and managing health insurance. Research has found that child language brokers, children who mediate language and culture for their immigrant families, assist with health-related matters. We report on focus groups with 17 language brokers living in Central Los Angeles. In this article we detail their experiences language brokering for health insurance and their knowledge of health insurance and policies that apply to their immigrant families. We illuminate some barriers immigrant families face as well as how they navigate them. We conclude with policy implications, particularly in relation to making health insurance more accessible to non-English speaking and immigrant populations.
In Progress
Latina/o Language Brokers in Health Contexts: Literature Review
Martinez, K.
In Progress
Looking Back: Impacts of childhood language brokering in health contexts
Martinez, K.
Book Chapters
2021
A day in the life of an immigrant child language broker in Los Angeles
Martinez, K., Orellana, M. F.
Book: In. E. T. Hamann, V. Zúñiga, J. Sánchez García (Eds.), Lo que conviene que los maestros mexicanos conozcan sobre la educación básica en Estados Unidos. Monterrey, Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León Press.
2019
Transforming Practice in Multilingual Communities: Towards a Transcultural Pedagogy of Heart and Mind
Orellana, M.F., Franco, J., Johnson, S.J., Martinez, K., Rodriguez, B., Rodríguez-Scheel, A., Rodriguez, L.
Book: In P. Pacheco and Z. Morales (Eds.) Transforming schooling for second language learners: Policies, pedagogies and practices. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.