Literacy practices of Haitian-origin students across multilingual contexts: tensions and opportunities

Schools often remain unaware of the literacy practices migrant students engage in outside of school, leading to deficit-oriented perspectives. Drawing on New Literacy Studies and the funds of knowledge framework, this five-month ethnographic study explores the in- and out-of-school literacy practices of six Haitian-origin students in a Chilean upper-elementary school through classroom observations, students, teachers and families' interviews, and photographs of literacy events. Findings reveal a disconnect between school and out-of-school literacy spaces. In mainstream classrooms, literacy practices were predominantly reproductive with limited student agency. In contrast, students' out-of-school practices were systematic and meaningful, mobilising diverse funds of knowledge through activities such as crafting, entrepreneurship, religious practice, and creative writing. The study identifies literacy sponsors who influence students' development – school librarians fostering bilingualism and engagement, churches promoting multilingual environments, and families maintaining home language and culture. The research reveals ‘intermediate spaces' functioning as third spaces – volunteer workshops and school library – that bridge in-school and out-of-school literacies, offering increased student agency and meaningful engagement along a continuum from classroom to home. These findings challenge deficit perspectives and highlight the need for schools to recognise and integrate students’ out-of-school literacy practices, support literacy sponsors already facilitating meaningful development in multilingual migratory contexts.