PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
While STEM fields account for most high-wage U.S. economic growth, Latinx students are underrepresented
in undergraduate and graduate STEM programs. Given well-established research linking grade completion,
economic success, and overall health and well-being, this underrepresentation portends serious, negative,
long-term physical and mental health outcomes for Latinx families. Access to higher education and
enrollment in STEM programs is hindered by gaps in academic literacy and especially by unfamiliarity with
scientific academic vocabulary (SAV), a subset of the academic register that is fundamental to STEM content-
area learning, but uncommon in everyday conversation, particularly in low-SES homes where English is not
the first language. To promote Latinx students’ SAV proficiency, we propose a technology-based approach to
engage English learner families in culturally relevant evidence-based SAV home-based learning. We will
complete development of a technology package that includes dual-language SAV voice technology learning
tools enhanced with rich video and audio content. Talk STEM Familia (TSF) will be accessible via mobile
phones, tablets, and smart-speaker devices. The complete program will include a word corpus of 72 frequent
SAV words that appear in STEM texts across middle and secondary grades and curricula. Building familiarity
with SAV words in upper elementary and middle school grade levels can have a significant impact on
achievement, including performance on standardized tests in middle school t h a t influence the selection of
science and technology electives in STEM. In each 10-minute learning experience, students and families
receive dual language instruction, practice, and feedback on the pronunciation, meaning, and usage of one
target SAV word. The program features Spanish-language home vignettes that model parents and children
using SAV in familiar home contexts, and English-language vignettes that model teachers and students using
SAV in grade-appropriate academic contexts. The learning games guide families through an instructional
progression designed to incrementally build language skills and confidence, with activities designed to
encourage word use in family conversations. This proposed Phase II project will use a three panel (pre-, mid-,
and post-intervention) randomized controlled trial involving 300 Latinx upper elementary and middle school
student/and their English learner parents to test the efficacy, acceptability, and usability of TSF in improving
student and parent SAV knowledge and academic self-efficacy relative to business-as-usual.
