Biliteracy

Fueled by immigration and globalization, the United States has evolved into a nation of linguistically diverse residents; however, English remains the dominant language in schools. A recent language policy initiative emergent in states across the nation, the Seal of Biliteracy challenges English monolingualism by promoting the development of students’ bilingualism and biliteracy by high school graduation. Using narrative inquiry, this study explores the policy journeys that states have taken to enact the Seal of Biliteracy, as educators and stakeholders come together to engage in grassroots policy work. Findings include the collective stories of these efforts to disrupt English-dominant ideologies in schools, as well as individual states’ journeys to develop students’ bilingualism. Implications serve educators, researchers, and other stakeholders interested in influencing practice through bottom-up policy movements, particularly at this crucial moment as states embrace more flexibil...

Governments, educators and the public often believe that combining English language with information technology skills is important to be successful (Tuan, 2011). WebQuestsare a framework for learner-centered instruction in teaching English as a foreign language when using Internet resources. This study investigated the effect of WebQuests on Grade 11 reading comprehension in a secondary school in the UAE. It also investigated perceptions of WebQuests as a study tool. A quasi-experimental research design was used with control and experimental groups. In addition, a Likert scale questionnaire examined perceptions of WebQuests. An analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The results indicated a statistically significant improvement in reading by the experimental group. Additionally, positive attitudes were reported towards WebQuests. Students felt that WebQuests enhanced collaboration, language skills, reading and higher order thinking...

Mariana held the pencil carefully and focused intently as she wrote the fi nal sentence of her story about what she and her family had done over the weekend: " Y nos dibertimos en el parce [sic]. " (And we had fun at the park.) As she punctuated this sentence with a large, stylized period, Mariana smiled before looking up at the nearest classmate in her K– 1 multiage classroom and exclaiming, " Ya acabé. " (I'm fi nished.) She then put away her writing materials and reached into a small bin on her desk to retrieve two leveled books— one in Spanish and the other in English. She examined the two books for a moment, as if deciding which to read fi rst, and then opened the English book and began to read, tracking with her fi nger from left to right as she negotiated the fi rst line of English text.

A growing number of schools offer dual language (DL) programs, where students from two language backgrounds learn together through both languages. Unlike transitional bilingual programs, which use children’s home language as a temporary bridge to English literacy, DL programs are “additive” forms of bilingual education that aim to help all children become bilingual and biliterate, most frequently in Spanish and English. This article provides guidance for teacher librarians in schools with a DL program. We describe challenges and solutions involved in building a dual language school library.

O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir, através dos dados, que a decodificação fonológica na
L2 ocorre de forma similar à da aquisição da L1, através da decodificação fonológica do som da letra,
e a associação ao grafema. O público-alvo são estudantes do 1º ano do Ensino Fundamental I de uma
Escola da Rede Particular Bilíngue. Bilinguismo consecutivo é aquele em que a aquisição da segunda
língua ocorre ainda na infância, porém após o aprendizado da L1, aproximadamente aos cinco ou seis
anos de idade. No método fônico, essa aquisição da segunda língua se dará a partir do som da letra,
o fonema, para a construção de palavras e, consequentemente, frases e pequenos textos. Para isso,
foi realizado um estudo de caso com objetivo de observar uma situação real e analisar as situações
observadas. Os dados apontam que a educação bilíngue consecutiva de infância possibilita que
os alunos consigam mobilizar os dois códigos linguísticos de forma alternada, como também
oportunizar uma conscientização linguística e intercultural.

Local and minority means of producing, knowing, and communicating are often undervalued in the face of modern development schemes, universal systems of education, and languages of wider communication. Through this research, I attempt to understand a local situation from local perspectives – specifically the language and education situation in the Kumaun region of North India from the perspectives of rural Kumauni young women and in light of their views on empowerment and their aims for the future. My questions address language and education issues in the Kumaun 1) in relation to national policies and local ideologies, 2) as experienced and negotiated by young women, and 3) as applied in a unique Gandhian educational context. The Kumauni people of the Himalayan foothills, numbering over two million, are one of several linguistic minority groups in the Hindi-speaking state of Uttarakhand. My research was based at Lakshmi Ashram, a Gandhian boarding school serving disadvantaged girls from throughout the Kumaun. I used ethnographic methods during nine months of primary fieldwork, observing interactions around language and education, starting conversations on these themes, and conducting interviews, focusing on a group of Kumauni young women. National-level language planning through the Indian Census, Constitution, and educational policies minimize some diversity. Locally, discourses about language and dialect, or bhasha and boli, and mother tongue allow for flexible categories and identities. Medium of instruction also takes new meaning through informal multilingual classroom practices. Each language – English, Hindi, Kumauni, and Sanskrit – is valued in its place or environment and in relationship with the other languages. Meanwhile educational opportunities vary in quality and reputation, including a push for English education and influenced, sometimes unexpectedly, by government policies. While constrained by social and economic realities, Kumauni young women look for ways to improve their lives. Alternative values advocated at the Ashram, and negotiated by the young women, point to empowerment as involving high thinking, self-confidence, and progress within community. I conclude using the ecology of language and continua of biliteracy to highlight significant themes and exploring the issues of collaboration and empowerment, community and ecology in relation to language and education.

The education of bilingual students is a rather popular topic among educators in today's schools. Frequently, articles and research focus upon a singular phenomenon or strategy in this field. This literature review is aimed at providing teachers of students of all grade levels and ages with a guide containing prevalent theories and ideas related to providing high quality instruction to students with bilingual backgrounds. Educational practices such as translanguaging and the integration of biliteracy can assist students in using their native tongues along with the dominant language of their given settings. Additionally, the usage of cooperative groups and language buddies not only creates a sense of " fitting in " for new bilinguals, but also recognizes the ideology that young learners will learn the social aspects of a new language prior to learning the more academic and formalized version of speaking. Both new and experienced teachers would benefit from training that relates to these culturally responsive teaching strategies. There are also sections within this piece that promote the usage of community and parent outreach methods that aim to improve the school experience for all involved parties. The overarching goal of this literature review is providing teachers with a variety of literature connected to relevant theory and useful strategies that could potentially assist them in better understanding bilingual students, as well as enhance their overall knowledge base of this subject matter.

The study examines performance on an evaluation instrument for classroom use for the purpose of improving instruction that focuses on awareness of language in reading and writing. Findings are reported on the piloting of the first in a series of literacy assessments with students from a rural elementary school in Ecuador. All students who participated in the pilot study are first language speakers of the language of instruction, Spanish. The report follows up on two recent studies on: awareness of language in self-correction (writing ability of bilingual and second language learners, Mexico), and overall literacy attainment comparing boys and girls in rural schools in Latin America with the objective of confirming or disconfirming recent UNESCO estimates of gender parity. The authors present a proposal for monitoring literacy learning in elementary school that will help teachers to integrate teaching and evaluation, an approach that can more effectively link classroom testing to act...

While research on cognitive and metacognitive abilities of bilingual and biliterate students has been advancing, limited studies have examined these influences in the Arabic context. The current study explores the influences of cognitive and metacognitive abilities on the bilingualism and biliteracy of Emirati fifth-grade students whose mother tongue is Arabic but who are learning core subjects in English. This is an explanatory sequential mixed method study where quantitative data from Grade 5 students (n = 350), and their Arabic and English teachers (n = 200; and n = 150 respectively) were first collected, followed by in-depth interviews with three students, two English teachers, and two Arabic teachers. Findings showed that students used their cognitive and metacognitive abilities more freely in Arabic lessons as compared to English. However, Arabic teachers reported that students use background knowledge in their first language in a better way but also demonstrated insufficient transfer strategy between the two languages.

[Final paragraphs]
Biliteracy is more like a strategy or style of play than like a function in an algorithm.  Biliteracy events are more like jam sessions or dramas than like programs.  It is as if biliteracy initially crosses borders without asking permission from institutional gatekeepers.  Ecologically speaking, biliteracy is born in the “no man’s land” between languages, and develops by playfully switching and mixing bits and pieces of code proper to more than one cultural, economic, or social system.  Those who practice biliteracy, even in its simplest alphabetic form, share the knowledge that one alphabet can be used to transcribe two languages the way they sound, that tokens in that alphabet can be assigned variable rather than constant values, that new tokens must sometimes be coined and circulated, that, after all, letters and sounds are only pieces in a game, in short that we can agree to change the rules of the game and still use the same pieces.  In the decades to come we can expect to see lively debates over more sophisticated redefinitions of biliteracy to include a knowledge of how to play with codes in general, how to switch them, how to mix and match them, how to create new rules for hybrid linguistic, cultural and political “games.” 
There is irony in the fact that biliteracy, although marginal to the culture of the United States, is of increasing importance everywhere else.  The ever expanding globalization of English as a universal international medium of communication means that in the decades to come more and more people worldwide will speak and write English and will therefore become, by one definition or another, biliterate.  Nevertheless  it is safe to predict that within the United States biliteracy, no matter how sophisticated its definition, will for the foreseeable future continue to challenge the monolingual mainstream and will therefore remain an essentially contested contribution that Latino and other linguistic minorities claim to make to the culture of the United States.

Timofeeva, Olga (2010) “Anglo-Latin Bilingualism before 1066: Prospects and Limitations,” in Interfaces between Language and Culture in Medieval England: A Festschrift for Matti Kilpiö, ed. by Alaric Hall, Olga Timofeeva, Ágnes Kiricsi, and Bethany Fox, pp. 1–36. Leiden: Brill.

A challenge facing Zapotec teachers in intercultural bilingual schools in Oaxaca, México is a persistent colonial system of national curriculum that places greater value on Western, monolingual, epistemological knowing-about knowledge over community-based, ontological, Indigenous knowing. The biliteracy teaching methods, shared here by two native Zapotec teachers at two Zapotec bilingual schools, honor community-based xkialnana, local ontologies that work to develop student biliteracy/identity development and challenge normalized/official/colonial knowledge acceptance at schools. Amid questions of language planning and policy, translanguaging is both leveraged and critiqued in an effort to achieve decolonial teaching and to keep mensajes de los abuelitos alive.

Background
Learning to read is very challenging for Hong Kong children who learn English as a second language (ESL), as they must acquire two very different writing systems, beginning at the age of three. Few studies have examined the role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels, oral language proficiency and L1 tone awareness in L2 English reading among Hong Kong ESL kindergarteners.

Aims
This study aims to investigate L1 and L2 phonological awareness and oral language proficiency as predictors of English reading among children with Chinese as L1.

Sample
One hundred and sixty-one typically developing children with a mean age of 5.16 (SD=0.35) selected from 7 preschools in Hong Kong.

Method
Participants were assessed for English reading, English and Chinese phonological awareness at different levels, English oral language skills and letter naming ability.

Results
Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both oral language proficiency and phonological awareness measures significantly predicted L2 word reading, when statistically controlled for age and general intelligence. Among various phonological awareness units, L2 phonemic awareness was the best predictor of L2 word reading. Cross-language transfer was shown with L1 phonological awareness at the tone level, uniquely predicting L2 word reading.

Conclusions
The present findings show the important role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels (rime and phoneme) and oral language proficiency in the course of L2 reading development in Chinese ESL learners. The significant contribution of L1 tone awareness to L2 reading suggests that phonological sensitivity is a general competence that ESL children need to acquire in early years. The findings have significant implications for understanding L2 reading development and curriculum development.

From the authors’ introduction:

“We firmly believe that we can apply the available research base with Spanish-speaking and bilingual children to accelerate the development of their foundational skills. We have applied that research throughout the ABC-OLE Instructional Resource Guide.”

This instructional guide is a companion volume to our core book ABC-OLE: Accelerating Foundational Biliteracy across a Multi-Tiered Framework (Soltero-González, Chacón, Ruiz, Sánchez-Boyce & García, in preparation). Following the model of our original resource book, The Optimal Learning Environment (OLE) Curriculum Guide, this new guide offers succinct procedural steps for accelerating children’s early biliteracy skills, specifically the foundational skills of letter and sound identification, and early spelling. The instructional approaches are designed for use by Pre-K through Grade 2 teachers and intervention specialists across a multi-tiered instructional framework, ranging from general education classrooms, to increasingly intensive contexts of support (small group and 1-1 interventions), and on through to special education classrooms. The ABC-OLE instructional approaches can easily be used in conjunction with other literacy programs given their solid foundation in the Science of Teaching Biliteracy, that is, science comprised of robust qualitative and quantitative studies that have focused on bilingual children’s biliteracy development and instruction. The ABC-OLE instructional approaches are further designed to be used in bilingual education settings, and also where instruction occurs in English given children’s multiple language groups.
ISBN 979-8448638220

This article discusses whether active use of the two Norwegian written varieties can be described as bilingualism, and if the ability to use both in writing provides the user with potential bilingual benefits. The article uses insights from international research on bilingualism and biliteracy to better understand the conceptualization of the Norwegian language in both past and present. In the conclusion, the author argues that competency in both written forms of Norwegian should be defined as monolingual biliteracy.

Governments, educators and the public often believe that combining English language with information technology skills is important to be successful (Tuan, 2011). WebQuestsare a framework for learner-centered instruction in teaching English as a foreign language when using Internet resources. This study investigated the effect of WebQuests on Grade 11 reading comprehension in a secondary school in the UAE. It also investigated perceptions of WebQuests as a study tool. A quasi-experimental research design was used with control and experimental groups. In addition, a Likert scale questionnaire examined perceptions of WebQuests. An analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The results indicated a statistically significant improvement in reading by the experimental group. Additionally, positive attitudes were reported towards WebQuests. Students felt that WebQuests enhanced collaboration, language skills, reading and higher order thinking skills. Finally, recommendations for further studies will also be discussed in this paper.

This research explored the biliteracy experiences of three kōhanga reo children as they started school in one of three school settings: a bilingual unit, a mainstream classroom, and kura kaupapa Māori. A Kaupapa Māori approach underpinned this research and guided the case study methodology employed. The chil-dren's literacy experiences were observed on school entry and parents and teachers from each setting were interviewed regarding their aspirations for children and approaches to literacy. Key findings include the importance of effective teaching strategies, relationship building, the classroom environment, the reading programme employed, and approaches to assessment. The study highlights the importance of teachers who have culturally responsive pedagogies and can adapt pedagogies to meet the literacy learning needs of kōhanga reo children as they transition to school. It also highlights the need for further understanding of biliteracy learning in Aotearoa New Zealand schools, and the importance of assessment tools appropriate for bilingual children.

El presente artículo describe un primer ejercicio de documentación para la revitalización de la lengua k’anjob’al a partir de la producción de un material bilingüe (lengua indígena-español) en una comunidad de vitalidad lingüística alta del municipio de La Trinitaria, Chiapas (México). La elaboración del material promovió prácticas de literacidad, entendidas como prácticas sociales en las que se utiliza la lectura y la escritura con objetivos específicos, en un contexto donde dichas prácticas son limitadas e incluso inexistentes. La metodología, basada en la antropología colaborativa, se desarrolló a partir de la elicitación de información durante tres temporadas de campo en el último semestre de 2019. En el desarrollo del artículo se presentan los resultados obtenidos de dos fases: i) documentación de lengua y cultura y ii) validación del material. Por lo tanto, el progreso de esta investigación se basa en tres premisas: a) mediante prácticas de literacidad, fortalecer procesos identitarios entre los hablantes de dicha lengua en México; b) producir textos para contextos y usuarios reales, es decir, materiales de consumo familiar e intercomunitario; c) a través del fomento de la biliteracidad, documentar la memoria cultural y visibilizar el uso de la lengua escrita para generar futuras iniciativas revitalizadoras a escala regional.

Although identical on the spoken level, Hindi and Urdu differ markedly on the written level in terms of reading/writing direction and orthographic depth, with discernible processing consequences. The present study used a divided field paradigm to study the impact of writing system characteristics of Hindi and Urdu on word naming latencies in skilled biliterate users of these languages. Hindi (read/written from left to right) was hypothesized to show a larger right field advantage than Urdu (read/written from right to left); Hindi words sharing form overlap with primes were expected to show a significant priming effect in the left visual field, but a significant right field effect for morphologically-primed naming. Both these expectations were confirmed. An overall right field advantage was obtained for one syllable Hindi and Urdu words; two syllable Urdu words showed either no visual field differences or a left field advantage, and the right field advantage for Hindi was significantly greater for two syllable than one syllable words. Further, Hindi words showed significant form priming (relative to control stimuli) in the left visual field and significant morphological priming (relative to form priming) in the right visual field. By contrast, Urdu words showed no significant form priming in either visual field, and significantly greater morphological than form priming in the left visual field. These results are taken to suggest that visual field asymmetries in word naming are sensitive to differences in reading habit-related scanning biases and to orthographic depth-related differences in word recognition processes.

This paper investigates literacy socialization of one Polish immigrant adolescent attending both Polish heritage language school and English mainstream post-primary school in Ireland. The focus is on how second language literacy socialization goals affect this young person’s identity negotiation through his literacy practices as he grows up in multilingual environment and try to find his place in a new country and society. A particular focus is on second language literacy socialization and one’s emotional world. This study examines the ways in which emotions are being recognized and displayed through literacy practice. This paper is a part of the longitudinal study (5 years) involving four students and their families, some of whom also attended Polish weekend schools in addition to mainstream secondary schools. The theoretical and analytical approach combines Ethnography of Communication approach to data collection and field work (participant home and school observations, audio-recordings of children’s interactions with their peers, their teachers and parents, open-ended interviews, children’s samples of written work) with Discourse Analysis approaches (Duff, 1995; Davis & Harre 1990, Harre & Langenhove, 1999, Ochs & Capps, 2001).

This research explored the bi/literacy experiences of three kōhanga reo children as they start school in one of the three school settings: kura kaupapa Māori, bilingual unit, and mainstream. A Kaupapa Māori approach underpinned this research and guided the case study methodology employed. Parents and teachers are interviewed to gain insight into the aspirations and expectations of their child’s literacy development. The children’s literacy experiences were observed in the school classroom upon school entry. The findings of each case study is discussed and analysed separately and then synthesised and critiqued

Key findings include the importance of home literacy support, relationship building, building on prior literacy experiences and knowledge, and quality language instruction in supporting biliteracy development. The study highlights the obligation for further understanding of biliteracy learning in New Zealand schools by teachers and parents, the need for more bilingual teachers, the urgency for further development of assessment tools appropriate for bilingual children, and the demand for quality resources that support literacy development in all school settings, kōhanga reo, and the home.

In a fifth-grade ESOL class, I used dual-language mentor texts to implement critical biliteracy practices for emerging Spanish/English bilinguals. These texts relieved writing anxiety, scaffolded writing, and acted as an additional dual-language teacher. The students’ stories showed resistance to monolithic societal discourses and challenged English-only instructional norms.

En una clase de quinto año de ESOL, utilicé textos mentores en dos lenguas para implementar prácticas críticas de bilectoescritura con bilingües emergentes de español e inglés. Estos textos liberaron la ansiedad al escribir, sirvieron de andamiaje de escritura y actuaron como un maestro adicional de lenguaje dual. Las historias de los estudiantes muestran resistencia a los discursos sociales monolíticos y retan las normas escolares de sólo usar inglés

Discourses of languagelessness that suggest that Latinxs are not fully proficient in either English or Spanish have a long history in the United States. These discourses produce raciolinguistic categories that frame the bilingualism of Latinxs as deficient and in need of remedi-ation. In this article, the researchers examine one such raciolinguistic category: students in dual language programs who are classified as both English learners and first language (L1) users of English. The authors offer case studies of three students who fit this linguistic profile. They examine the ways that teachers working with these students struggle to make sense of this raciolinguistic category and often resort to discourses of languagelessness as an explanation. The researchers document the ways that these discourses negatively impact the educational supports provided to the students. The authors end with a call for developing new conceptualizations of the language practices of Latinx students in these programs that resist discourses of languagelessness and, instead, frame the fluid bilingual-ism of these students as a resource for learning.

Esse artigo visa discutir reflexões sobre a aprendizagem a partir de uma experiência interdisciplinar em uma Escola que possui a organização do currículo a partir do ensino bilíngue. Esta escola trabalha os planejamentos com ênfase na interdisciplinaridade e esta pesquisa pauta-se por meio de um estudo de caso entre os componentes curriculares de Arts e a língua inglesa. Para este estudo de caso, optou-se pela observação das ações decorrentes das atividades de uma sequência didática planejada para duas turmas de primeiro ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma Escola da Rede Particular bilíngue de Santa Catarina. A análise dos dados gerados ocorreu por meio da perspectiva histórico-cultural com pressupostos da interdisciplinaridade. Os dados apontam que a sequência didática possibilitou desenvolver práticas pedagógicas que enriqueceram o aprendizado e estímulo em língua inglesa e ampliaram a bagagem cultural dos estudantes. E essas práticas pedagógicas trabalhadas em uma perspectiva interdisciplinar bilíngue possibilitam o ensino integrado, não fragmentado em uma perspectiva de aprendizagem conceitual atrelado ao desenvolvimento linguístico.

The number of Asian immigrants in the United States has increased remarkably over the past decades and now accounts for nearly 30% of all immigrants in the country. However, the umbrella term Asians includes a wide range of variety. Acknowledging diversity among Asians, this study explores advantages of Asian bilingualism in the American labor market by attending to employment status and personal earnings through the lens of superdiversity. A series of logistic and ordinary least squared regression analyses of the 2011–2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data shows that substantial differences exist across different ethnic groups among Asians. Bilingual advantages appear in most Asian groups when predicting both employment status and personal earnings, and the benefits tend to be more salient in the results of earnings analysis. The findings indicate that native-language literacy skill is a more momentous variable than the other variables in the model and that bilingual advantages stand out among Asian Indians and Chinese/Taiwanese more substantially compared to other Asians. Immense gender gaps also exist between Asian males and females in terms of economic well-being, and such gaps are more conspicuous in personal earnings than in employment status.

Resumen. La lectura de cuentos tiende a enfocarse en los personajes principales e ignorar a los personajes secundarios. Sin las voces de éstos la lectura se vuelve egocéntrica y unívoca. En este artículo proponemos un modelo de lectura periférica e inclusiva en la que maestros y estudiantes escuchan y analizan las voces de los héroes silenciosos. El objetivo de este método es mostrar a los niños que leer cuentos con ojos inclusivos es el primer paso para convertirse en representantes de la pluralidad del mundo y, de este modo, ayudar a romper las fronteras que existen en nuestra sociedad.

This is an account of two sisters from an L1 English-speaking family who relocated to a remote part of Japan due to their parents' employment. The sisters attended Japanese medium schools from kindergarten until Year 10, before returning to their home country to complete their education. This discusses how their English oracy and literacy were maintained while they were living on an island with few English speakers.