Bilingualism-as-Participation: A Study of Language Use Across In-School, Out-of-School, and Online Contexts

• In Event: Digital Bilingualism and Biliteracy: Technology Innovations in Bilingual Education Research

Abstract

This study employs a lens of bilingualism-as-participation, which captures the notion that bilingual youth’s linguistic competence is better understood in its particular contexts of usage as their varied participation requires specific ways of leveraging their linguistic capabilities to accomplish the activities valued in those settings. It discusses the preliminary findings of an ethnographic research study that examines the role in-school, out-of-school, and on-line contexts play in the successful participation and language learning of six case study bilingual adolescents. The bilingualism-as-participation lens privileges successful participation across settings where bilingual youth employ their full linguistic repertoires and examines contextual factors that facilitate this participation.

Author

• Mariana Pacheco, University of Wisconsin - Madison