What’s a “Good” Writer? From Language and Nationhood to Superheroes: Writing in a French-English Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Language and Discourse

Abstract

This study investigates how four first grade students make sense of their writing in a French-English bilingual school. The school operates under two curricula: the French curriculum, as established by the Ministry of Education in France and the English curriculum, established by the Common Core State Standards. The study is grounded in socio-cultural perspectives of literacy, specifically New Literacy Studies and examines how the students draw on their out-of-school resources in order to make sense of the two curricula. Specifically, the students rely on their cultural knowledge as well as their individual interests when writing. Data for this qualitative case study were collected over one-year and involved fieldnotes, interviews, and collection of the students’ writing.

Author

• Elizabeth A. Morphis, Teachers College, Columbia University