The Early Spanish and English Writing Development of Simultaneous Bilingual Preschoolers

• In Event: 29.060 - Biliteracy: Bilingual Children Learning to Read and Write

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the Spanish and English writing development of 27 simultaneous bilingual preschoolers. The authors gave an adapted version of Ferreiro and Teberosky’s (1982) general writing tasks in both languages to each child twice in the year; children were asked to read/interpret their written productions. Children’s writing was analyzed in each language side by side to identify their levels of conceptualizations about writing. Preliminary findings indicate that children went through similar conceptualization levels to those in Ferreiro and Teberosky. Most children advanced at least one level from the pre-test to the post-test and 86% demonstrated the same conceptualization level in both languages on the post-test. From Level 4 and up, children showed increased awareness of differences between languages.

Authors

• Lucinda A. Soltero-Gonzalez, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Sandra Adriana Butvilofsky, University of Colorado Boulder

• Adriana Alvarez, University of Colorado - Boulder