Identifying the Assets of Emerging Bilingual Students' Writing

• In Event: 26.080 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 26.080-13 - Asset-Based Approaches to Students' Writing and Literate Activity

Abstract

This paper highlights how the use of a holistic bilingual perspective on writing assessment of emerging bilingual students in English language arts classrooms can be used to counter deficit views of their divergent language use. Building on the research on holistic bilingualism (Garcia, 2009; Hornberger & Link, 2012; Soltero-González, Escamilla & Hopewell, 2012), this presentation examines emerging bilingual students’ use of their funds of knowledge (Moll & González, 1994) while completing writing prompts and assignments in an English language arts (ELA) class. Analysis of these students’ writing illustrates how current monolingual English rubrics are inequitable in honoring the cultural and linguistic knowledge(s) and experiences that emerging bilingual students bring to understanding and developing their own purpose for writing.

Authors

• Margarita Zisselsberger, Loyola University Maryland

• Mark A. Lewis, Loyola University Maryland