Young Children's Multilingual Literacy Practices: Resourceful Negotiations in Second-Grade Dual Language Classrooms

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

Abstract

The historical contexts of hyper segregation and standardization of curriculum and assessment practices exacerbate inequities among many culturally and linguistically diverse children. This qualitative study examines how young multilinguals participate in a balanced literacy curriculum and negotiate their identities in dual language classroom. Drawing from critical sociocultural theory, I use classroom participant observations, analysis of student work, and semi-structured interviews with teachers to analyze children’s practices as participant observed during school literacy times. This study examined the participation of focal children in dual language classrooms where a balanced literacy curriculum was enacted. This process-oriented literacy curriculum emphasized children’s reading and writing, and formative assessments of children’s progress were frequently conducted.

Author

• Lorraine Theresa Falchi, Teachers College, Columbia University