Latinx Bilinguals Using Dual-Language Books to Develop Home Language Biliteracy

• In Event: Connecting Families and Bilingual Education: Communication and Dual-Language Education

Abstract

Dual-language books are often recommended for emergent bilinguals to use the book’s two languages to develop biliteracy, with the focus usually on using home language knowledge to develop English literacy. Less is known about how children use second language literacy knowledge to develop literacy skills in home languages. To do so, I used discourse analysis to analyze the verbal protocols/think-alouds of 2 third-grade and 3 fifth-grade Spanish-English bilingual students as they read dual-language books and answered translation and retelling questions. I found that they used English phonology and the English text to decode the Spanish text as well as activate their Spanish oral language memory. Understanding how children use linguistic knowledge to develop biliteracy has implications for teachers.

Author

• Lisa Domke, Georgia State University