How Children Read Multilingual Texts: A Description of Reading Translanguaging Strategies

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Cross-Linguistic Analyses of Language and Literacy Development

Abstract

Multilingual reading is cross-linguistic, but much research into cross-linguistic influence is correlational, while translanguaging research tends to focus on writing and speech patterns. Little is known about how children translanguage while reading, especially while reading multilingual texts. To describe students’ reading translanguaging strategies, I used discourse analysis to analyze the verbal protocols/think-alouds of 68 third- and fifth-grade Spanish-English bilingual students as they read dual-language books and answered translation and retelling questions. I found students use a variety of strategies such as their knowledge of surrounding words, words’ approximate page location, and counting words across the page. Students also relied on the English and illustrations to retell pages. This work increases understandings of translanguaging and has implications for biliteracy pedagogy.

Author

• Lisa Domke, Georgia State University