Bridging, Dissonant, and the “Other Twin”: The Multiple Literate Identities of Intermediate Elementary English Learners

• In Event: Listening and Not Listening to Students’ Voices

Abstract

This paper details the investigation of intermediate elementary English learners’ multiple literate identities. Exploring students’ literate identities in fourth and sixth grades as they are revealed in both home and school contexts, this study highlights the ways that some students demonstrated strong literate identities that bridged home and school contexts while others revealed strong home literate identities and striving school literate identities in dissonance with each other. Findings from this study offer implications for supporting students in co-constructing strong literate identities that bridge home and school contexts by creating explicit connections between home and school and inviting students’ multiple social identities into the classroom.

Author

• Pamela J. Hickey, SUNY - College at New Paltz