Spanish and English Biliteracy: A Linear Growth Model for Two Parallel Processes

• In Event: Biliteracy Development and Multimodalities for Emergent Bilinguals

Abstract

This study investigated how growth in English and Spanish language literacy skills were related in a biliteracy setting. Data were collected in a school district in New Mexico in first, second, and third grades in 2018-19 school year. The classrooms were a two-way dual language immersion model that begins in kindergarten with instruction that is 80% in Spanish. At each subsequent grade level, the proportion is altered until it reaches 50/50 by third grade. Each student took ISIP English and ISIP Spanish assessments monthly from October to May. A linear growth model for two parallel processes under SEM framework is utilized using Mplus software. Results showed that a student develops their biliteracy skills faster in first grade.

Authors

• Chalie Patarapichayatham, Southern Methodist University

• Victoria Nevin Locke, Istation