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This study examined young emergent bilinguals' cognate and false cognate knowledge and vocabulary outcomes on four early-language assessments in English and Spanish. Findings revealed that children were able to use shared phonology of words-before they had developed extensive knowledge about their orthography-to recognize and produce cognates. In addition, children were not confused by the similar phonology in semantically different words when recognizing and producing false cognates. This indicates that children who are just beginning to acquire literacy may also possess a "bilingual advantage" when identifying cognate items as do their older peers.

This case study examines one Honduran immigrant family's community of practice during home literacy events. Data include field notes and audio and video recordings from six weeks of in-home observations. Coding and discourse analysis are used to analyse talk-in-interaction in order to understand how the family engages in literacy events. Family discourse reveals patterns of speech according to the language of narrative texts, shared strategy use between mother and child, and the influence of an older sibling. Through the exploration of these patterns, this study documents the multidirectional influence of one family's community of practice where family members are able to leverage their linguistic and/or literate strengths to construct meaning mutually during literacy events. This study provides evidence for the benefits of

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Siblings play a critical role in the socialization experiences of their younger siblings. Societal values, standards, and customs are transmitted and created through the process of modeling and the construction of shared meaning. It follows, therefore, that the process of socialization may be culturally dependent. Using multiple case studies of five sibling dyads, we aim to examine the process of initiation and co-construction of second-generation Spanish-speaking children while engaged in free play activities. Examination of fieldnotes, videotapes, and transcriptions suggests that younger siblings initiated more interactions than their older siblings. However, older sibling initiations were more likely to lead to co-construction. Moreover, when younger sibling initiations were successful, this process of co-construction appears to be contingent on the support provided by their more skilled older siblings. We suggest that by serving as models, older siblings are fulfilling their familial responsibility and preparing their younger siblings for school-based social interactions.