In this paper, we utilize the theory of translanguaging to make sense of the biliterate activities of young emergent bilinguals in a before-school program for Latinx students at an elementary school. Our findings show that even early writers are able to draw from their full linguistic repertoire, utilizing orthographic and syntactic resources consciously, and continue to do so with increasing complexity as they get older and gain greater competence. The children in our study show how emergent bilinguals exhibit exceptionally sophisticated considerations of audience as they write across linguistically and culturally-diverse communities, navigating these in their writing, as they do in their daily lives. Opportunities for students to demonstrate and develop these skills are critical, especially in monolingual settings.
This paper draws data from a 5-year ethnographic study of young multilingual (Mixteco/ Spanish/English) children in their early childhood classrooms. In this paper, we focus on two of the children and their distinctive paths as they develop language and literacy. Using a sociocultural and multimodal theoretical framework we examine how these two children participate in and negotiate a balanced literacy curriculum.
Drawing on the work of Celia Genishi, this article discusses data from an ethnographic case study of young Latina/o children, starting in their four-year-olds classroom in a Head Start Program through their first grade year in a dual-language program in a public school. The children attended a bilingual Head Start program that followed a play-based curriculum and focused on the socio-emotional development of the children. The flexibility of the curriculum in this setting allowed time and space for the children to play and develop at their own pace, positioning them as knowers and learners. The children then moved into a public school setting with a narrow 'literacy focused' curriculum, with strict boundaries established between languages and a narrower definition of what 'counts' as literacy. In spite of this, these children continued to draw on their linguistic resources, making space for play and developing their identities as multilingual children in ways that are often not captured by the curriculum, but are visible to those who seek to listen to the children and see their strengths and growth over time.
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