A Historical Inquiry Into Bilingual Reading Textbooks: Coloniality and Biliteracy at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract

The authors present an analysis of bilingual reading textbooks published at the turn of the 20th century. The authors examined the kinds of opportunities for learning offered by bilingual reading textbooks developed for students in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War. The analysis revealed challenges to understanding related to both the content and the structure of these textbooks, as well as the coloniality of knowledge embedded in them. The historical record also reveals a rejection of the format and content from scholars and educational leaders, and the subsequent turn toward reading materials, which better reflected the everyday experiences of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Filipinx children, albeit often monolingually rather than bilingually. Implications are offered for how contemporary literacy materials might support (bi)literacy development of bilingual students across the globe.

The Ideal Learner as Envisioned by Can Do Statements and Grammar Revisions: How Textbook Agency Is Constructed

“…Textbooks are an integral part of school contexts that have implications for pedagogy and curriculum. They embed "cultural and social knowledge, historical perspectives and political ideologies" (Curdt-Christiansen & Weninger, 2015, p. 1), and have for long represented an understanding of what constitutes societally legitimate knowledge in education (Curiel & Durán, 2021). Additionally, they have participated in the extramural commodification of education (Kauppinen et al, 2008).…”