Towards the development of a biliterate pedagogy: A case study of emerging biliterate writing

More than 60% of children labeled English language learners in U.S. schools today are simultaneous bilinguals, and little is understood about their bilingual and biliterate potential, because theories of sequential bilingualism dominate the field. Most studies exploring bilingual children's writing development have focused almost exclusively on the analysis of their English writing, and they use a monolingual framework without attending to the processes of creation or addressing the specific characteristics within the classroom context under which children become biliterate writers. Understanding the processes by which bilingual children develop writing in two languages can better inform instructional practices that are linguistically appropriate and expand opportunities for bilingual children to engage in meaningful Spanish and English writing practices as they progress on a trajectory towards biliteracy.;This qualitative case study was situated in a second/third grade bilingual classroom in a large urban school district. It investigated the various processes involved when Spanish/English bilingual children learn to write in two languages. The purpose of this study was to provide a more complete picture of the processes by which simultaneous bilingual children develop writing skills in two languages. This was accomplished by attending to the specific characteristics of the classroom context, describing the various opportunities available for writing in the classroom, and examining how two focal children participated in writing activities and developed as biliterate writers over time.;Using a holistic view of bilingualism, findings from this study disconfirm commonly held views of language interference and provide an understanding of typical characteristics of cross-language transfer for emerging bilingual children. Children had many more opportunities to write in Spanish, while their English writing opportunities were limited by time, the lack of a biliterate pedagogy, and an underestimation of their biliterate writing potential. Despite these limitations, findings from this study demonstrate that children were on a positive trajectory towards biliterate writing development. Findings and implications from this study can assist in developing a biliterate pedagogy based on the actual classroom practices of emerging bilingual children who are becoming biliterate, and it contributes much needed research on the biliterate writing development of simultaneous bilingual children.