NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ817090
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-0553
EISSN: N/A
Emergent Biliteracy in Young Mexican Immigrant Children
Reyes, Iliana; Azuara, Patricia
Reading Research Quarterly, v43 n4 p374-398 Oct-Dec 2008
This article explores the relationship between emergent biliteracy and growing up in a biliterate environment. The study focuses on two questions: (1) What knowledge of biliteracy do young bilingual preschool children develop in the early years? (2) How do context and specific language environments influence the development of biliteracy in young Mexican Spanish-English bilingual children? The authors report data from a multiple-method research project with 12 4- and 5-year-old Mexican immigrant children living in the U.S. Southwest. Results indicated that the children were developing knowledge and metalinguistic awareness about print in both their languages; the families demonstrated a wide variety of communicative practices and ways in which they used written materials in the two languages; and intergenerational learning occurred in both directions among family members. The authors propose a model of emergent biliteracy that integrates the different cultural contexts that foster or hinder biliteracy development in the young bilingual child. The research contributes to the development of an ecological model of emergent biliteracy that recognizes the dynamic and complex interactions among home, school, and neighborhood contexts. This model serves as a heuristic device that allows researchers and teachers to consider how different linguistic and cultural spaces affect children's biliteracy development in the environments where they are growing up bilingual. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)
International Reading Association. 800 Barksdale Road, P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139. Tel: 800-336-7323; Fax: 302-731-1057; e-mail: customerservice@reading.org; Web site: http://www.reading.org/publications/index.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A