The early Spanish and English writing development of simultaneous bilingual preschoolers

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the progression in the biliterate levels of conceptualization about writing in Spanish and English of 28 simultaneous bilingual preschoolers. Using a constructivist framework, a holistic bilingual and translanguaging perspective, this qualitative study examined the children’s understanding of the nature of writing in Spanish and English as demonstrated in their written productions and interpretation of their own texts as well as how such understanding develops over time. The findings indicate that while similar conceptualization levels to those found in previous studies with monolingual children were identified in the simultaneous bilingual children in our sample, some unique patterns were observed that shed light on the nature of early bilingual writing development. More importantly, the findings reveal that, from the start, most children’s progression in their levels of conceptualization about writing in the two languages was similar, even when they did not receive formal literacy instruction in English.

Code‐Meshing and Writing Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms

“…Although multilingual students' writing and code-meshing have been the focus of recent research (Gillanders, 2018;Miller & Rowe, 2014;Soltero-González & Butvilofsky, 2016), teachers may be less familiar with how to integrate code-meshing into writing instruction. In the next section, we offer classroom examples of multilingual students' code-meshing.…”

¿Cómo Lo Escribo en Inglés o en Español? Writing in Dual‐Language Learners

“…Bialystok found that bilingual preschoolers acquire this notion earlier than monolinguals. Other studies have found that the development of initial levels of conceptualization of writing (i.e., the notion that writing is different from drawing and that writing should be in straight lines) are similar for both monolingual and bilingual children (Gillanders, Franco, Seidel, Castro, & Méndez, ; Soltero‐González & Butvilofsky, ). However, when children begin to understand the connections between graphemes and sounds, more differences between monolinguals and DLLs are evident.…”

“…In another example, a child explained that uppercase and lowercase letters indicated the language used to write each word. Soltero‐González and Butvilofsky () found that in a sample of Spanish–English bilinguals, when writing in Spanish, children tended to use conventional letters, but when writing in English, they used cursive writing, scribbles, zig‐zag shapes, and longer strings of characters.…”

“…It also reflected the child's awareness of how letters are taught differently in each language. In Soltero‐González and Butvilofsky's () study, students attended a bilingual program and received literacy instruction mostly in Spanish. The researchers reported that students used their knowledge of Spanish phonetics to write words in English.…”

Translanguaging, language ontology, and civil rights

“…Translanguaging applies a holistic perspective on bilingualism to pedagogy. Important research on pedagogical aspects of translanguaging have included studies of the ways in which students use their two languages in combination to support bilingual acquisition in small group activities (Martin‐Beltrán, 2014), teachers’ dynamic and interactive use of two languages in classroom instructional settings (Palmer, Martínez, Henderson, & Mateus, 2014), the effects of using two languages concurrently in the teaching of reading (Soltero‐González & Butvilofsky, 2015; Soltero‐González, Sparrow, Butvilofsky, Escamilla, & Hopewell, 2016), among many others. Researchers have used a variety of terms to describe language mixing in classroom contexts, including translanguaging (Durán & Palmer, 2013; García, 2009; Gort, 2015; Gort & Sembiante, 2015; Henderson & Palmer, 2015; Hornberger & Link, 2012; Martin‐Beltrán, 2014; Martínez, Hikida, & Durán, 2015; Martínez‐Roldán, 2015; Palmer et al., 2014; Sayer, 2013; Smith & Murillo, 2015), hybrid language practices (Gutieírrez, Baquedano‐López, & Tejeda, 1999; Gutiérrez, Bien, Selland, & Pierce, 2011; Palmer & Martínez, 2013), holistic bilingualism (Soltero‐González, 2009; Soltero‐González & Butvilofsky, 2015; Soltero‐González et al., 2016; Soltero‐González, Escamilla, & Hopewell, 2011), and codeswitching (Cook, 2001; Fuller, 2009, 2010; Gort, 2012; Martínez, 2010; Moschkovich, 2007; Nava, 2009; Palmer, 2009; Reyes, 2004; Shin, 2005), following the foundational work of Jacobson (1978, 1981, 1990), Milk (1986, 1990), and Faltis (1989, 1990, 1996).…”