Biliteracy

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Biliteracy is the state of being literate in two or more languages. To be biliterate has a stronger and more specified connotation than the claim of being simply bilingual. This is because with the change of the term from 'lingual' to 'literate' and the concept of reading and writing, which are in addition to simply speaking. In bilingualism the extent of fluency in each language is in question. One can be anywhere on the spectrum from comfortable oral communication in certain social contexts to fluency in speaking, reading and writing. With the term biliteracy, however, it is understood that fluency in both reading and writing are present.

[edit] What is the place of a second language?

Within the area of biliteracy there is debate as to the best way to help a child in becoming biliterate. One theory, proposed by Jim Cummins, a well known voice in the area, is the Minimum Threshold Hypothesis. The general idea is that to avoid a negative impact on the cognitive development of the child, the second language should not be introduced until the child has an achieved a mastery of the first language. In accordance with this idea, is the findings that immigrant children who had two to three years of schooling in their native country before moving to the United States had better academic records in the United States.

Carole Edelsky is one of the people who stands on the other side of this camp. Through her research with Spanish-English biliterates, she has found that starting with language acquisition in Spanish, and then adding the English component does not lead to an interference in English literacy. Instead, she found that cultivating native language literacy supports the acquisition of literacy in the second language.

This pushes the question of how to best teach bilinguagl students. Various linguistic models have been debated in the quest for understanding bilingual literacy and its educational impact.

[edit] Spontaneous Biliteracy

In the book "The Best for Our Children," María de la Luz Reyes, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, discusses the concept of spontaneous biliteracy. She defines it as the aquistion of literacy in two languages (in her case Spanish and English) without having formal instruction in both. She describes the case studies of four different girls who came from different bilingual backgrounds but were all enrolled in the same bilingual K-2 program. In this program the girls received literacy instruction in only one language, their native language. For two of the girls this was Spanish, and for the other two it was English. For other subjects, such as math and science, they received instruction in both languages. In addition, in their classroom they were exposed to both Spanish and English, and they were able to interact with each other.

What she found was that at the end of second grade, after following the girls for three years, they had all made huge strides in the reading and writing of their native language in which they were being directly instructed, AND in reading and writing of their second language. All of the girls were above grade level in their native language, and three of the four girls were at or above grade level in their second language - although they were higher in their native language than in their second language. These girls had received formal literacy instruction in only one language, and yet they had been able--on their own--to apply it to their second language to make strides in reading and writing.

María de la Luz Reyes identified two main factors contributing to spontaneous bilingualism.

• A learning environment that foster and nurtures the cultural and linguistic resources of the student.

By being in a classroom where there is exposure to both languages, and respect for both languages, the bicultural identity of the student is legitimized. Instead of being forced to choose between the two the child is free to explore both, and in that way improve language abilities in both.

• A focus on social play between the students

In social play children put themselves in roles where they see adults, trying to act and be more grown-up. In this play setting the students were able to take risks with their language usage. In this time they were able to push each other to use their second language, as well as help each other feel more confident in that usage. This played a large role in their development of spontaneous bilingualism.

[edit] Resources

• The Best for Our Children: Critical Perspectives on Literacy for Latino Students. Maria de la Luz Reyes and John J. Halcon editors.