Our Project
About 60% of children under age 5 in California are Dual Language Learners (DLLs) whose home languages are other than English. Most DLLs experience a linguistic gap between home and educational programs because the education field is predominantly English-only monolingual. Such gaps greatly affect children’s language and literacy, social and emotional development, and academic achievement.
Supporting Dual Language Learners’ (DLLs’) bilingual and biliteracy development is critical for various reasons. First, bilingualism yields both individual and societal gains. Bilinguals experience multiple benefits such as metalinguistic awareness, creativity, and communicative understanding (Baker, 2011) and our society benefits from bilinguals’ greater access to the global market (Porras, Ee, & Gándara, 2014). Second, DLLs’ home languages are positively associated with family connections and identity development (Tse, 2000). Third, DLLs’ home language fosters learning additional languages such as English (Cummins, 2011), as access to the home language enables DLLs to build on prior knowledge.
Recognizing the linguistic diversity of Californian children and the significance of home languages for their English learning, this project utilizes ‘translanguaging’ as a theoretical framework. Translanguaging refers to the use of one’s full linguistic repertoire (Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015) and provides an unconventional pedagogical approach for DLLs to foster their learning (García, 2009). When translanguaging is strategically used, DLLs develop a better understanding of the content and their bilingual and biliteracy competency (Lewis, Jones, & Baker, 2012). Monolingual children also benefit from the translanguaging space, as they will experience cognitive and linguistic benefits alongside bilingual children. As a result, All Children Thrive through Translanguaging (ACTT)!
ACTT develops a wide range of bilingual books and resources to create space for translanguaging and to foster DLLs’ bilingual and biliteracy development. In order to do so, ACTT creates ‘communities of practice’ that involve both pre-service and in-service Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers. This community-driven model is based on our belief that learning is a process of participation in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
References
Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (5th ed.). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
Cummins, J. (2011). Bilingual and immersion programs. In M. H. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 161-181). West Sussex, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Lewis, G., Jones, B., & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Origins and development from school to street and beyond. Educational Research and Evaluation: An International Journal on Theory and Practice, 18(7), 37-41.
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281-307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014
Porras, D. A., Ee, J., & Gándara, P. (2014). Employer preferences: Do bilingual applicants and employees experience an advantage? In R. M. Callahan & P. C. Gándara (Eds.). The bilingual advantage : language, literacy and the US labor market (pp. 234-260).
Tse, L. (2000). The effects of ethnic identity formation on bilingual maintenance and development: An analysis of Asian American narratives. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3(3), 185–200.