Susan Hopewell

Struggling Reader or Emerging Biliterate Student? Reevaluating the Criteria for Labeling Emerging Bilingual Students as Low Achieving

Data systems that use monolingual language frameworks to understand the reading achievement of third-grade students provide inadequate information about emerging bilingual (EB) learners. The authors of this research study apply two competing ideologies (parallel monolingualism and holistic bilingualism) to interpret one set of data. Their findings demonstrate that the same set of scores tells an entirely different story depending on the frames of reference and that these differences are statistically significant. Specifically, they use their analyses to problematize the impact of the Colorado Basic Literacy Act (CBLA) on the categorization of third-grade EB learners. Generalizing from the Colorado data, the authors consider the implications of their findings in a national context of increasing numbers of bilingual learners. Finally, they offer suggestions for site-based school district responses and broader state level policy implications by highlighting one school district’s response to their findings.

Changing Teachers' Perceptions about the Writing Abilities of Emerging Bilingual Students: Towards a Holistic Bilingual Perspective on Writing Assessment.

This study explored the application of a holistic bilingual view to assess the writing of emerging bilingual children. The study is part of a 5-year longitudinal research and intervention project that explores the biliteracy development of Spanish–English emerging bilingual students who are receiving instruction in both languages. Participants included 36 bilingual teachers who were part of the project. Teachers evaluated student writing samples using a writing rubric developed for the project. They were trained to evaluate students’ Spanish and English language writing samples in a manner that allowed for cross-language comparison and analysis. A total of 216 writing samples produced by students from grades 1–5 were analyzed. Findings from this study suggest the need to train teachers to evaluate the writing of emerging bilingual children in ways that both challenge and expand on their current frames of reference. This paper posits that the utilization of a holistic bilingual lens to evaluate the writing of Spanish–English emerging bilingual children is a more robust and valid means of understanding language and biliteracy development in these children. Furthermore, a holistic bilingual lens can be useful in changing teacher perceptions about childrens biliteracy, thereby enhancing instruction.

Leveraging Bilingualism to Accelerate English Reading Comprehension.

The purpose of this study was to examine how fourth-grade Spanish–English speaking bilingual students in the USA participated differently in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) literature groups when they were invited to use all of their linguistic resources vs. when they were restricted to communicate in English only. The theoretical underpinning was that a students learning burden is lessened when text comprehension is facilitated by access to all previous knowledge regardless of the language of acquisition. This mixed methods study employed a within group repeated measures design in which each student experienced all treatment conditions and completed a comprehension measurement activity following each literacy event. Data included 21 hours of audio-taped student dialog and analyses of 172 written recalls. Findings include the understanding that the opportunity to teach and learn is stifled when educators insist on strict separation of languages, and there is a strong interaction between language of recall and the topic of the reading.

Examining the Longitudinal Biliterate Trajectory of Emerging Bilingual Learners in a Paired Literacy Instructional Model

This longitudinal study examines the biliteracy results of Spanish-English emerging bilingual students who participated in a K–5 paired literacy model in a large school district in Oregon. Spanish and English reading and writing data show longitudinal gains in students’ biliterate development, demonstrating the potential of the model in developing students’ biliterate trajectories. In addition, participating students outperformed their peers on the state-mandated assessment. Findings have implications for instruction and support the research that providing students with paired literacy instruction allows students to develop on a biliterate trajectory without hindering their literacy development in either language.

Effects of a Paired Literacy Program on Emerging Bilingual Children's Biliteracy Outcomes in Third Grade.

This longitudinal study examined whether the implementation of a Spanish-English paired literacy approach provides an academic advantage to emerging bilingual students over a sequential literacy approach. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. It compared the biliteracy outcomes of third-grade emerging bilingual learners participating in paired literacy instruction from Grades K-3 (n = 167) to those of students from the same schools who received sequential literacy instruction in K-2 and started to participate in the paired literacy model in third grade (n = 191). Students’ writing and reading were assessed in both languages using informal measures; third-grade reading scores on a high-stakes state assessment were also examined. Independent-samples t tests were conducted to compare means on the four measures (Spanish and English writing and reading), and Cohen’s d was calculated to generate effect sizes for each assessment in each language. Frequencies were run to determine the percentage of students who met or exceeded the state test performance standards. Findings indicate that the paired literacy group scored considerably higher than students in the comparison group on all measures. Furthermore, differences between groups were statistically significant for each outcome measure in each language with moderate to large effect sizes (0.42 to 0.90). Also, a larger percentage of students in the paired literacy group met or exceeded the state test performance standards. These findings suggest that paired literacy instruction leads to stronger literacy outcomes in both languages than sequential literacy. Implications for practice and future research are provided.

Complementing the Common Core with Holistic Biliteracy.

In this article the authors propose that biliteracy is a more challenging and rigorous form of literacy than the English-only orientation of the Common Core State Standards (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010). Because learning to read and write in two languages differs from learning to read and write in one, we argue that biliteracy requires its own pedagogies, methodologies, and assessment systems. Data derived from the reported study support a trajectory toward bilingualism informed by a framework that capitalizes on theories of integrated and holistic biliteracy in order to re-conceptualize the ways educators can interpret biliteracy assessments of emerging bilingual learners in Spanish and English.

Shifting Deficit Paradigms of Latino Emerging Bilingual Students’ Literacy Achievement: Documenting Biliterate Trajectories

ABSTRACT The purpose of this single-subject longitudinal study was to examine the Spanish and English biliterate development of U.S. Latino Spanish/English speaking students, who we call emerging bilingual students, as they participated in an innovative biliteracy instructional program titled Literacy Squared®. Findings indicate that across the three years of the study, participating students made gains in Spanish and English reading and writing. This study provides support for Literacy Squared as an innovative biliterate program. Further, the study provides evidence for the need to consider alternative methods to document Latino Spanish/English students’ biliteracy development such as through the use of biliterate trajectories.

Privileging bilingualism: Using biliterate writing outcomes to understand emerging bilingual learners’ literacy achievement

ABSTRACT Language planning and policy with regard to bilingual education are greatly influenced by the ideologies outlined by Richard Ruiz. In this article, we demonstrate that Ruiz’s language-as-resource orientation requires that we use two-language assessments to study how program models are both developing and conserving the languages that students bring to school. We demonstrate through a study of students’ writing how scholars might use such assessments to privilege bilingualism and present a more complete understanding of students’ biliteracy development that counters the use of bilingualism in service to the hegemony of English, even when the same study includes a comparison of English outcomes of students in paired literacy as compared to students in English-only models. Findings reveal that students in paired literacy are becoming comparably literate in the domain of writing in Spanish and English as measured by a Biliteracy Writing Rubric. Furthermore, when their English language outcomes are compared to those of their peers in English-only contexts, the differences are found to be statistically insignificant.

What Gets Lost When English-Only Writing Assessment Is Used to Assess Writing Proficiency in Spanish-English Emerging Bilingual Learners?

ABSTRACT Recent analyses of wide-scale writing assessment outcomes indicate that English writing achievement for fourth- and fifth-grade emerging bilingual learners continues to be an area of great concern. Utilizing the theory of holistic bilingualism and a mixed methods design, this study examines the writing skills of 44 emerging bilingual fourth and fifth graders. The purpose of this study was to compare and correlate various writing outcomes as measured by the state’s high-stakes writing assessment, English language proficiency writing assessment, and an informal biliterate writing rubric. Results indicate that the majority of students are not acquiring proficiency in English writing as measured by English-only assessments. When students’ Spanish and English outcomes are considered holistically, students’ outcomes in Spanish surpassed English for the majority. Findings indicate the potential for a writing assessment protocol that is intentionally biliterate and that displays Spanish and English together as a part of the assessment process.

Lotta Lara: A Promising Biliterate Reading Strategy

ABSTRACT This quasi-experimental study tested the efficacy of a research based biliterate reading strategy, Lotta Lara, that is part of a larger paired literacy instructional program. Its purpose was to investigate whether the biliterate reading strategy, which focuses on reading fluency, comprehension, and oracy through whole group instruction, impacted first grade emerging bilingual learners’ biliterate reading development. We utilized an Ordinary Least Squares regression model to compare students’ biliterate reading outcomes in the treatment group (n = 23) to those of the control group (n = 21). Despite the small sample size, positive and statistically significant effects were found on students’ Spanish reading outcomes. While students made growth in their English reading, significant effects were not detected on English reading outcomes. Our findings support the need to provide emerging bilingual learners with explicit and interactive biliterate reading instruction to promote biliterate reading development.