Little systematic attention has been paid toward belonging for young children, particularly in contexts of diversity that are regularly part of school settings. Two-Way immersion (TWI) programs provide one educational context ideally suited for exploring the constructs of belonging and inclusion in linguistically and culturally diverse settings.…

This article examines young children's perceptions and ideas about their emergent bilingualism drawing on data from an ethnographic case study of the language development of a Head Start classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the language practices of 4-year-olds in a bilingual (Spanish/English) classroom. The findings discussed in…

Dual language learners (DLLs) are a growing student population in the United States, especially in early childhood. However, DLL growth is uneven across the United States, and in many classrooms, DLLs will constitute a "language minority" - that is, they will be the sole or one of few students who speak a non-English home language. Given…

Translanguaging, the fluid and dynamic language practices of bilinguals, reimagines language learning and offers the possibility of a more equitable academic experience for active bilingual students of Color, which was the impetus for our inquiry. This article presents the findings of an ethnographic study conducted in a second-grade dual-language…

Show-and-Tell activity provides emergent bilingual (EB) children with an opportunity to engage oral language skills to support their developing bi/literacy. In dual language bilingual education (DLBE) preschool programs, teachers utilize translanguaging practices to facilitate communication, scaffold learning, and encourage participation. Using a…

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs were developed in the U.S. with the expressed goal of supporting intercultural connections, bilingualism, biliteracy, and respect for diversity. However, these programs are still influenced by broader social ideas and power dynamics. From this perspective, this year-long ethnographic case study uses a…

This article focuses on elements of successful sociocultural inclusion and linguistic participation in a bilingual dual-language preschool for Latinx children. It presents a subset of findings from a three-year qualitative research project in which Latinx critical race theory and a translanguaging framework were used to illuminate critical…

Background: Language discussions have historically focused on the power dynamics between dominant and indigenous languages. This has generated discontent and contention on which language should rule the educational sector. The national language policy of South Africa mandates the use of all languages in the educational system. Even though there…

Since many bilingual students do not have access to bilingual education, this article illustrates how to collaborate with families and create instructional innovations to support biliteracy for all young bilinguals. The authors implemented a Biliteracy Jumpstart for 6 weeks at the beginning of school year culminating in Family Biliteracy Day with…

Using the transactional theory (Rosenblatt, 1995, 2001) and translanguaging pedagogy (García, 2009) as guiding lenses, this study explores how 1st-grade Korean-English bilingual students engage in storytelling and meaning construction using two languages when they encounter one of the chosen wordless picturebooks. The findings indicate that…

In October 2023, a new deaf student, "Zuri," showed up in my second grade classroom. This often happens. Parents move into and out of the district for work, and it is common to get a new student in the middle of the year without warning. Zuri's eyes were wide when she came into the classroom, and she looked scared. Who were all these…

Programs of multilingual education in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) are promising because they contribute to the development of young children's language and literacy as well as their multilingual identities. In practice, many educators are unsure of how to engage children in multilingual literacy activities and policy often falls…

Recently, there has been a surge of literature on the implementation of translanguaging pedagogy and practices in science education settings. By activating and validating learners' full communicative repertoire, translanguaging holds promise to build an inclusive science learning community where multilingual learners' ways of knowing are not only…

This study explored the language experiences of dual language learners (DLL; n = 19) and English monolinguals (EM; n = 13) in preschool classrooms where English is the primary language of instruction and many home languages are present. Using the Language ENvironment Analysis™ system as a primary tool, we quantitatively analysed an average of 34…

Most policies and teaching practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are based on the developmental paths of children from mainstream middle-class, White, European, heterosexual households. The common discourse often summed up as universalism significantly minoritizes children deviating from this "norm" and pathologizes…