This study follows the literacy experiences of four Latina middle schoolers as they read Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and compose home language narratives in their heritage voices. Both their vibrant ethnic cultures and other intersecting rays of identities are analyzed in the vein of their literate identities. Through analysis of their…

In the US, many immigrant languages have been maintained through the efforts of local communities in the form of community-based Heritage Language (HL) programs. Previous studies have discussed diverging linguistic practices and identities among students and teachers in HL programs. However, there is little research on how materials use affects…

This qualitative phenomenological study explores teachers' and bilingual adolescents' views about heritage language (HL) maintenance and bilingualism. Interviews with twelve teachers and twelve students revealed limited value for bilingualism. English dominance overshadowed the importance of bilingualism and HL maintenance. Findings reveal the…

Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals at apprehending the perspectives of others--an apparent consequence of their experiences moving across linguistic and sociocultural contexts. Whether English learners' (ELs') use of such skill in academic writing may be affected by literacy curriculum is the focus of this study. The study explored students'…

Bilingual education is burgeoning in Asia, and most bilingual practices are impacted by national language policies. However, top-down policy implementation and bottom-up practices may spark mismatches, constraints, or possibilities. Taiwan was selected as a research context to investigate the perceptions of administrators and teachers (including…

Since the earliest studies on multilingual advantages, it has proved difficult to disentangle language development from general cognition. It remains unclear whether language interdependence is an independent variable or whether observable effects are mediated by cognitive ability. Measurable effects of one language on another typically go hand in…

We highlight how the use of holistic biliteracy and translanguaging perspectives can be applied in the assessment of emergent bilingual middle school students' writing to counter deficit views of their divergent repertoires. The study took place in a Mountain West middle school with a large Latinx population. We analyzed eleven emerging bilingual…

Many bi/multilingual students who speak low-incidence languages or at the secondary level have no access to bilingual education. This cross-case analysis draws from language ideologies, policymaking, and critical multilingual language awareness to understand how "non-bilingual" teachers can create multilingual classroom spaces. Findings…

In this article, we investigate translanguaging in an English/Spanish dual language, urban, middle school science classroom as the teacher and students employ a scientific argumentation framework to address biodiversity socioscientific issues. Drawing from theories of sociocultural psychology and sociolinguistics, we considered how engaging in…

This dissertation explores bilingual Latino middle schoolers' articulated understandings of their language practices as well as the links between language practices and processes of racialization and discrimination in the US. The research was conducted in the context of an after-school program whose explicit aim was to not only document students'…

New Mexico is one of 48 states that offer a biliteracy seal to high school graduates to recognize their proficiency in a non -English language. The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest English Learners Research Partnership collaborated with a large urban district in New Mexico to study the characteristics and college readiness of students who…

This study snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examined who earns biliteracy seals in a large urban district in New Mexico and how they impact college outcomes. New Mexico is one of 48 states that offer a biliteracy seal to high school graduates to recognize their proficiency in a non-English language. The Regional Educational…

The full study to these appendixes examined who earns biliteracy seals in a large urban district in New Mexico and how they impact college outcomes. The study used data from three cohorts of grade 12 students in the district from 2017/18 to 2019/20. The New Mexico Public Education Department and district leaders can use the findings to decide how…

In most cases, the curriculum chosen for wide-use does not mirror or address the pressing needs of bi/multilingual learners, especially for those who are in middle and high school settings. In light of this and the increasingly negative national discourse surrounding minoritized students, our focus in this article is to offer in-service teachers a…

In this study, we analysed the relationships between word decoding, vocabulary knowledge, meta-cognitive knowledge and reading comprehension in low-achieving adolescents and examined whether the strength of these relationships differed between Grade 7 and 9 students and between monolingual and bilingual students. Tests were administered to 328…