ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we offer an overview of the early literacy development of young dual-language learners (DLLs) – children whose home language differs from the societal language and who represent a large and growing segment of the school-aged population in industrialized nations. We focus on the sociopolitical context of the United States where educational practices and policies have been largely designed with monolingual English-speaking children in mind, but where schools are increasingly serving multilingual children. While speaking two or more languages has been shown to facilitate heightened development in some cognitive and early literacy skills, especially phonemic and metalinguistic awareness, at scale, there is a paradox to be addressed. While some DLLs develop their literacy skills to the same levels as their majority-culture, monolingual peers, on average, achievement data suggest that these readers struggle to attain English literacy skills to age-appropriate levels even after many years of schooling. To make visible the types of language interactions that must be fostered as part of early literacy initiatives that attempt to address this paradox, we focus on three developmental periods in this chapter: from birth to preschool entry (age 0–3); the preschool years (age 3–5); and the early elementary school period from kindergarten to grade 3 (age 5–8). For each, we highlight a key context of language and literacy development: the family and community (0–3); the preschool classroom where children engage in play with peers and teachers that builds language skills (3–5); and the elementary school classroom where children participate in formal literacy instruction (5–8). In each context, we underscore the ‘inputs’ – opportunities to be exposed to and to participate in language interactions – that foster DLLs’ oral language and literacy development (‘outputs’).
