Learning to read in home languages
Developing literacy skills in the home language is vital for multilingual children. It helps them to sustain communications with family members, belonging to cultural/linguistic communities, participation in varied cultural traditions/practices, and being able to cultivate a fuller sense of their multiple identities1. Yet, in many countries, the development of reading and writing in home languages are rarely supported by mainstream schools2. As multilingual children start attending school, literacy practices in the language of schooling may become prioritised, sidelining home language literacies3. In this blog, we tell about some issues related to learning to read in home languages.
Multilingualism and reading
Research shows that learning to read in multiple languages is possible from an early age, and there is no evidence that reading proficiency in the home language would deteriorate reading skills in the language of schooling4 . When children learn to read in multiple languages, they develop knowledge and skills in the following areas5:
¤ Oral proficiencies
¤ Writing systems, symbols & print
¤ Different cultural contexts
¤ Metalinguistic awareness and knowledge
This learning experience is not simply a sum of reading in several languages unconnected from each other. There is some common conceptual knowledge that may be transferrable from one language learning experience to another6. Such features are, for example, the need for communication in a written form or having some sort of relationship between oral and written systems (even if that varies depending on the specific languages involved).
Transfer may not always be a smooth experience, as it depends on the relationship between the respective languages, their writing systems, as well as language proficiencies of the learner7. Therefore, multilingual children face ‘cognitive and cultural challenges’8, but nevertheless, developing bi/multiliteracy skills is inevitably in their benefit9. As Ellen Bialystok stated10,
‘’Knowing more has never been a disadvantage when compared to knowing less.’ Bialystok, 2002, p. 192
Reading in home languages at home
There are many ways of becoming multiliterate, but when it happens in the context of home languages – languages used in the home domain11 -, it involves a journey different from, e.g. learning foreign languages. Learning home literacies go beyond cognitive benefits and the purposes of language curricula as it is closely intertwined with sociocultural, emotional and familial purposes of multilingual families and communities 12 . Moreover, multilingual families promote a wide variety of literacy traditions and practices at homes, but this richness often go unnoticed or even undervalued by schools13.
When home language literacy is not embedded in school life, families face the following issues14:
¤They have to find and rely on out-of-school opportunities, and in the absence of such initiatives, home literacy remains confined to family relationships.
¤It is often difficult to find adequate teaching-learning materials in home languages.
¤Children experience a variety of literacy pedagogies depending on cultural contexts of teaching.
¤It can be difficult to assign time for home literacy learning among the many other things families do with and for their children.
Conclusions
Looking at these issues in a nutshell, it is clear that learning to read in a home language cannot be seen only as an outcome of what happens at home. Families are largely impacted by direct or indirect influences from schools and larger society that shape their opportunities and preferences for supporting reading in home languages15. This is why we suggest for all home languages to be institutionally supported in a way all families have equal chances for quality education in home languages.
This blog post is part of the Co-Lingual-S project and is written by Nikolett Szelei, based on selected literature.
Bibliography
1 Chhuon, V. (2011). Adolescent heritage speakers of less commonly taught languages in the United States. Language and Linguistics Compass, 5(9), 666-676.; Dekeyser, G., & Stevens, G. (2019). Maintaining one language while learning another: Moroccan children in Belgium. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(2), 148-163. ; Gharibi, K., & Mirvahedi, S. H. (2021). ‘You are Iranian even if you were born on the moon’: family language policies of the Iranian diaspora in the UK. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1-16. ; Kenner, C., Gregory, E., Ruby, M., & Al-Azami, S. (2008). Bilingual learning for second and third generation children. Language, culture and curriculum, 21(2), 120-137. ; Quiroz, B. G., Snow, C. E., & Zhao, J. (2010). Vocabulary skills of Spanish—English bilinguals: impact of mother—child language interactions and home language and literacy support. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(4), 379-399. ; Wang, X. L. (2011). Learning to read and write in the multilingual family. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual matters.
2 Agirdag, O. (2010). Exploring bilingualism in a monolingual school system: Insights from Turkish and native students from Belgian schools. British journal of sociology of education, 31(3), 307-321. ; Chhuon (2011), Ibid. ; Rodríguez-Izquierdo, R. M., & Darmody, M. (2019). Policy and practice in language support for newly arrived migrant children in Ireland and Spain. British Journal of Educational Studies, 67(1), 41-57. ; Szelei, N., Pinho, A. S., & Tinoca, L. A. D. F. (2021). Teaching in multilingual classrooms: strategies from a case study in Portugal. Revista Brasileira de Educação, 26, e260038. Thapa, C. B., & Adamson, B. (2018). Ethnicity, language-in-education policy and linguistic discrimination: Perspectives of Nepali students in Hong Kong. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural development, 39(4), 329-340.
3 Bezcioglu-Göktolga, I., & Yagmur, K. (2018). The impact of Dutch teachers on family language policy of Turkish immigrant parents. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 31(3), 220-234. ; Gharibi & Mirvahedi (2021), Ibid. ; Wang (2011), Ibid.
4 Agirdag, O., Jordens, K., & Van Houtte, M. (2014). Speaking Turkish in Belgian primary schools: Teacher beliefs versus effective consequences. Bilig, (70), 7-28. ; Kenner, C., & Gregory, E. (2012). Becoming biliterate. In J. Larson & J. Marsh (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of early childhood literacy (pp. 364 – 378), SAGE. ; Peets, K. F., Yim, O., & Bialystok, E. (2022). Language proficiency, reading comprehension and home literacy in bilingual children: The impact of context. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(1), 226-240. ; Wang (2011), Ibid.
5 Bialystok, E. (2002). Acquisition of literacy in bilingual children: A framework for research. Language Learning, 57, 45-77. ; Kenner, C., Kress, G., Al-Khatib, H., Kam, R., & Tsai, K. C. (2004). Finding the keys to biliteracy: How young children interpret different writing systems. Language and education, 18(2), 124-144. ; Kenner & Gregory (2012), Ibid.
6 Berthele, R., & Lambelet, A. (Eds.). (2018). Heritage and school language literacy development in migrant children: Interdependence or independence? Bristol: Multilingual Matters. ; Bialystok, E. (2002), Ibid. ; Bialystok, E., Luk, G., & Kwan, E. (2005). Bilingualism, biliteracy, and learning to read: Interactions among languages and writing systems. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(1), 43-61. ; Kenner et al. (2008), Ibid. ; Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power and Pegagogy. Clevedon : Multimlingual Matters. ; Kenner & Gregory (2012), Ibid.
7 Bialystok, E. (2002), Ibid. ; Bialystok et al. (2005), Ibid., Cummins (2000), Ibid.
8 Bialystok, E. (2002), Ibid. ; Kenner & Gregory (2012), Ibid.
9 Bialystok, E. (2002), Ibid.
10 Bialystok, E. (2002), Ibid.
11 Schalley, A. C., & Eisenchlas, S. A. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of home language maintenance and development: Social and affective factors. Berlin, Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
12 Dekeyser, G., & Agirdag, O. (2018). Determinants of emotional language use preferences of ethnolinguistic minority children in Antwerp, Belgium. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. ; Cairney, T., & Ashton, J. (2002). Three families, multiple discourses: Parental roles, constructions of literacy and diversity of pedagogic practice. Linguistics and Education, 13(3), 303-345. ; Hollebeke, I., Struys, E., & Agirdag, O. (2023). Can family language policy predict linguistic, socio-emotional and cognitive child and family outcomes? A systematic review. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 44(10), 1044-1075. ; Wang (2011), Ibid..
13 Cairney & Ashton (2002), Ibid. ; Conteh, J., & Kawashima, Y. (2008). Diversity in Family Involvement in Children’s Learning in English Primary Schools: Culture, Language and Identity. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 7(2), 113-125. ; Dixon, L. Q., & Wu, S. (2014). Home language and literacy practices among immigrant second-language learners. Language Teaching, 47(4), 414-449. ; Turner, M., Keary, A., & Tour, E. (2023). Home language literacy practices: learning opportunities for primary EAL students. The Australian Educational Researcher, 50(5), 1513-1531.
14 Wang (2011), Ibid.
15 Agirdag (2010), Ibid. ;Ballweg, S. (2022). Anticipating expectations. family language policy and its orientation to the school system. International Journal of Multilingualism, 19(2), 251-268. ;Bezcioglu-Göktolga, I., & Yagmur, K. (2018). Ibid.
Bilingualism, 20(5), 542-556. ; Dursun, H., Agirdag, O., & Claes, E. (2023). Unpacking preservice teachers’ beliefs about students’ home languages: what matters in initial teacher education?. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1-16.
Pitkänen-Huhta, A., & Pietikäinen, S. (2014). From a school task to community effort:
Pitkänen-Huhta, A., & Pietikäinen, S. (2014). From a school task to community effort:
children as authors of multilingual picture books in an endangered language context.
In C. Helot, R. Sneddon, & N. Daly (Eds.), Children’s Literature in MultilingualClassrooms (pp. 138-153). Stoke on Trent, London: Trentham Books. ;
Pitkänen-Huhta, A., & Pietikäinen, S. (2014). From a school task to community effort:
children as authors of multilingual picture books in an endangered language context.
In C. Helot, R. Sneddon, & N. Daly (Eds.), Children’s Literature in MultilingualClassrooms (pp. 138-153). Stoke on Trent, London: Trentham Books. ; Sneddon, R. (2008). Young bilingual children learning to read with dual language books. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 7(2), 71-84. ; Sneddon, R. (2009). Bilingual books, biliterate children. Learning to read through dual language books. Stoke on Trent, London: Trentham Books.
Naqvi, R., McKeough, A., Thorne, K., & Pfitscher, C. (2013). Dual-language books as an emergent-literacy resource: Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 13(4), 501-528. ; Kümmerling-Meibauer, B. (2013). Code-switching in multilingual picturebooks. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 51(3), 12-21. ; Pitkänen-Huhta, A., & Pietikäinen, S. (2014). From a school task to community effort:
children as authors of multilingual picture books in an endangered language context.
In C. Helot, R. Sneddon, & N. Daly (Eds.), Children’s Literature in Multilingual
Classrooms (pp. 138-153). Stoke on Trent, London: Trentham Books. ; Sneddon, R. (2008). Young bilingual children learning to read with dual language books. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 7(2), 71-84. ; Sneddon, R. (2009). Bilingual books, biliterate children. Learning to read through dual language books. Stoke on Trent, London: Trentham Books.
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