This article presents findings from case studies of two Latina bilingual high school writers engaged in a year-long research and writing project. Both young women demonstrated unique patterns related to their approaches to inquiry and performance of literacy practices. By using an ecological framework to integrate a multiple literacies perspective into the study, the author argues that both young women engaged in “hidden literacies” that indicated potential toward the development of academic English. The article closes with suggestions for a reframing of common approaches to the study of academic English.
Bakhtin, M. (1981). Discourse in the novel. In The dialogic imagination: Four essays (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.). Austin: University of Texas Press. (Original work published 1935)
2.
Bartholomae, D. (1988). Inventing the university. In E. R. Kintgen, B. M. Kroll, & M. Rose (Eds.), Perspectives on literacy (pp. 273-285). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.
3.
Bartolomé, L. I. (1998). The misteaching of academic discourses. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
4.
Barton, D. (1994). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
5.
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (2000). Literacy practices. In D. Bartonet al. (Eds.), Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context (pp. 7-15). New York: Routledge.
6.
Barton, D., Hamilton, M., & Ivanic, R. (Eds.). (2000). Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context. New York: Routledge.
7.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1993). The ecology of cognitive development: Research models and fugitive findings. In R. H. Wozniak & K. W. Fischer (Eds.), Development in context: Acting and thinking in specific environments (pp. 3-44). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Evans, G. W. (2000). Developmental science in the 21st century: Emerging questions, theoretical models, research designs and empirical findings. Social Development, 9(1), 115-125.
9.
Chamot, A. U., & O’Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
10.
Cummins, J. (1984). Wanted: A theoretical framework for relating language proficiency to academic achievement among bilingual students. In C. Rivera (Ed.), Language proficiency and academic achievement (pp. 2-19). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
11.
Edelsky, C. (1982). Writing in a bilingual program: The relation of L1 and L2 texts. TESOL Quarterly, 16(2), 211-228.
12.
Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and power (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson.
13.
Fettes, M. (2002). Critical realism, ecological psychology, and imagined communities: Foundations for a naturlist theory of language acquisition. In J. Leather & J. van Dam (Eds.), Ecology of language acquistion (pp. 31-47). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
14.
Gallego, M. A., & Hollingsworth, S. (2000). Introduction: The idea of multiple literacies. In M. A. Gallego & S. Hollingsworth (Eds.), What counts as literacy?: Challenging the school standard (pp. 1-26). New York: Teachers College Press.
15.
Gee, J. P. (1997). Meanings in discourses: Coordinating and being coordinated. In S. Musprattet al. (Eds.), Constructing critical literacies: Teaching and learning textual practice (pp. 273-302). Creskill, NJ: Hampton.
16.
Gee, J. P. (1999). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. New York: Routledge.
17.
Harklau, L. (2002). ESL versus mainstream classes: Contrasting L2 learning environments. In V. Zamel & R. Spack (Eds.), Enriching ESOL pedagogy: Readings and activities for engagement, reflection, and inquiry. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
18.
Harklau, L., Losey, K. M., & Siegal, M. (Eds.). (1999). Generation 1.5 meets college composition: Issues in the teaching of writing to U.S.-educated learners of ESL. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
Hatch, E. (1992). Discourse and language education. New York: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Heath, S. B. (1986). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school. In B. B. Schieffelin & E. Ochs (Eds.), Language socialization across cultures (Vol. 3, pp. 97-124). New York: Cambridge University Press.
22.
Heath, S. B. (1993). Inner city life through drama: Imagining the language classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 27(2), 177-192.
23.
Heath, S. B. (1998). Working through language. In S. Hoyle & C. Adger (Eds.), Kids talk: Strategic language use in later childhood (pp. 217-240). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
24.
Heath, S. B. (2000). Risks, rules, and roles: Youth perspectives on the work of learning for community development. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 1, 51-80.
25.
Hispanic Dropout Project. (1998). No more excuses: The final report of the Hispanic Dropout Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Undersecretary.
26.
Howard, R. M. (1999). Standing in the shadow of giants: Plagiarists, authors, collaborators (Vol. 2). Stamford, CT: Ablex.
27.
Johnstone, B. (2000). Qualitative methods in sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Kramsch, C. (Ed.). (2002). Language acquisition and language socialization: Ecological perspectives. New York: Continuum.
29.
Leather, J., & van Dam, J. (Eds.). (2002a). Ecology of language acquisition (Vol. 1). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
30.
Leather, J., & van Dam, J. (2002b). Towards an ecology of language acquisition. In J. Leather & J. van Dam (Eds.), Ecology of language acquistion (pp. 1-30). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
31.
Lee, C. L. (1993). Signifying as a scaffold for literary interpretation: The pedagogical implications of an African American discourse genre. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
32.
Maybin, J. (2000). The new literacy studies, context, intertextuality, and discourse. In D. Bartonet al. (Eds.), Situated literacies (pp. 199-209). London: Routledge.
33.
Muspratt, S., Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1997). Constructing critical literacies. Sydney, Australia: Allen and Unwin/Cresskills, NJ: Hampton.
34.
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity, and educational change. London: Longman.
35.
Norton, B. (2001). Nonparticipation, imagined communities, and the language classroom. In M. Breen (Ed.), Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research (pp. 159-171). Harlow, UK: Pearson.
36.
Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9-31.
37.
Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories and their implications. In R. A. Shweder & R. A. LeVine (Eds.), Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion (pp. 276-320). New York: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second-Language Writing, 12(4), 317-345.
39.
Rodby, J. (1999). Contingent literacy: The social construction of writing for nonnative English-speaking college freshman. In L. Harklauet al. (Eds.), Generation 1.5 meets college composition: Issues in the teaching of writing to U.S.-educated learners of ESL (pp. 45-60). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
40.
Schieffelin, B. B., & Ochs, E. (Eds.). (1986). Language socialization across cultures (Vol. 3). New York: Cambridge University Press.
41.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic features of the language of schooling. Linguistics and Education, 12(4), 431-459.
42.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
Valdés, G. (1996). Con respeto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families and schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
44.
Valdés, G. (1999). Incipient bilingualism and the development of English language writing abilities in the secondary school. In C. J. Faltis & P. M. Wolfe (Eds.), So much to say: Adolescents, bilingualism, and ESL in the secondary school. New York: Teachers College Press.
45.
Valdés, G. (2003). Expanding definitions of giftedness: The case of young interpreters from immigrant communities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
46.
Valdés, G. (2004). The teaching of academic language to minority second language learners. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy, and learning (pp. 66-98). New York: Cambridge University Press.
47.
van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance: Social-interaction learning from an ecological perspective. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 245-259). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
48.
van Lier, L. (2002). An ecological-semiotic perspective on language and linguistics. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language acquisition and language socialization: Ecological perspectives (pp. 140-164). New York: Continuum.
49.
Villalva, K.E. (in press). Reforming high school writing: Opportunities and constraints for Generation 1.5 writers. In Matsuda, P. K., Ortmeier-Hooper, C., & You, X. (Eds.), Politics of second language writing: In search of the promised land. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.
50.
Waggoner, D. (1999). Who are secondary newcomer and linguistically different youth? In C. Faltis & P. Wolfe (Eds.), So much to say: Adolescents, bilingualism, & ESL in the secondary school (pp. 13-41). New York: Teachers College Press.
