Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Studies in Spanish heritage language writing have recently uncovered two opposing tendencies: ‘backwards biliteracy’ where writing conforms to rhetorical traditions in the dominant language and ‘forward biliteracy’ where writing breaks away from canonical rhetorical traditions and where writers carve out their own, transcultural paths of expression. In the present paper, this opposition is revisited by focusing on one grammatical element in Spanish heritage language writing -the variation between overt and null subject pronouns - and it is argued that backwards and forward writing are discursively situated in the context of situation of literacy practices. On the basis of these data, a multidimensional model of transfer is proposed as a theoretical and methodological framework for the teaching of heritage language writing.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atkinson, D. 2003: L2 writing in the post-process era . Journal of Second Language Writing 12: 3-15 .

Collins, J. and Blot, R. 2003: Literacy and literacies: texts, power, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

Colombi, M. C. 2003: Un enfoque funcional para la enseñanza del ensayo expositivo. In Roca, A. and Colombi, M. C. , editors, Mi Lengua: Spanish as a heritage language in the United States, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press , 78-95.

García, O. 2002: Writing backwards across languages. In Schleppegrell, M. and Colombi, M. C. , editors, Developing advanced literacy in first and second languages, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum , 245-260.

Halliday, M. A. K. 1978: Language as social semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold .

Hornberger, N. 2003: Continua of biliteracy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters .

Miller, T. 1993: Reinventing rhetorical traditions. In Enos, T. , editor, Learning from the rhetorics of history, Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press , 26-41.

Paredes Silva, V. 1993: Subject omission and functional compensation . Language variation and change 5: 35-50 .

Schwartz, A. 2003: No me sueña! Heritage Spanish speakers writing strategies. In Roca A. and Colombi, M. C. , editors, Mi Lengua: Spanish as a heritage language in the United States, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press , 235-256.

10.

Spicer-Escalante, M. forthcoming: Writing in two languages/Living in two worlds. In Farr, M. , editor, Latino language and literacy in ethnolinguistic Chicago, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .

11.

Street, B. 1984: Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

12.

Valdés, G. 2001: Heritage language students: profiles and possibilities. In Peyton, J. K. , Ranard, D. A. and McGinnis, S. , editors, Heritage languages in America: preserving a national resource, Washington DC and McHenry, IL: Center For Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems , 37-80.

Writing back and forth: the interplay of form and situation in heritage language composition

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References