This paper explores the idea that young children’s emergent literacy practices can be tools for mediating peer interaction, and that, therefore, literacy, even in its earliest stages, can support oral language development, particularly for emergent bilinguals. The paper draws on data collected during a year-long ethnographic study of 11 Nepali- and Turkish-speaking three- and four-year-olds learning English in their first year of school. Using neo-Vygotskian activity theory as a guide, this paper examines the children’s classroom literacy practices, particularly around writing and the alphabet, in order to understand, first, how literacy functioned as a socially embedded activity for these students (sometimes in ways that contrasted with the official literacy practices of the classroom), and second, how that activity facilitated students’ interaction across language backgrounds. Finally, this paper offers a genetic analysis, or an analysis across time, of how students’ interactions with multimodal composing functioned as contexts for emergent bilinguals’ oral language development, and in particular, vocabulary acquisition.
AustinJL (1975) How to Do Things with Words, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2.
AxelrodY (2014) “¿Tu te acuerdas de ganchulinas?”: Longitudinal research with young emergent bilinguals. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood15(2): 94–108.
3.
BarnettWSLarnyCE (2013) Achievement gaps start early: Preschool can help. In: CarterPLWelnerKG (eds) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 98–110.
4.
Bernstein K (2014) Learning English as an L2 in PreK: A practice perspective on identity and acquisition. PhD Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
5.
BoyleBCharlesM (2011) “The three hags and Pocohontas”: How collaboration develops early years writing skills. Literacy45(1): 10–18.
6.
CastroDCPáezMMDickinsonDKet al. (2011) Promoting language and literacy in young dual language learners: Research practice and policy. Child Development Perspectives5(1): 15–21.
7.
ChristieJFRoskosKA (2006) Standards, science, and the role of play in early literacy education. In: SingerDGGolinkoffRMHirsh-PasekK (eds) Play = Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, pp. 57–73.
8.
ClarkeP (1999) Investigating second language acquisition in preschools: A longitudinal study of four Vietnamese-speaking children’s acquisition of English in a bilingual preschool. International Journal of Early Years Education7(1): 17–24.
9.
CorsaroW (1985) Friendship and Peer Culture in the Early Years, New York: Ablex Publishing.
10.
DaiuteC (1986) Do 1 and 1 make 2? Patterns of influence by collaborative authors. Written Communication3(3): 382–408.
11.
DaiuteCDaltonB (1993) Collaboration between children learning to write: Can novices be masters?Cognition and Instruction10(4): 281–333.
12.
DiamondKEBaroodyAE (2013) Associations among name writing and alphabetic skills in prekindergarten and kindergarten children at risk of school failure. Journal of Early Intervention35(1): 20–39.
13.
DickinsonDKSnowCE (1987) Interrelationships among prereading and oral language skills in kindergartners from two social classes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly2(1): 1–25.
14.
DickinsonDKTaborsPO (2001) Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and School, Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
15.
DruryR (2000) Bilingual children in the nursery: A case study of Samia at home and at school. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal8(1): 43–59.
16.
DruryR (2007) Young Bilingual Learners at Home and School: Researching Multilingual Voices, Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books.
17.
DysonAH (1989) Multiple Worlds of Child Writers: Friends Learning to Write, New York: Teachers College Press.
18.
DysonAH (1993) Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School, New York: Teachers College Press.
19.
DysonAH (1997) Writing Superheroes: Contemporary Childhood Popular Culture and Classroom Literacy, New York: Teachers College Press.
20.
DysonAH (2003) The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write: Popular Literacies in Childhood and School Cultures, New York: Teachers College Press.
21.
DysonAHGenishiC (2013) Social talk and imaginative play: Curricular basics for young children’s language and literacy. In: AlvermannDEUnrauNJRuddellRB (eds) Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading, Newark, DE: International Reading Association, pp. 164–181.
22.
EngeströmY (1991) Non scolae sed vitae discimus: Toward overcoming the encapsulation of school learning. Learning and Instruction1(3): 243–259.
23.
EngeströmYMiettinenR (1999) Perspectives on Activity Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
EricksonF (1992) Ethnographic microanalysis of interaction. In: LeCompteMDMilroyWIPreissleJ (eds) The Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education, New York: Academic Press, pp. 201–225.
25.
EricksonF (2006) Definition and analysis of data from videotape: Some research procedures and their rationales. In: GreenJLCamilliGElmorePB (eds) Handbook of Complementary Methods in Education Research, 3rd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 177–192.
26.
Ervin-TrippS (1981) Social process in first- and second-language learning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences379(1): 33–47.
27.
Ervin-TrippS (1986) Activity types and the structure of talk in second language learning. In: CorsaroWCook-GumperzJStreekJ (eds) Children’s Language and Children’s WorldsVol. 1, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 327–358.
28.
Ervin-TrippS (1991) Play in language development. In: ScalesBAlmyMNicolopoulouAet al. (eds) Play and the Social Context of Development in Early Care and Education, New York: Teachers College Press, pp. 84–98.
29.
FlorianiA (1993) Negotiating what counts: Roles and relationships texts and contexts content and meaning. Linguistics and Education5(3–4): 241–274.
30.
FoulinJN (2005) Why is letter-name knowledge such a good predictor of learning to read?Reading and Writing18(2): 129–155.
31.
Frankel KK (2013) Understanding “remediation” from a student perspective: Adolescents' reading in high school literacy intervention classes. PhD Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
32.
FreyWH (2000) The new urban demographics: Race space and boomer aging. The Brookings Review18(3): 20–23.
33.
GeneseeF (1994) Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child the Whole Curriculum the Whole Community, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
34.
GoffmanE (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
35.
GregoryE (2001) Sisters and brothers as language and literacy teachers: Synergy between siblings playing and working together. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy1(3): 301–322.
36.
GregoryEArjuTJesselJet al. (2007) Snow White in different guises: Interlingual and intercultural exchanges between grandparents and young children at home in East London. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy7(1): 5–25.
37.
GregoryELytraVChoudhuryHet al. (2013) Syncretism as a creative act of mind: The narratives of children from four faith communities in London. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy13(3): 322–347.
38.
GundlachRMcLaneJScottFet al. (1985) The social foundations of children’s early writing development. In: FarrM (ed.) Advances in Writing Research, Volume One: Studies in Children’s Writing Development, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
39.
GutiérrezKD (1993) How talk context and script shape contexts for learning: A cross-case comparison of journal sharing. Linguistics and Education5(3–4): 335–365.
40.
GutiérrezKDMoralesPZMartinezDC (2009) Re-mediating literacy: Culture difference and learning for students from nondominant communities. Review of Research in Education33(1): 212–245.
41.
GutiérrezKDOrellanaMF (2006) At last: The “problem” of English learners: Constructing genres of difference. Research in the Teaching of English40(4): 502–507.
42.
GutiérrezKDRymesBLarsonJ (1995) Script counterscript and underlife in the classroom: James Brown versus Brown v. The Board of Education. Harvard Educational Review63(3): 445–472.
43.
HartBRisleyTR (1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
44.
HatchEM (1978) Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In: HatchEM (ed.) Second Language Acquisition: A Book of Readings, Rowley, MA: Newbury House Pub, pp. 383–400.
45.
HruskaB (2007) “She my friend”: Implications of friend ideologies identities and relationships for bilingual kindergarteners. Multicultural Perspectives9(4): 3–12.
46.
JonesI (2003) Collaborative writing and children’s use of literate language: A sequential analysis of social interaction. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy3(2): 165–178.
47.
KennedyE (2006) Literacy development of linguistically diverse first graders in a mainstream English classroom: Connecting speaking and writing. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy6(2): 163–189.
48.
KennerC (2004) Becoming Biliterate: Young Children Learning Different Writing Systems, Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books.
49.
KisselBHansenJTowerHet al. (2011) The influential interactions of pre-kindergarten writers. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy11(4): 425–452.
50.
LantolfJP (2000) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, New York: Oxford University Press.
51.
LantolfJP (2013) Sociocultural theory: A dialectical approach to L2 research. In: GassSMMackeyA (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, New York: Routledge, pp. 57–72.
52.
LantolfJPThorneSL (2006) Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development, New York: Oxford University Press.
53.
LantolfJPThorneSL (2007) Sociocultural theory and second language learning. In: van PattenBWilliamsJ (eds) Theories in Second Language Acquisition, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 201–224.
54.
LarsonJ (2002) Packaging process: Consequences of commodified pedagogy on students’ participation in literacy events. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy2(1): 65–95.
55.
LarsonJGattoLA (2004) Tactical underlife: Understanding student’s perceptions. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy4(1): 11–41.
56.
Leont’evAN (1978) Activity, Consciousness, and Personality, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
57.
LongS (1997) Friends as teachers: The impact of peer interaction on the acquisition of a new language. In: GregoryE (ed.) One Child Many Worlds: Early Learning in Multilingual Communities, London: Fulton and New York: Teachers College Press, pp. 123–137.
58.
LongS (2004) Making a place for peer interaction: Mexican American kindergartners learning language and literacy. In: GregoryELongSVolkD (eds) Many Pathways to Literacy: Young Children Learning with Siblings Grandparents Peers and Communities, London: Routledge, pp. 93–104.
59.
MackeyAGooJ (2007) Interaction research in SLA: A meta-analysis and research synthesis. In: MackeyA (ed.) Conversational Interaction in Second Language Acquisition: A Collection of Empirical Studies, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, pp. 407–453.
60.
ManisFRSeidenbergMSDoiLM (1999) See Dick RAN: Rapid naming and the longitudinal prediction of reading subskills in first and second graders. Scientific Studies of Reading3(2): 129–157.
61.
MisraMKatzirTWolfMet al. (2004) Neural systems for rapid automatized naming in skilled readers: Unraveling the RAN-reading relationship. Scientific Studies of Reading8(3): 241–256.
62.
MorrowL (1990) Preparing the classroom environment to promote literacy during play. Early Childhood Research Quarterly5(4): 537–554.
63.
NeuhausGFSwankPR (2002) Understanding the relations between ran letter subtest components and word reading in first-grade students. Journal of Learning Disabilities35(2): 158–174.
64.
OrellanaMFGutiérrezKD (2006) At last: What’s the problem? Constructing different genres for the study of English learners. Research in the Teaching of English41(1): 118–123.
65.
OuelletteGBeersA (2010) A not-so-simple view of reading: How oral vocabulary and visual-word recognition complicate the story. Reading and Writing23(2): 189–208.
66.
PahlK (2009) Interactions intersections and improvisations: Studying the multimodal texts and classroom talk of six- to seven-year-olds. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy9(2): 188–210.
67.
Peck S (1980) Language play in child second language acquisition. In: Larsen-Freeman D (ed.) Discourse Analysis in Second Language Research. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishing, pp. 154–164.
68.
PellegriniA (1980) The relationship between kindergartners’ play and achievement in prereading language and writing. Psychology in the Schools17(4): 530–535.
69.
PikerRA (2013) Understanding influences of play on second language learning: A microethnographic view in one Head Start preschool classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Research11(2): 184–200.
70.
RickettsJNationKBishopDVM (2007) Vocabulary is important for some but not all reading skills. Scientific Studies of Reading11(3): 235–257.
71.
RoskosKChristieJ (2001) Examining the play–literacy interface: A critical review and future directions. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy1(1): 59–89.
72.
RoskosKATaborsPOLenhartLA (2009) Oral Language and Early Literacy in Preschool: Talking Reading and Writing, Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
73.
SingerA (2010) Immigration. In: BerubeAFreyWHFriedhoffAet al. (eds) State of Metropolitan America: On the Front Lines of Demographic Transformation, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, pp. 64–75.
74.
SnowCE (1983) Literacy and language: Relationships during the preschool years. Harvard Educational Review53(2): 165–189.
75.
StahlSAMurrayBA (1994) Defining phonological awareness and its relationship to early reading. Journal of Educational Psychology86(2): 221–234.
76.
StanovichKECunninghamAECramerBB (1984) Assessing phonological awareness in kindergarten children: Issues of task comparability. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology38(2): 175–190.
77.
SterponiL (2007) Clandestine interactional reading: Intertextuality and double-voicing under the desk. Linguistics and Education18(1): 1–23.
78.
Tabors PO (1987) The development of communicative competence by second language learners in a nursery school classroom: An ethnolinguistic study. PhD Thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
79.
TaborsPO (2008) One Child, Two Languages: A Guide for Early Childhood Educators of Children Learning English as a Second Language, Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.
80.
TooheyK (2000) Learning English at School: Identity Social Relations and Classroom Practice, Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
81.
VellutinoFRScanlonDM (1987) Phonological coding phonological awareness and reading ability: Evidence from a longitudinal and experimental study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology33(3): 321–363.
82.
VolkDDe AcostaM (2004) Mediating networks for literacy learning: The role of Puerto Rican siblings. In: GregoryELongSVolkD (eds) Many Pathways to Literacy: Young Children Learning with Siblings Grandparents Peers and Communities, London: Routledge, pp. 25–39.
83.
VygotskyLS (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
84.
Wagner-GoughJHatchE (1975) the importance of input data in second language acquisition studies. Language Learning25: 297–308.
85.
WangXCChingCC (2003) Social construction of computer experience in a first-grade classroom: Social processes and mediating artifacts. Early Education and Development14(3): 335–361.
86.
WellsG (2003) Los niños se alfabetizan hablando (Children talk their way into literacy). In: GarciaJR (ed.) Enseñar a Escribir sin Prisas Pero con Sentido, Sevilla Spain: Publicaciones MCEP, pp. 54–76.
87.
WohlwendKE (2011) Playing Their Way into Literacies: Reading Writing and Belonging in the Early Childhood Classroom, New York: Teachers College Press.
