If you have a bilingual child, what is the best way to develop their literacy skills in both languages? There are a variety of programs for learning to read and write in both languages.
The dual language model is where both languages are used for literacy instruction and development throughout the day. The immersion bilingual education program is where children learn to read in their second language before they learn to read in their native language. Literacy in the native language is added to the child’s education and not replaced.
Another program is the opposite of the previous model. Children develop their literacy skills in their native language first and then develop literacy skills in their second language. Educators who support this model claim that it is easier to understand texts in a language that you already know and understand. The goal of these models is additive bilingualism where a second language is added to the child’s native language without replacing their native language.
Research has concluded that literacy skills in a student’s first language is a strong predictor of their development of reading skills in their second language. The more literacy skills a student has in their first language, the easier and quicker it will be for that student to acquire literacy skills in English. If a child understands the concepts of print and uses comprehension strategies (scanning, skimming, visualizing, using background knowledge, making inferences, etc.) in their native language, the child transfers these literacy skills from their first language to their second. Many educators believe that because of this research, it may be more effective to develop the child’s literacy skills in their native language first and later on, develop the child’s second language literacy skills.
Reading and writing skills need to be explicitly taught, especially the differences between the two languages. The child’s writing system in their first language and whether or not the child’s first language is a literate language may affect the ease and rate at which English literacy skills are acquired.
An important point to language success is language development. The more a parent develops their child’s native language in all four domains (speaking, understanding, reading, and writing), the more successful the child will be in acquiring a second language.