Researchers such as Noguerón-Liu (2020) argue that it is important to take advantage of and celebrate what multilingual families bring to the table regarding their own views about reading and their home literacy practices. Noguerón-Liu’s research with English/Spanish bilingual families in the United States demonstrates that bringing families into lesson-planning stages can support literacy instruction. Supporting multilingual learners in home-language literacy can help reading and language proficiency in English. Evidence from dual-language immersion programs—where students receive regular school instruction in both English and another language—demonstrates this benefit. Studies have found that students enrolled in dual-language immersion programs show significantly better reading performance (Steele et al., 2017). This evidence demonstrates that a student’s home language does not need to be suppressed or sacrificed in order to successfully learn English. Rather, supporting the home language can be beneficial for English reading achievement.
12
The Science of Reading | What Research Says About Setting Young Readers Up for Success
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs