Literacy Practices in a Changing Cultural Context: The Literacy Development of Two Emergent Mayan-Spanish Bilingual Children.

There is a substantial body of research in emerging literacy indicating that prior to entering school children develop language skills and concepts about print through cultural mediations and practices in their particular sociocultural environment. In addition, numerous studies have examined second language acquisition among bilingual children. However, the emerging biliteracy field needs research to understand literacy development among bilingual children in which the socio-cultural context is a central unit of study. In this qualitative study I use ethnographic tools to document in depth the multiple literacy practices of two Mayan families living in a rural community in Yucatan, Mexico. I explore how young emergent bilingual children make sense of written language through their everyday practices. Data include field notes from participant observations, video and audio recordings, and literacy samples collected during two fieldwork periods. From these data I extract the literacy events that occurred in the children's home, school, and community. I explore the communicative functions written language serves, the use of linguistic resources, and particular ways of socialization within literacy events. The findings show that written language is instrumental in the daily lives of these two households. Literacy is used for school-related activities, but also serves other functions such as for entertainment, to strengthen relationships, and to gain status. In this context, literacy is also used during community assemblies and for social justice. Moreover, due to rapid social and economic transformations in the community, new cultural practices are constantly emerging, including new literacy practices (e.g., use of written language to manage finances). Through the two case studies presented, I document how different language and literacy practices shape the various pathways children take to bilingualism and biliteracy. The two children I studied are exposed to both Mayan and Spanish in their community, but receive formal schooling only in Spanish. Families' language practices and ideologies differ significantly. In one, there is an evident language shift toward Spanish, while in the other, both oral Mayan and Spanish are used to make sense of Spanish print. The findings of this dissertation challenge public discourses that define marginalized children and their families as deficient in literacy. Literacy is part of the everyday life activities of economic and cultural minorities, and these experiences provide their children with vast amounts of literacy knowledge. It is imperative to develop more culturally and linguistically responsive curricula which allow diverse students to develop to their maximum potential, including in the development of biliteracy. I encourage researchers, teachers, and policymakers to redefine the concept of literacy to include local practices and children's first language as resources for learning.