The Expected and Unexpected Literacy Outcomes of Bilingual Students

The purpose of the study is to compare the writing proficiencies of firstand second-language learners and to examine their teachers’ beliefs about the writing students produce. The four fifth-graders were nominated by their teachers as either strong or weak writers. Text analysis methods were used to analyze the writing proficiencies manifested in the compositions and interviews with the teachers about their views on writing. The results suggest that the writing skills of strong second-language children writers are virtually indistinguishable from those of strong first-language children. Furthermore, the weak second-language writers in this study did not lag significantly behind the firstlanguage writers. Finally, parents’ informal Spanish-language instruction, coupled with formal English instruction, was sufficient for some bilinguals to write in Spanish. The study has implications for expanding the L1 and L2 relationship–L2 can support expanding L1 literacy. It also provides direction for the type of writing instruction that second-language learners considered weak writers need in order to become strong. The Expected and Unexpected Literacy Outcomes of Bilingual Students With the growing number of second-language children in this country, educators have become increasingly concerned about the challenges that these students present to their teachers (Moss & Puma, 1995). For English language learners (ELLs) in particular, writing is as crucial a skill in their Englishlanguage development as speaking and reading. While it is a crucial skill, many English language learners are not acquiring the range of writing proficiencies needed for advanced academic tasks. Most of the research on