Literacy as Social (Media) Practice: Refugee Youth and Native Language Literacy at School

Abstract

A wide and deep body of research indicates that students’ native languages can promote additional language learning, the development of content knowledge and skills, and literacy acquisition (e.g., Cummins 2000). The maintenance and development of two or more languages over time is associated with multiple academic, linguistic, and cognitive advantages for individuals (Bialystok, 2007). Numerous, large-scale studies indicate that students who have the opportunity to develop and maintain their native languages outperform their peers in monolingual programs on measures of both English language literacy and content knowledge (Thomas & Collier, 1997, 2002; Krashen & McField, 2005). For adolescent students with interrupted/limited formal schooling, the value of native language instruction is potentially even greater. One of the few large-scale analyses of adolescent and adult refugee learners found that use of students’ native languages in instruction was associated with faster growth in English reading comprehension and oral communication skills (Condelli, Spruck Wrigley & Yoon, 2008). Overall, the literature on adult second language reading indicates that instruction that strengthens native language reading skills positively impacts the development of second language reading skills (Carlo & Skilton-Sylvester, 1996).