Abstract:

A growing body of research has shown the potential, and considerable, cognitive, cultural and economic benefits of bilingualism (Sanchez,2015). The linguistic, ethnic and racial profiles of American schools are changing rapidly. Around one in ten American students is formally identified as an English language learner (ELL) and almost one in four American children speak a language other than English at home (Williams, 2015).

Within the U.S. public educational system, six main educational programs have been used in schools in the education of English Language Learners (ELLs). Most programs are designed to achieve English proficiency as soon as possible, even at the expense of the students' native language(s). This is known as subtractive language instruction. Those programs have detrimental impacts in the achievement of high levels of biliteracy for students in their heritage languages (Garcia, Kleifgen &Flachi, 2008).

Effective programs for English Language Learners (ELLs) have a "language-as-resource" orientation using the home language of the ELLs as a resource for teaching and learning. The highest quality of programs helps students to become bilingual and biliterate in English and their heritage languages (Wright, 2019). In dual language programs students listen, speak, read and write in two languages to become biliterate. The use of translanguaging as a resource has the potential to transform biliteracy instruction in dal-language bilingual education classrooms.

Garcia introduces the concept of translanguaging as "multiple discourse practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their worlds". Translanguaging puts back the emphasis on what people do with language to produce and interpret their social world (Wright, 2015). Bilingual and multilingual classrooms are social spaces and translanguaging practices.

Beeman and Urow (2013) have proposed the concept of bridge or "the instrumental moment when teachers purposely bring the two languages together, guiding students to transfer the academic context they have learned in one language to the other language, engage in contrastive analysis of the two languages, and strengthen their knowledge of both languages".

This paper intends to review the most current research-based principles and practices that dual language teachers can use to create an environment where translanguaging can be applied for a comprehensive understanding of language and bilingualism.

Keywords:

Translanguaging, biliteracy, bilingualism, dual language instruction, bridge concept.