Literacy and the Bilingual Learner: Texts and Practices in London Schools

Literacy and the Bilingual Learner focuses on bilingual learners in London (UK) schools and colleges and aims to bring this marginalised group into sharper relief so as to allow their distinctive skills and resources to be acknowledged and to ensure greater access to quality education. While the interest is in literacy more widely, this book will look specifically at the teaching of reading. How do bilingual learners develop identities as readers and how are they supported in the journey to forms of literacy which serve their social needs and academic aspirations in the twenty first century? The book takes both a sociocultural and sociolinguistic approach to literacy, to include a strong emphasis on critical literacy. An over-riding theme of the book, defined and developed across chapters which address different learning contexts, is the role of critical literacy as key in allowing second language learners to engage with the key debates of our age.