F UNDAMENTOS DE LA CREACIÓN DEL I NSTITUTO C ERVANTES

Currently multilingualism is often seen as encompassing an individual’s repertoire of languages and their ability to use several languages in a particular space. This term has emerged as a topic of significance in understanding language acquisition and multilingual literacy. In this view the individual is seen as both the locus and the channel of contact (Coste et al., 2009). In my study multilingualism is one of the key issues in the development of children’s early stage multilingual literacies (Cope and Kakantzis, 2000; Gregory et al., 2004). Research has indicated that children often use their knowledge of multiple languages in various reading and writing practices but these often remain ignored in mainstream education in favour of their further development of learning literacy and language in English (Martin-Jones and Jones, 2000).

There is a growing body of recent research that acknowledges how little is known about bilingual and multilingual children’s own views regarding their learning more than one language and how they view their literacy skills in various written processes (Kenner, 2005; Burman 2008; Levy and Marsh, 2011). Burman (2008) also points out that although most of the world’s populations are multilingual, most literacy research continues to focus on mono-lingual perspectives. Children who are using more than two languages in their everyday life for reading or writing (for a particular purpose with a different level of proficiency) can be regarded as multilingual (Cenoz and Genesee

1998; Robertson, 2004 in Gregory et al; Kenner, 2005; Wang, 2011; Gregory et al 2012). Pahl and Rowsell (2012, p. xvii) refer to multilingualism as ‘the employment of different linguistic identities in a particular space. For example; Punjabi, Urdu and English used in a home space’. Focusing on children’s multilingual practices means giving consideration to the diversity of their reading and writing literacies. It is therefore important to examine how multilingual children adapt to using more than one language where one of those languages is the dominant language in the mainstream school. In my research this mainstream language is English.

It has also been customary to define the term bilingualism to include second language acquisition where a learner acquires another additional language that is then termed ‘multilingual acquisition’. Bilingualism can therefore include the acquisition of languages other than the first language. Researchers in the field of bilingualism have

started to study how bilingual children, who learn a first language at home and a second language at school, transfer their linguistic and literacy skills from one language to another (Cummins, 2000; Brisk and Harrington, 1999). According to Cummins (1981, p.1) ‘Bilingualism is defined as the production and/or comprehension of two languages by the same individual. The phrase ‘minority-language children’ is used to refer to children whose first language is different from the language of the wider community’.

In relation to the ideas of ‘multilingualism’, Robertson (2004) in Gregory et al (2004) examined children’s multilingual flexibility and its advantages for literacy learning through their ability to read ‘simultaneously’ in two or more languages. The study identified advantages that the children were able to employ by switching from one language to another. Robertson suggested that their ability to operate with different literacy practices enhanced the overall process of language learning. In the field of language acquisition, Brown (1997) and Halliday (1975) acknowledged that language learning is purposeful and from this perspective it is important to understand the ways in which children are taking control of their learning in a context that is meaningful to them.

When literacy researchers point to children’s use of bilingual or multilingual practices they frequently use the terms biliteracies and multiliteracies and also recognise the complex relational link between language and culture (Gregory and Kenner, 2012; Vygotsky, 1962; Gregory, 1996). This can be understood in relation to the ‘pedagogy of multi-literacies’, defined as the ‘redefinition of texts and practices, moving the field from “literacy” to “literacies,” through recognizing multiple ways of communicating and making meaning, including such modes as visual, audio, spatial, behavioural, and gestural’ and ‘moving from a perspective on literacy as passive consumption of texts to understanding and enacting literacy practices’ (New London Group, 1996, p. 6.). This can be seen in the work of Leander and Boldt, (2013, p.23) who adopt the approach ‘A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies’ in their exploration of literacy practices with a child’s engagement in reading and playing with text from Japanese manga. This was seen as understanding human practices as an object of knowledge in the context of educational pedagogy. It is possible to utilise this approach in complementary language learning schools because bilingual and multilingual children associated with different texts and their modalities. I will address these additional features of modalities and multiliteracies

in the context of multilingualism later when reviewing the literature for bilingualism and multilingualism in connection with literacy and language practices.

Kenner (2005) drew attention to multilingual children’s literacy practices, demonstrating the way in which children re-contextualised the ‘stuff’ of home to create texts that carry cultural values. According to Kenner (2005, p.86):

Nursery and primary school classrooms have the potential to open out to other linguistic and cultural experiences. If this can be done, bilingual children have the chance to build on and expand their linguistic knowledge, and also to explore their cultural identities. Multilingual popular culture is a key resource in this process.

It can be argued that this process is a fundamental part of multilingual children’s literacy development that may be used as part of their linguistic knowledge in mainstream schools. This concept is significant for my study in the context of multilingualism. With the awareness of children’s regular engagement with digital technology in the 21st century, my work extends this concept of multilingualism to include the digital literacy practices used by multilingual children in the home setting of their heritage culture.