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From High School to the Noviciado : An Adolescent Linguistic Minority Student's Multilingual Journey in Writing
Author(s) -
Kibler Amanda K.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the modern language journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.486
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1540-4781
pISSN - 0026-7902
DOI - 10.1111/modl.12090
Subject(s) - literacy , sociocultural evolution , neuroscience of multilingualism , bilingual education , psychology , pedagogy , linguistics , english language learner , mathematics education , sociology , english language , philosophy , neuroscience , anthropology
This five‐year longitudinal case study explores a linguistic minority student's experiences learning to write during high school and in a postsecondary noviciado (novitiate) program in a bilingual Catholic institute to understand how features of an English‐medium high school experience supported and/or hindered writing development and transitions to a bilingual postsecondary setting. Writing samples, interviews, and observations were analyzed using Ivaniĉ's (2004) multilayered view of language, insights from sociocultural (Moje & Lewis, 2007; Lantolf, 2000) and biliterate (Hornberger, 2002, 2003) theories of language and literacy, and Schleppegrell's (2004) genre classification of written texts. Findings suggest that the student's English‐medium high school encompassed a range of oral and informal bilingual practices in support of writing, and her development and transition from secondary to postsecondary schooling was facilitated not by a match in written genres, languages, or expectations found in the two settings but by the development of L2 literacy skills during high school (facilitated by interactions with bilingual and monolingual texts and individuals) that she drew upon to cope with the new demands of her novitiate program.