Fostering biliteracy in a monolingual milieu: reflections on two counter-hegemonic English immersion classes created by Patrick C. Manyak

This article presents data from two yearlong ethnographic studies of the biliteracy instruction and development of young Latina/o children in two counter-hegemonic English immersion classes in the English-only milieu established by California’s Proposition 227. The author first describes the struggle that the teachers engaged in as they sought to resist the proposition’s monolingual mandate by affirming and extending their students’ developing bilingualism and biliteracy. Next, utilizing trenchant examples of the instruction, practices, and products of biliteracy in the classrooms, the article creates an impressionistic portrait of the strategies, possibilities, and limitations of pursuing biliteracy in this monolingual milieu. The author concludes by offering several theoretical and practical reflections on young children’s biliteracy development in less-than-ideal political and programmatic settings.