Changing teachers’ perceptions about the writing abilities of emerging bilingual students: towards a holistic bilingual perspective on writing assessment

This study explored the application of a holistic bilingual view to assess the writing of emerging bilingual children. The study is part of a 5-year longitudinal research and intervention project that explores the biliteracy development of Spanish–English emerging bilingual students who are receiving instruction in both languages. Participants included 36 bilingual teachers who were part of the project. Teachers evaluated student writing samples using a writing rubric developed for the project. They were trained to evaluate students’ Spanish and English language writing samples in a manner that allowed for cross-language comparison and analysis. A total of 216 writing samples produced by students from grades 1–5 were analyzed. Findings from this study suggest the need to train teachers to evaluate the writing of emerging bilingual children in ways that both challenge and expand on their current frames of reference. This paper posits that the utilization of a holistic bilingual lens to evaluate the writing of Spanish–English emerging bilingual children is a more robust and valid means of understanding language and biliteracy development in these children. Furthermore, a holistic bilingual lens can be useful in changing teacher perceptions about children's biliteracy, thereby enhancing instruction.