Revealing Invisible Worlds: Connecting the Mainstream with Bilingual Children’s Home and Community Learning

Abstract

This article sets out to make the point that if teachers and others have, as the evidence by which they will place, teach and assess young bilinguals, only those children’s performance in English, they are not likely to appreciate the full range of their capacities, and their linguistic capacity above all others.The theoretical overview is followed by sets of data deriving from four UK researchers. Rose Drury shows the interface of the home and school environments for a young bilingual girl. Charmian Kenner compares the first-and additional-language literacies of a young child in nursery.Tim Parke investigates the performance of three young potential bilinguals, retelling stories in English and then in their mother tongue. Leena Helavaara Robertson investigates the role of community schools and their construction by central agencies. Finally the authors re-state their focus, stressing what is revealed in young bilingual children’s language abilities by the work they have presented and suggesting some implications for pedagogy and practice in early years contexts.