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Book review: Eurydice Boucheraeu Bauer & Meleidis Gort (Eds.), Early biliteracy development: Exploring young learners’ use of their linguistic resources

At a time when debate over bilingual education is prevalent in the USA, Early biliteracy development: Exploring young learners’ use of their linguistic resources is a timely and important read. Bauer and Gort purport that there is a lack of scientific evidence dedicated to biliteracy of young learners exposed to two or more languages. This poses a practical problem for an increasing number of educators who are working with learners that function in two or more languages in their home, school, or community environment, especially considering that many of these educators lack the necessary information about how learners develop toward bilingualism and biliteracy, as well as the researchbased practices that best serve these learners. The book represents a range of diverse skills that bilingual children from different language groups bring to the table. Additionally, it strives to dispel the myth that bilingual children are confused by the use of two languages. In fact, Bauer and Gort report that children ‘are able to use their knowledge of both languages to support their literacy development, and that the context of learning shapes their literacy’ (p. 185). This conclusion is based on several empirical studies, both quantitative and qualitative, which are compiled for the reader in an organized manner; beginning with emergent bilinguals and ending with early elementary school-age bilinguals. Each study also provides pedagogical implications and suggestions for improving practices in both mainstream and bilingual classrooms. The book is organized into three parts, beginning with a section on emerging biliteracy that focuses on the preschool years. During this stage of development, many caregivers and educators do not realize the importance and impact of their role in scaffolding to enhance biliteracy development in the children they work with. In order to demonstrate this point and others, Part 1 of the book is comprised of a series of empirical studies incorporating languages that represent linguistically diverse backgrounds (Chinese, German, Spanish, and English). The authors of these studies sought to answer the following questions: