ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the translingual use of adult learners’ L1 Spanish and L2 English in their development of English language and literacy practices. The educational context for this case study is a large urban adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in the United States. In author experience, the opening of a translingual space in an adult ESL literacy setting is rare. This case study proposes a translingual approach to working with emerging readers and writers that can change our perspectives of the linguistic resources that these learners bring to the ESL literacy classroom. It should be noted that ESL teachers who can communicate in the learners’ L1 have an advantage in this approach, but students can engage in many of these practices in their L1 even if their teachers are not able to do so themselves.
