ABSTRACT
Teaching literacy to bilingual students requires an understanding of such individuals and the many variables that will affect their performance. Bilinguals function with two or more languages and negotiate more than one culture. Regardless of the language they are using at any time and how well they know it, bilinguals are still influenced by the knowledge of other language(s) as well as by their cross-cultural experience. Bilingual students perfectly fluent in English are different from native speakers of English who do not know another language or have not experienced another culture. The additional and different knowledge they bring to schools must be considered in the teachers’ perspective of the students, teaching strategies, and curricular considerations.
