ABSTRACT
The infiux of immigrants to the United States over the past few decades has had a profound impact on the country. The United States is "characterized by an extraordinarily high degree of inequality". Language is a barrier for educational and economical advancement for immigrants, the majority of whom are Latino and speak Spanish as their native tongue. Literacy and biliteracy development implies not only the learning of a second language, but also different ways of viewing and interacting with the world. The research literature on bilingualism also indicates that the linguistic knowledge that a student acquires in the development of a second language is cumulatively stored with knowledge about the native language. Adult students developing bilingualism and biliteracy thus come to the classroom with a body of previously acquired knowledge and strategies that are available to them in the second language as soon as they begin to develop pro ciency and are able to express themselves in the second language.
