ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes the findings of the Expert Study and other research with Latino populations to underscore the types of instructional environments, activities, and professional development proven to support the learning of young second-language learners. Although the research conducted by E. Ferreiro and A. Teberosky took place nearly 30 years ago, few studies have attempted to confirm their findings in the United States with English-speaking children—none with second-language learners. While Ferreiro and Teberosky described their population as monolingual Spanish, the Los Angeles sample, while primarily speaking Spanish at home, was exposed to spoken English from several sources. The cultural-historical, sociohistorical or sociocultural line of research into emergent writing comprises by far the bulk of the US investigations in the 1990s. It is important for teachers and educators to realize that even though a child may not be able to produce conventional letter characters, their understanding of how the written language system works may be developing at a normal pace.
