ABSTRACT
Research examining the beginning writing of native English speakers has been increasing significantly. Some of the most exciting and best known studies of young native English-speaking children learning to write have been done by Bissex (1980), Dyson (1982, 1983, 1985, 1993), Y.Goodman and Altwerger (1981), Harste, Woodward, and Burke (1984), Schickendanz (1990), and Wilde (1986, 1992). However, few of these studies have examined the writing of students whose native language was Spanish and who are learning English as a second language. An important study examining the writing of Mexican American Spanish speakers enrolled in a bilingual program in Arizona was done by Edelsky (1982, 1986). The first-, second-, and third-grade children's written productions were analyzed for a number of aspects and overall quality of content in order to note changes over time as well as to make cross-sectional comparisons (Edelsky, 1986). Other impor-tant studies examining the writing of young native Spanish speakers who were developing literacy in bilingual contexts have been done by Flores and García (1984), K.S.Goodman, Y.Goodman, and Flores (1979), K.Goodman and Y.Goodman (1978), Gutierrez (1992), Hudelson (1984), Moll and Díaz (1987), Pérez (1994a, 1994b), Reyes and Laliberty (1992), Silva (1992), and Silva and Menchaca (1992). Understanding the process by which children develop writing in a first and second language is critical in light of the tremendous challenge schools face in developing innovative ways to literacy instruction that are linguistically, developmentally, and culturally compatible. For many Mexican American Spanish-speaking children, there remains a growing unjust pressure to quickly develop English literacy and be competitive with English-speaking peers. This pressure is based on an old assumption that the language development process is instantaneous and that the native language should be abandoned for the new one. In the last 25 years, bilingual and second-language education have advanced the position that our educational goal should be the lifetime promotion and valuing of the native language and culture (Cummins, 1989). Some recent studies demonstrate how this can be done and thereby reduce the conflict between the language and culture of the school and the one found in the home and community (Moll, 1990).
