Learning from Young Bilingual Children’s Explorations of Language and Literacy at Home

Children’s exploration of language and literacy reveals that they actively think about and make meaning of print and language everywhere around them. They participate actively in social events and interactions with adults and peers, thereby not only gaining linguistic knowledge themselves, but infl uencing their families’ knowledge as well. From these everyday social experiences and interactions with their parents, siblings, community members, and the media, young children begin developing emergent literacy (Moll, Saez, & Dworin, 2001; Reyes & Moll, 2008).