ABSTRACT
In this chapter we focus specifically on some of the issues involved in learning to read and write in an additional language. We start with debates about the degrees of similarity and difference between written languages and the practices they are embedded in. These discussions revolve around those learners who are already familiar with at least one writing system, and a set of literacy practices. How transferable are these practices from one language and writing system to another? We then move on to those learners who come from mainly oral cultures, or who have missed out on formal education and have very little experience of using the written systems of the languages they speak. Should these learners gain literacy in the languages they are really familiar with before taking on literacy in an additional language?
