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Dual language immersion (DLI) programs have emerged in the U.S. as effective ways to bring together language minority and language majority speakers in school settings with the goal of bilingualism and bi-literacy for all. However, the proliferation of these programs has raised concerns regarding issues of inequity and dissimilar power dynamics in these spaces (Cervantes-Soon, 2014, "A Critical Look at Dual Language Immersion in the New Latin@ Diaspora." Bilingual Research Journal 37 (1): 64–82; Flores, 2016, Do Black Lives matter in Bilingual Education [Web log post]. Accessed May 1, 2017. https://educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/do-black-lives-matter-in-bilingual-education/; Valdes, 1997, "Dual language immersion programs: A cautionary note concerning the education of language-minority students." Harvard Educational Review 67: 391–430, 2018, "Analyzing the curricularization of language in two-way immersion education: Restating two cautionary notes." Bilingual Research Journal). With this in mind, this study aims to shed light on the intricate social processes at work in DLI contexts. In particular, this paper examines first, how notions of language use, race, and ethnicity are socially constructed and intersect in DLI settings; and second, it explores how these ideas are discerned and re-shaped by young children into their own social and linguistic norms. Employing qualitative research methods, this year-long ethnographic case study uses the intersectional lens of raciolinguistics (Alim, Rickford & Ball, 2016, Raciolinguistics: how language shapes our ideas about race. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Rosa & Flores, 2017, "Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective." Language in Society 46 (5): 621–647), to examine the intricate cross-cutting dynamics at play in bilingual spaces. The exploration of these ideas helps to illuminate the ways in which language practices and interactions are shaped by social constructions from a very early age. Furthermore, it contributes to understandings of social perceptions and relations in multilingual/multicultural/multiethnic contemporary school settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas most research on child second language acquisition has focused on the oral production of children, studies are needed to illuminate patterns of literacy development in a second language. This paper aims to shed some light on this process, focusing on the English writing development of a native Spanish speaker, and on the Spanish writing development of a native English speaker, both enrolled in a two-way immersion program in the USA. Data for this particular study come from a longitudinal, national study, involving 484 students in 11 programs across the country. In this paper, we will present a case study of two students in the project, from the beginning of third grade through the end of fifth grade. The students' writing samples will be discussed using an analytic rubric developed for the project. This rubric addresses three major aspects of writing — composition, grammar and mechanics — and provides a clear framework for investigating changes in writing ability over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine how 659 Hispanic students in dual language programs in segregated or predominantly Hispanic/low socio-economic status (SES) schools are performing on standardized tests compared to school and statewide comparison groups. Test results are presented from two separate studies of English language learner and native English-speaking Hispanic students in four schools. Data are consistent in showing that Hispanic students participating in dual language programs in predominantly Hispanic/low SES schools achieve at similar or higher levels compared to their mainstream peers in tests of English. In addition, students achieve above grade level in assessments in Spanish. This study affirms the versatility of the dual language program for this increasingly common educational context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]