The United States and Canada, two countries known to have large immigrant populations, have long since reflected a dichotomy, where Canada is generally perceived to be a country with language policies that demonstrate its receptiveness to embrace multiculturalism in schools and classrooms. In contrast, the United States has consistently espoused…

The aim of this article is to examine teachers' constructions of the literacy competence levels of multilingual students. The study is based on a Latour-inspired theoretical understanding of standardised literacy testing as a social practice, and focuses on teachers' perceptions of and practices concerning compulsory national standardised literacy…

In a Danish context, the acquisition of literacy by the "bilingual student" is embedded in an education policy discourse in which literacy is seen as a cognitive competence that can be quantified by measuring a number of specific skills in a defined language and in a defined written language. On the basis of empirical data from the…

The present paper synthesizes the international research literature on the educational achievement of immigrant and minority language students by articulating three propositions for which there is strong empirical evidence: (a) print access and literacy engagement play a key role in promoting reading comprehension; (b) the development of bilingual…

Discusses steps taken to attain cultural relevance and appropriateness in the reading literacy construct, and in the stimulus materials and items that operationalize it. Explains the influence of multilingual considerations on the development of the reading literacy assessment instrument and notes psychometric procedures used to maximize the…