Using a case study approach, the authors describe how a teacher used the tools of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to teach her fifth grade English Language Learners how to use academic language to challenge school policies regarding recess. In reflecting on these data, we discuss the potential of SFL to support teachers in responding to…

Presents overall conclusions from research and case studies of four children who showed indicators of emerging biliteracy and cultural sensitivity in a language arts class where the inherent link between culture and language was evident. Illustrates how the language arts instruction in a bilingual classroom affected children's growth in a second…

Shows that teachers often severely underestimate the literacy abilities of Navajo children. Makes the case for creating school literacy environments that build on the literacy orientation children bring with them from home and that provide opportunities to experience literacy in a wide variety of functional and purposive contexts. (RS)

Reports a case study which reveals that children use the knowledge they hold about what writing is for, how writing is created, and the conventions of writing in their first language to help them write successfully in the second language. (MM)