Resumen de Two Kindergartners' Constructions of Literacy Learning in Spanish: A Challenge to Superficial Balanced Literacy Instruction

Margaret M. Mulhern

• This study examines the literacy learning experiences of two children from an infrequently studied but rapidly growing group – children of Mexican descent becoming literate in their home language, Spanish. The children's experiences reveal problematic aspects of an instructional approach in which a teacher attempts to balance a traditional phonetic approach to teaching literacy with holistic literacy experience. Such an approach warrants close examination given the ongoing debate about appropriate instructional approaches to early literacy, both in Spanish and English. This dual case study shows how each child developed a unique understanding about written language which reflected the ways in which they constructed meaning about the literacy opportunities available to them.