Classroom Labels That Young Children Can Use: Enhancing Biliteracy Development in a Dual Language Classroom

This article focuses on biliteracy development of English and Spanish through the practical strategy of systematically labeling the classroom within the context of daily classroom activities and providing children with various opportunities to use the words throughout the day. Using the foundational work related to classroom labels from Pinnell and Fountas (1998, 2010), the authors adopt a definition indicating that a label consists of one or a few words on a card placed on or below an object or a spot in the classroom. Providing young dual language learners opportunities to use language in both the spoken and written form contributes to their understanding of the words they hear and the connections between those words and the labels found around the classroom (e.g., the walls, the bulletin boards, the alphabet, and the labels should reflect two languages). Providing young dual language learners with many opportunities to encounter and explore at least two to four new words each day can enhance their oral language development and thus their early biliteracy development. The authors suggest ideas for using labels that surround the classroom, and state that by using these labels in their classroom environment, teachers can support biliteracy development through engaging, purposeful, and meaningful activities for young dual language learners.