Children Translating When Reading Dual-Language Books

This mixed-methods study analyzed how elementary-school children translated while reading Spanish-English dual-language books (DLBs). Specifically, it investigated the types of strategies students used to translate words in DLBs, strategies’ success, and differences in strategy use based on grade, home language(s), and oral reading accuracy. Sixty-three Spanish-English biliterate third and fifth graders participated in the study. Verbal protocols/think-alouds explaining their translation strategies were analyzed qualitatively using discourse analysis and quantitatively to establish trends. Findings suggest that strategies used most frequently by third graders and/or students with lower oral reading accuracies focused on textual features, whereas strategies used most frequently by fifth graders and/or students with higher accuracies were informed by linguistic knowledge. Results discuss how strategies reflect developing metalinguistic knowledge, linguistic assumptions, and ways that participants drew upon their linguistic repertoires to translate and engage in translanguaging. Also discussed are instructional implications for supporting biliteracy development and for dual-language programs.