Being and Becoming: Multilingual Writers' Practices

Most new English language learners spend their school days in monolingual teachers' classrooms. This study examines the writing practices taken on and negotiated by multilingual class members within two multiage elementary classrooms. This article details the writing practices enacted and constructed in the daily writing lives of elementary writing communities and how multilingual students extended and transformed their learning community's existing literacy practices. Situating multilingual students as valued classroom community members opens up possibilities for students to engage with their new communities, draw upon their linguistic resources, and craft possible futures as multilingual people.