Explorations in bilingual instructional interaction: a sociocultural perspective on literacy

The research reported here attempts to understand issues of Swedish Deaf bilingual students’ secondary language learning and literacy practices. In Swedish schools for the Deaf Swedish Sign Language is considered to be the students’ primary language and written Swedish is considered to be their secondary language. By using ethnographically inspired methodology the project has been analyzing bilingual instructional interaction and everyday language use in these settings. Notions of Global Lesson Patterns, Local-Chaining and Linguistic Complexity are explicated in an effort to show how instructional interactions can afford (or limit) learning possibilities in bilingual settings. Students appear to unwittingly receive opportunities to participate in literacy activities in lessons where Swedish is not explicitly focused. A sociocultural approach to the understanding of learning, development and language has important implications for the teaching and learning of secondary languages, both in Deaf bilingual classrooms and in bilingual classrooms in general.