Writing Development and Translanguaging in Signing Bilingual Deaf Children of Deaf Parents

Abstract

Translanguaging allows for a holistic lens on the natural language practices of multilinguals and the strategies they use to communicate and to make meaning, such as writing. Multilinguals have a single, integrated linguistic repertoire and reasoning in which all languages are naturally activated in the brain throughout the writing process. Some deaf children are raised in environments where signed language is first acquired and then used to support the development of a written language. The current literature on translanguaging is scant in capturing signing bilingual deaf writers’ translanguaging practices. This study took a closer look at the written texts produced by three deaf siblings within an American Sign Language/English bilingual deaf family across the course of their childhood between three and ten years old. Their applications of linguistic features in writing over time were qualitatively identified, described, and analyzed. This study’s findings provided rich descriptions and examples of the ways signing bilingual deaf children leverage their whole linguistic repertoire to express ideas in print. Because translanguaging practices were modeled at home and school during natural interactions and direct instruction, these siblings’ language and writing skills continued to flourish over time.