This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Martinez, G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Writing back and forth: the interplay of form and situation in heritage language composition

University of Texas Pan American, USA, martinezg{at}panam.edu

Studies in Spanish heritage language writing have recently uncovered two opposing tendencies: ‘backwards biliteracy’ where writing conforms to rhetorical traditions in the dominant language and ‘forward biliteracy’ where writing breaks away from canonical rhetorical traditions and where writers carve out their own, transcultural paths of expression. In the present paper, this opposition is revisited by focusing on one grammatical element in Spanish heritage language writing -the variation between overt and null subject pronouns - and it is argued that backwards and forward writing are discursively situated in the context of situation of literacy practices. On the basis of these data, a multidimensional model of transfer is proposed as a theoretical and methodological framework for the teaching of heritage language writing.

Language Teaching Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, 31-41 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1362168806072454


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?