2026/07/29 by Brittany L. Frieson, Vania Ledesma Espino
paper · doi:10.1002/trtr.70086
crossref issued 2026/07/29 · crossref published 2026/07/29 · crossref published-online 2026/07/29 · crossref created 2026/07/30 · crossref deposited 2026/07/30 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · crossref published-print 2026/09/01
ABSTRACT This article explores the biliteracy journey of Jamaal, an African American, in an elementary dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classroom. Although scholars have researched the biliteracy development and identity construction of bilingual children for decades, limited research has explored the biliteracy trajectory of African Americans in DLBE, including how they maintain biliteracy identities while also resisting historical stigmatization of their linguistic practices. This qualitative study draws upon raciolinguistic perspectives, translanguaging, and liberation literacies. These theoretical lenses provide a foundation to explore the complexity of how African American children navigate racialized biliteracy development in DLBE and illuminate the fullness of their linguistic repertoires. Data were collected from an ethnographic case study in a Midwestern elementary DLBE program primarily serving Latine/x and African American children. Findings demonstrate how African American children are capable of employing their linguistic resources for linguistic liberation. In one vignette, Jamaal demonstrates this by drawing upon features of Black Language to participate in a retelling of a read‐aloud. In another, he combats raciolinguistic ideologies that labeled him a “non‐reader” by reconstructing his own story using features of Black Language in a space that often renounced his linguistic identity. This article has implications for practitioners and researchers as it demonstrates how bilingual African American children agentively leverage their linguistic resources in DLBE classrooms, and how their teachers furnish supportive platforms for the totality of their identities.