Second Language and Literacy Development Over Time: A synthesis of longitudinal research in applied linguistics

Lourdes Ortega

With generous support from the NAE and the Spencer Foundation, over the next two years I plan to conduct a research synthesis of longitudinal research into the development of advanced bilingual and biliterate competence. In my synthesis, I will focus on contexts for both circumstantial and elective bilingualism and on adolescent and adult second language learners, whether their “second” language was English or a foreign or a heritage language. The synthesis will attempt to take stock of longitudinal methodological practices and substantive findings, and to be reflective of the epistemological diversity within applied linguistics research that investigates the development of biliteracy over time. Thus, I will examine a variety of research designs and models, including longitudinal quantitative studies that are likely to highlight the challenges involved in developing linguistic aspects of advanced bilingual competencies, but also interpretive qualitative research of various kinds that are likely to emphasize the social and cultural challenges and influences involved in the very same developmental processes. With this project, I would like to contribute to our better understanding of the accumulated longitudinal evidence on bilingual and biliterate development and to illuminate future longitudinal research practices by the interested research communities. In addition, I hope the synthesis will yield substantive findings of value for developing a more complete view of change in language and literacy development at the individual level. Such a longitudinal perspective will help identify important transition points in the personal, academic, and social development of bilingual students that need to be taken into account in our efforts to foster advanced second language and literacy development through educational design and practice.

About Lourdes Ortega

Lourdes Ortega (Ph.D., University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, 2000) is assistant professor of applied linguistics in the Department of English at Northern Arizona University. Born and raised on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts in Southern Spain, she taught Spanish as a foreign language in Greece for many years before moving to the U.S., where she has also taught Spanish and ESL. Lourdes’ research interests include the longitudinal study of second language and literacy development, language minority and foreign language education, and research methods in applied linguistics, and in particular the methodology of research synthesis and meta-analysis. Her work has appeared in several refereed journals, including Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, The Modern Language Journal, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition. She was a Doctoral Mellon Fellow at the National Foreign Language Center in 1999 and was co-recipient of the 2001 TESOL Research Interest Section/Heinle & Heinle Research Award and the 2001 ACTFL-MLJ Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in Foreign Language Education. Lourdes teaches graduate courses in second language acquisition and in research synthesis in applied linguistics, and serves on the editorial boards of TESOL Quarterly and Language Learning & Technology. Her current work investigates cognitive and social influences that need to be more fully understood in order to improve the process of language learning during adolescence or adulthood in classroom contexts, whether the specific language learned is English or another (foreign or heritage) language.