| Students in special education commonly experience reductionist instruction based on narrow views of literacy and institutionalized, deficit views of students labeled learning disabled. In contrast, this study was based on a broad conceptualization of literacy, including biliteracy for bilingual students labeled learning disabled and viewed learning and literacy through a sociocultural, critical lens. It focused on students' competencies. This study may be the first to explore how bilingual students with learning disabilities access opportunities for biliteracy.; This study was a critical ethnography of six elementary-aged, Spanish-English bilingual students labeled learning disabled. All received bilingual special education resource services in addition to instruction in their bilingual homeroom. Data collection consisted of: observation of students in their homeroom, resource, and art and music classes, teacher and student interviews, and relevant artifacts. Data analysis occurred formatively with data collection, and summatively to articulate a specific theory of biliteracy.; Findings suggested that bilingual students with disabilities possess an array of biliteracy competencies despite the fact that instruction does not promote them. Biliteracy seemed to occur as a natural response to students' interactions within their sociocultural milieu. Students' abilities exceeded teachers' expectations of them and even surpassed teachers' own sociocultural and sociocritical awareness. It implied that biliteracy is not too challenging for bilingual students with disabilities. In fact, biliteracy highlights and capitalizes on students' competencies, thereby revealing students' authentic literate and linguistic abilities.; Findings from this research support the notion that informal reading opportunities, meaningful conversations, and learning contexts in which language and literacy are integrated into content instruction provide important and authentic language and literacy learning opportunities for students. Additionally, despite the fact that all the students in this study were bilingual and biliterate to some degree, none had adequate opportunities to use and learn English. It is imperative that school districts provide a structure to guide instruction in two languages, develop curricula for structured English language development (including goals for the acquisition of specific academic content, vocabulary and language usage) and ensure that all students have equal access to it. |
