Teaching Reading in Spanish: A Linguistically Authentic Framework for Emerging Multilinguals

Teaching Reading in Spanish: A Linguistically Authentic Framework for Emerging Multilinguals is an essential teacher instructional guide to developmental biliteracy. It provides a comprehensive reading framework for teachers who teach students to read Spanish in K-12 dual language and bilingual programs. Anchored in asset-based pedagogy, this framework applies a systematic Spanish literacy approach to biliteracy by weaving together a tapestry of relevant instructional components including phonemic and phonological awareness, oracy, decoding, background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge.
What sets this Spanish developmental literacy framework apart is its approach to Spanish reading instruction that is based on linguistically-authentic pedagogy, not on English-language practices. Teaching Reading in Spanish includes the DCC Leveling Instrument, a standards-based, practical instructional tool that guides teachers through the process of efficiently and accurately determining the reading levels of authentic Spanish text. DCC Lectura provides teachers with the tools that they need to guide their students to become skilled readers through appropriately challenging books that act as multicultural mirrors, windows, and sliding-glass doors.

Dr. Rocio del Castillo-Perez is an assistant superintendent for special services and a university professor. She has dedicated her professional career to advocating for educational equity and social justice and has received recognition for her work in special education, bilingual, and dual-language programs.

Dr. Julia Stearns Cloat is an associate superintendent of curriculum and an adjunct professor. She is dedicated to providing equitable and accessible learning experiences through the development of curriculum.