Can one‐parent families or divorced families produce two‐language children? An investigation into how Portuguese–English bilingual children acquire biliteracy within diverse family structures

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of biliteracy in school‐aged Portuguese–English bilingual children growing up within diverse family structures in Portugal. The ethnographic research investigated the premise that some children have the opportunity to acquire biliteracy, like their bilingualism, in naturalistic contexts. There are gaps in bilingual studies on the issue of what happens when a single parent or non‐residential parent is the focus for support of the minority language, but must also be supportive of the language and culture of the country the children are growing up in, if both languages are to be viewed in a positive light. Previous research has either ignored bilingual children growing up in diverse family structures, or presented these families negatively in terms of children developing biliteracy. My research contradicts these views and shows that single parents are able to promote both languages in the home due to the cross‐cultural experiences of the child in the home/community and sibling literacies. A non‐residential parent, who is actively involved with a child’s language development, is also able to promote biliteracy in naturalistic settings.

Keywords:

• one‐parent families
• divorced families and bilingualism
• biliteracy
• cross‐cultural experience