Five Consejos (Tips) on How To Nurture The Many Languages of Literacy From The Elementary To The College Classroom - By Elena Roa-Albert and Alexandra (Ale) Babino

Oct 15, 2026

This article argues for embracing and mobilizing students’ linguistic practices in bilingual settings, drawing on the authors’ journeys as bilingual literacy teachers. After initially correcting regional Spanish variations and translanguaging, the authors came to view these practices as valid and began designing classroom routines that honor students’ linguistic identities across literacy experiences. Five tips are offered for Texas teachers across elementary to college contexts, supported by evidence-based, inclusive strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Five tips for nurturing many languages of literacy

Be brave to model your own language practices

Shift from language separation to inclusive translanguaging

Use multimodal resources and conduct language audits

Create critical translanguaging spaces

Themed Article Five Consejos (Tips) on How To nurTure THe Many Languages oF LiTeraCy FroM THe eLeMenTary To THe CoLLege CLassrooM By Elena Roa-Albert and Alexandra (Ale) Babino Elena Roa-Albert is an immigrant with 7 years of experience as a bilingual teacher. Currently, she is a doctoral student in the Child Development and Early Education program at Texas Woman’s University and a graduate research assistant for the Multilingual and Multicultural Studies program. Having personally experienced the challenges of learning a new language and adapting to academic environments in that language, she developed a deep passion for bilingual and multilingual education during her graduate studies. She focuses on the consequences of native language loss and is dedicated to advocating for equity in education and creating curricula that support emergent bilingual learners. She can be reached at [gacosta4@twu.edu](gacosta4@twu.edu). Alexandra (Ale) Babino is Associate Professor of Literacy and Language (author) at Texas Woman’s University (TWU), where she teaches and researches at the intersection of bilingual and literacy education. Her work explores how power, systems, and languaging (re)form the identities and biliteracies of emergent bilinguals and their teachers. She is also the director of the Multilingual and Multicultural Studies master’s program at TWU. For the past 6 years, she has been coeditor of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers’ Yearbook. Some of her most recent articles have been published in Bilingual Research Journal, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, and Journal of Literacy Research and Instruction. She can be reached [at ababino@twu.edu](at ababino@twu.edu). Abstract: This article emphasizes the importance of embracing and mobilizing students’ linguistic practices, particularly in bilingual settings. The authors reflect on their experiences as bilingual teachers, initially correcting students’use of regional Spanish variations and translanguaging (mixing English and Spanish) . However, through advanced studies, they recognized the validity of these practices and began fostering an inclusive classroom environment that honors students’ linguistic identities across their literacies. They synthesize their pedagogical practices in five tips for Texas teachers—whether they consider themselves bilingual or not, so that they, too, can nurture the many languages of literacy. Keywords: translanguaging, bilingualism, multimodal resources, inclusive education, language practices As former bilingual literacy teachers, we have experienced the ups and downs and the insand outs of what it means to nurture the many languages of literacy for elementary bilingual students. As bilingual people ourselves, we thought this would be a relatively easy feat. We were and are bilingual after all! However, through the years, we’ve both learned how much we would need to continue to reflect and learn about our own bilingual literacy journeys and how they were the same and different from the largely heritage bilingual, Mexican American students we taught (Muñoz & Babino, 2024) . We’ve learned that there isn’t just one bilingual Latinx experience; instead, our bi/multilingualism exists across a continuum ofbiliteracies, presenting very specific language and literacy needs in the classroom (Babino English in Texas | Volume 54.2 | FALL/WINTER 2024 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts | & Muñoz, 2023) . Elena, a first generation American from Venezuela, and Ale, a second generation Mexican American, held language ideologies, or beliefs about language, that actually limited the dynamic, creative, and beautiful biliteracies of our students (Henderson, 2017) . Now, Elena is a doctoral student in Early Childhood Education and Ale is an Associate Professor at Texas Woman’s University.
In this article, we share our top five tips—or, how we would say with our students, “consej

FAQs

What is the core message of the article about bilingual learners’ language practices?

The article emphasizes embracing and mobilizing students’ linguistic practices in bilingual settings, validating translanguaging and other language resources students already use.

How do the authors describe changing their classroom approach over time?

They explain that they first tried correcting students’ regional Spanish variations and translanguaging, but later recognized the validity of these practices and shifted toward creating an inclusive classroom that honors linguistic identities.

What five tips does the article provide for teachers from elementary to college?

The article presents five evidence-based tips for teachers, including being brave to model multilingual language use, using multimodal resources, conducting classroom language audits, and creating critical translanguaging spaces.

Oct 15, 2026

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