Code-switching during parent—child reading interactions: Taking multiple theoretical perspectives

Abstract

This article uses multiple theoretical perspectives to understand the synergy that occurs between linguistically diverse parents and children during reading interactions. Through the detailed analysis of code-switching during book-sharing activities in a middle-class, bilingual home, we can observe how linguistically diverse parents support the development of reading competency in their children, provide rich language and linguistic experiences, and co-construct their children’s identities as a reader as they read together. Code-switching is therefore viewed as a cognitive, social, and cultural tool to support the learning of early biliterate readers by mediating reading transactions with the text. The insights from this study highlight how transactions with text in bilingual homes can be described through language syncretism, or integration and reinvention of language forms, as part of a holistic, natural approach to literacy learning.

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