Bilingual SpeechBlocks

Abstract

Many children in the USA speak a language other than English in the home, yet the literacy learning mobile apps and games available do not reflect the country's growing number of bilingual children. Furthermore, to the authors' knowledge, none of these apps provide open-ended, constructionist literacy learning opportunities for young bilinguals. In response, we created Bilingual SpeechBlocks, a version of the constructionist literacy learning app SpeechBlocks, for young children who speak both Spanish and English. We discuss the design considerations and examine the affordances of this app when tested with bilingual children, in comparison to the original monolingual app. From our observations, this version of the app enables new modes of wordplay and engagement for bilingual children and their families. This work has implications for how open-ended designs can foster bilingual literacy learning by encouraging language differentiation through exploration and providing natural opportunities for family co-engagement.

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