Nancy H. Hornberger (ed.), Continua of biliteracy: An
ecological framework for educational policy, research, and practice in
multilingual settings (Bilingual Education and Biliteracy 41).
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2003. Pp. 370. Pb $39.95.
The collection of articles in Nancy Hornberger's edited book
Continua of biliteracy provides a notion of historical
development and a sampling of research applications for a specific
conceptualization of the phenomenon of biliteracy and multiliteracy. The
collection reviews 13 years of theoretical and qualitative research
generated by Hornberger's (1989) initial
presentation of the continua of biliteracy. The book includes three
chapters by Hornberger: the original article, the revision and development
of the continua of biliteracy in light of developments in literacy
research through the 1990s, written with Skilton-Sylvester (Hornberger & Skilton-Sylvester 2000), and finally
an extension of the themes developed in the original model through the
metaphor of ecology (Hornberger 2002). These
three articles function as a theoretical framework consisting of the past,
present, and future directions in research generated through this
conceptualization. The other chapters report on research that utilizes
Hornberger's framework, covering the issues of language policy,
literate identities, teacher roles, and pedagogical practice in various
locations, such as the United States, Latin America, Wales, South Africa,
and India. This range of issues in a variety of settings demonstrates the
robustness of the theory and exemplifies for the reader some of the
options of application that it offers.