This thesis explores the experiences of Chinese children acquiring literacy in both
Chinese and English in Scotland. A three-dimensional research design is adopted in
order to take into account the influential domains where children are exposed to
literacy learning. First, it investigates the attitudes and approaches to literacy
learning in fourteen Chinese homes, with evidence gathered from semi-structured
interviews with parents. Second, observations of and conversations with children and
Chinese teachers in a Chinese complementary school in the central belt of Scotland
provide insights into the approaches to teaching and learning Chinese literacy. Third,
miscue analysis of reading and thinking aloud protocols are conducted in mainstream
schools with six Chinese boys, aged eight to nine years, in order to analyse in depth
the reading strategies deployed by children in their attempts to gain meaning from
both Chinese and English texts. The findings reveal that Chinese parents provide a
rich learning environment where children consolidate and in some cases extend the
literacy learning experiences gained in the complementary Chinese school. What also
emerges from the research is that while the children in the study have a great deal of
metalinguistic and metacognitive knowledge gained from learning diverse writing
systems, this knowledge is not recognised within policy or practice in mainstream
schools. Finally, Hornberger’s Continua of Biliteracy are used as a model both in
order to analyse the mosaic of qualitative data generated during the research process
and to provide a framework for a discussion of educational policy and practice in
multilingual Scotland
