Dual Language Graduates' Participation in Bilingual and Biliterate Communities of Practice Across Time and Space

Through a Communities of Practice Network Analysis, this research illustrates the ways in which dual language graduates participate in multiple, varied, and overlapping communities of practice across time. Findings highlight that the dual language school as a shared community of practice represents a critical and formative part of participants' later bilingual and biliterate practices, creating an enduring foundation for their values and beliefs surrounding bilingualism and biliteracy and opening up increased opportunities to participate in expanded bilingual and bicultural practices. However, the school was not in and of itself enough to produce long-term bilinguals and biliterates. Of equal importance were the out-of-school contexts for participation in language and literacy practices across diverse contexts. As participants in this study traverse the various social fields of their everyday lives, bilingual and biliterate skills are leveraged within socially situated communities of practice. Similarly, we might view the changing circumstances and contexts for biliteracy practices as dynamic spaces within which previous patterns might be altered or transformed.