INTERACTIVE JOURNALS IN BILINGUAL CLASSROOMS - AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE TRANSITION

Interactive student-teacher journal entries of first-, third-, and fif th-grade Spanish-English bilingual classrooms were examined for an 8-m onth period. The focus of the analysis was the ''transition'' of stude nt writing from the native language to the second language in these en tries. The results of the study indicate that students did not make a ''transition'' from the native language to the second language. Studen ts adopted a communicative mode best described as bilingual, shifting language use within and between journal entries. No distinct pattern o f shifting was found. However, students' writing mechanics were found to be equal in both languages. Teachers' communicative responses were found to influence the language and the character of the student entri es. The findings suggest that mandatory ''transitioning'' of language- minority students may not be an appropriate instructional strategy. In stead, ''self-transitioning'' instructional environments should be con sidered.