The Continua of Biliteracy: Flows and Obstructions

Abstract The impact of Nancy Hornberger's Continua of Biliteracy is here considered. The paper identifies the flows that the Continua has made possible and the ways in which its conceptualization within a multidimensional multidisciplinary dynamic space has transformed not only the study of biliteracy itself but also the broader aspects of sociolinguistics as well as language education and the teaching of English. The constant sociopolitical efforts in the United States to stem the flow of the Continua throughout the last 35 years are here described, as well as the reasons for these obstructions. The relationships between the Continua of Biliteracy and translanguaging work are considered. The paper ends with an analysis of the ways in which the Continua of Biliteracy opens up implementation spaces in teaching for literacy that go beyond the constraints of the recent trend of the “Science of Reading.”