Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

Multilinguals bring linguistic, cultural, and experiential assets into the classroom that can be honored and leveraged to support their academic success. This guide provides a cross-curricular instructional framework for secondary content teachers to foster the conditions for experienced multilinguals to reach high grade-level content and language proficiency.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 16 June 2023
Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc

Multilingualism is a valuable asset that brings linguistic, cultural, and experiential richness into the classroom. It is essential to recognize and embrace the unique strengths and perspectives of secondary multilinguals, who have valuable life experiences and academic potential. The traditional long-term English learner (LTEL) label should be surpassed, and a new approach is needed to honor these students' diverse backgrounds and abilities.

By focusing on the strengths of experienced multilinguals and the actions that teachers can take, educators can create effective teaching strategies that support their academic language development and content learning. This concise guide provides a cross-curricular instructional framework specifically designed for secondary content teachers. It offers practical, research-based strategies and classroom-tested examples to foster the conditions for experienced multilinguals to reach the highest grade-level content and language proficiency.

The book includes four essential actions that teachers can take to support experienced multilinguals:
1. Providing a rich language environment: Creating a classroom environment that values and celebrates multilingualism can help students feel confident and supported in their language development.
2. Differentiating instruction: Teachers can use a variety of instructional strategies, such as visual aids, hands-on activities, and culturally responsive teaching, to meet the diverse needs of experienced multilinguals.
3. Building on students' strengths: Teachers can identify and build on students' prior knowledge and language skills to support their learning in content areas.
4. Fostering a sense of belonging: Creating a classroom community that values and respects all students can help experienced multilinguals feel a sense of belonging and promote positive social and emotional development.

In addition to these essential actions, the book provides specific strategies and prompts for implementing these practices in the classroom. It includes templates and anchor charts that teachers can use to structure lessons and provide visual supports for students. Vignettes and stories from both the student and teacher perspective are also included to illustrate the benefits of these strategies in real-world contexts.

It is important to recognize that experienced multilinguals have nothing lacking but the right conditions to unlock their potential. By providing them with a supportive and inclusive classroom environment, educators can help these students express themselves as mathematicians, scientists, historians, writers, and artists, just as they know themselves to be. Multilingualism is a valuable asset that should be celebrated and embraced in the classroom, and this guide provides the tools and resources to help educators do just that.

Weight: 500g
Dimension: 254 x 177 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781071891278