Strategies for Multilingual Learners

A welcoming environment that embraces multilingual learners' wealth of knowledge and cultural assets is one that avoids deficit mind-sets and helps to ensure linguistic equity in the literacy classroom.

These ILA Resource Collections focus on ways in which educators can move beyond labels and center the lives of their linguistically diverse students by focusing on areas such as writing instruction, family engagement, translanguaging strategies, and more.

For educators of learners ages 5–11

What's included

From the ILA video library:

• Lucía Cárdenas Curiel on Creating Spaces That Support Emergent Multilingual Learners
• Guofang Li on Culturally Reciprocal Teaching
• Katie Lett on Lessons Learned From Teaching Immigrant and Refugee Students

From ILA journals:

• "Beyond the English Learner Label: Recognizing the Richness of Bi/Multilingual Students' Linguistic Repertoires," by Ramón Antonio Martínez, The Reading Teacher
• "Bringing Bilingualism to the Center of Guided Reading Instruction," by Laura Ascenzi-Moreno and Rebecca Quiñones, The Reading Teacher
• "Code-Meshing and Writing Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms," by Alice Y. Lee and Lara J. Handsfield, The Reading Teacher
• "Seven Tips for Teachers of Newcomer Emergent Bilingual Students," by Amelia Ashworth Cain, The Reading Teacher
• "Translanguaging and Literacies," by Ofelia García and Jo Anne Kleifgen, Reading Research Quarterly

From Literacy Today magazine:

• "Multilingual Family Engagement: Shifting the Focus From What Families Need to How They Can Lead," by Lisa M. Dorner, Kim Song, Sujin Kim, and Lina Trigos-Carrillo

Additional resources:

• "Instruction That Works With Emergent Bilingual Students," by Amanda P. Goodwin and Robert Jiménez

For educators of learners ages 12+

What's included

From the ILA video library:

• Guofang Li on Culturally Reciprocal Teaching
• Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera on Developing a Critical Bilingual Literacies Approach to Teaching

From ILA journals:

• "Meaningful Writing Opportunities: Write-Alouds and Dialogue Journaling With Newcomer and English Learner High Schoolers," by Rebecca E. Linares, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
• "Global Citizenship as Literacy: A Critical Reflection for Teaching Multilingual Writers," by Sara P. Alvarez and Amy J. Wan, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
• "Translanguaging and Literacies," by Ofelia García and Jo Anne Kleifgen, Reading Research Quarterly
• "Translanguaging Practices and Perspectives of Four Multilingual Teens," by Shannon M. Daniel and Mark B. Pacheco, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

From Literacy Today magazine:

• "Multilingual Family Engagement: Shifting the Focus From What Families Need to How They Can Lead," by Lisa M. Dorner, Kim Song, Sujin Kim, and Lina Trigos-Carrillo

Additional resources:

• "Instruction That Works With Emergent Bilingual Students," by Amanda P. Goodwin and Robert Jiménez