Layers of Quality Language Acquisition Instruction

When I first began my work exclusively with multilingual learners I began to ask myself: What are the optimal conditions in a school or classroom that foster language acquisition and development? I had taught multilingual students as a classroom teacher but my focus had never been solely focused on this demographic. Working as a Language Coach changed my perspective causing me to hone in on instructional effectiveness for multilingual learners. Through working across grades, content areas and language proficiency levels a set of layers crystalized. I began to notice and note what practices led to thriving spaces and which bred stagnation. The graphic below depicts the layers and the key components of each. 

Asset based and equity driven practices ensure that we cultivate spaces where the assets multilingual learners bring into the classroom are centered. It also means that our campus and classroom routines and practices are welcoming for students who have a deep linguistic repertoire or are newly transitioning into US schools. 

Language and Literacy rich is important for all students but essential for multilingual students. The measure of educator success with multilingual learners is growing their English proficiency. In order to do this our classrooms must have ones that allow ample opportunities for listening, speaking, reading and writing. These are the four domains of language and this is what we use to measure proficiency. Silent classrooms devoid of student discourse are dangerous for multilingual learners. 

Linguistically accommodated instruction is the right of every multilingual student. Apart from employing scaffolds that particularly target language differences and needs, multilingual learners will not teach English proficiency that is measured by most state language assessments. This means that the language scaffolds we provide should aim to make content comprehensible, match the level or language proficiency of the student and target their specific domains of language growth. 

Focusing on these layers and their components allowed me to advocate more fully for the needs of multilingual learners. What conditions are non-negotiable for the multilingual learners in your sphere of influence?