Element contents
Series: Elements in Language Teaching
Teaching Young Multilingual Learners
Key Issues and New Insights
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2023
Summary
This Element provides an overview of research focusing on language teaching practices for young multilingual learners in primary classrooms in English-speaking contexts. The term 'young multilingual learner' refers to primary school children, with ages ranging from approximately 5 to 12 years old at various English language proficiency levels. Pedagogy-informed research studies conducted in K-5 classrooms are used to develop research-informed pedagogies for young multilingual learners in primary classrooms. The authors use the notion of culturally sustaining teaching practices to provide examples from pedagogy-informed research studies. The focus on early (K-3) and intermediate (4-5) grades provides a range of illustrations of such practices. The Element concludes with implications for teacher education and the preparation of teachers of young multilingual learners.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Series: Elements in Language TeachingOnline ISBN: 9781108934138Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 02 February 2023
References
Ajayi, L. (2009). English as a second language learners’ exploration of multimodal texts in a junior high school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(7), 585–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanases, S. Z., & de Oliveira, L. C. (2014). Scaffolding versus routine support for Latina/o youth in an urban school: Tensions in building toward disciplinary literacy. Journal of Literacy Research, 46(2), 263–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bean, J., Eddy, R., Grego, R. et al. (2003). Should we invite students to write in home languages? Complicating the yes/no debate. Composition Studies, 31(1), 25–42.Google Scholar
Blair, A., Haneda, M., & Bose, F. N. (2018). Reimagining English‐medium instructional settings as sites of multilingual and multimodal meaning making. TESOL Quarterly, 52(3), 516–539.Google Scholar
Bland, J. (Ed.). (2015). Teaching English to young learners: Critical issues in language teaching with 3–12 year olds. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Brisk, M. E. (2015). Engaging students in academic literacies: Genre-based pedagogy for K-5 classrooms. Routledge.Google Scholar
Brisk, M. E., Hodgson-Drysdale, T., & O’Connor, C. (2011). A study of a collaborative instructional project informed by systemic functional linguistic theory: Report writing in elementary grades. Journal of Education, 191(1), 1–12.Google Scholar
Brisk, M. E., & Zisselsberger, M. (2011). “We’ve let them in on the secret”: Using SFL theory to improve the teaching of writing to bilingual learners. In Lucas, T. (Ed.), Teacher preparation for linguistically diverse classrooms: A resource for teacher educators (pp. 111–126). Routledge.Google Scholar
Caplan, N. A., & Farling, M. (2017). A dozen heads are better than one: Collaborative writing in genre‐based pedagogy. TESOL Journal, 8(3), 564–581.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2021). Pedagogical translanguaging. Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781009029384.Google Scholar
Chung, Y. H., & Walsh, D. J. (2006). Constructing a joint story-writing space: The dynamics of young children’s collaboration at computers. Early Education and Development, 17(3), 373–420.Google Scholar
Clark, D. (2022). Percentage of pupils whose first language is not English in England 2015–2021. www.statista.com/statistics/330782/england-english-additional-language-primary-pupils/.Google Scholar
Cook, G. (2007). A thing of the future: Translation in language learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17(3), 396–401.Google Scholar
Cook, V. (2001). Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review, 57(3), 402–423.Google Scholar
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (2001). Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 71(4), 649–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (2005). A proposal for action: Strategies for recognizing heritage language competence as a learning resource within the mainstream classroom. Modern Language Journal, 89(4), 585–592.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 221–240.Google Scholar
Cunningham, T. H., & Graham, C. (2000). Increasing native English vocabulary recognition through Spanish immersion: Cognate transfer from foreign to first language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(1), 37–49.Google Scholar
de Jong, E. J., Harper, C. A., & Coady, M. R. (2013). Enhanced knowledge and skills for elementary mainstream teachers of English language learners. Theory into Practice, 52(2), 89–97.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C. (2016). A language-based approach to content instruction (LACI) for English language learners: Examples from two elementary teachers. International Multilingual Research Journal, 10(3), 217–231.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C. (2017). A genre-based approach to L2 writing instruction in K-12. TESOL Connections. http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/downloads/features/2017/2017-07-TLC.pdf.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., & Athanases, S. Z. (2017). A framework to reenvision instructional scaffolding for linguistically diverse learners. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61(2), 123–129.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., Gilmetdinova, A., & Pelaez-Morales, C. (2015). The use of Spanish by a monolingual kindergarten teacher to support English language learners. Language and Education, 29(6), 1–21.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., Jones, L., & Smith, S. L. (2020). Interactional scaffolding in a first-grade classroom through the teaching–learning cycle. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1–19. DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2020.1798867.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., Jones, L., & Smith, S. L. (2021). A language-based approach to content instruction (LACI) for multilingual learners: Six Cs of scaffolding in first grade. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. DOI: 10.1080/15348458.2021.1885409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., Klassen, M., & Maune, M. (2015). From detailed reading to independent writing: Scaffolding instruction for ELLs through knowledge about language. The Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts for English Language Learners: Grades, 6–12. TESOL Press.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., & Lan, S. W. (2014). Writing science in an upper elementary classroom: A genre-based approach to teaching English language learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 25, 23–39.Google Scholar
de Oliveira, L. C., & Westerlund, R. (2021). A functional approach to language development for dual language learners. Journal of English Learner Education, 12(1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Derewianka, B., & Jones, P. (2016). Teaching language in context. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Edstrom, A. (2006). L1 use in the L2 classroom: One teacher’s self-evaluation. Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(2), 275–292.Google Scholar
Faltis, C., Arias, M. B., & Ramírez-Marín, F. (2010). Identifying relevant competencies for secondary teachers of English learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 33(3), 307–328. doi:10.1080/15235882.2010.52935.Google Scholar
Fang, Z. & Schleppegrell, M. (2008). Reading in secondary content areas: A language-based pedagogy. University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Fleming, N. D., & Mills, C. (1992). Helping students understand how they learn. The Teaching Professor, 7(4), 44–63.Google Scholar
Flores, N., & Rosa, J. (2015). Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 149–171.Google Scholar
Gallo, S. (2014). The effects of gendered immigration enforcement on middle childhood and schooling. American Educational Research Journal, 51(3), 473–504.Google Scholar
García, O. (2020). The education of Latinx bilingual children in times of isolation: Unlearning and relearning. MinneTESOL Journal, 36(1). http://minnetesoljournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Garci%CC%81a_The-education-of-Latinx-bilingual-children-in-times-of-isolation_-Unlearning-and-relearning.pdf.Google Scholar
García, O., & Kleyn, T. (2013). Teacher education for multilingual education. In Chapelle, C. A. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 1-6). Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
García, O., & Kleyn, T. (Eds.) (2016). Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. Routledge.Google Scholar
García, E., & Jensen, B. (2009). Early educational opportunities for children of Hispanic origins. Social Policy Report, 23(2), 1–19.Google Scholar
García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Gebhard, M. (2019). Teaching and researching ELLs’ disciplinary literacies: Systemic functional linguistics in action in the context of U.S. school reform. Routledge.Google Scholar
Garton, S., & Copland, F. (Eds.) (2019). Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners. Routledge.Google Scholar
Gebhard, M., Harman, R., & Seger, W. (2007). Reclaiming recess: Learning the language of persuasion. Language Arts, 84(5), 419–430.Google Scholar
Gibbons, P. (2006). Bridging discourses in the ESL classroom: Students, teachers and researchers. A&C Black.Google Scholar
Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom (2nd ed.). Heinemann.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Routledge.Google Scholar
Gort, M., & Pontier, R. W. (2013). Exploring bilingual pedagogies in dual language preschool classrooms. Language and Education, 27(3), 223–245.Google Scholar
Gunderson, L. (2009). ESL(ELL) literacy instruction: A guidebook to theory and practice (2nd ed.). Routledge.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, K. D., Sengupta-Irving, T., & Dieckmann, J. (2010). Developing a mathematical vision: Mathematics as a discursive and embodied practice. In Moschkovich, J. (Ed.), Language and mathematics education: Multiple perspectives and directions for research (pp. 29–71). Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.Google Scholar
Hammond, J., & Gibbons, P. (2005). Putting scaffolding to work: The contribution of scaffolding in articulating ESL education. Prospect, 20(1), 6–30.Google Scholar
Harman, R. (2013). Literary intertextuality in genre-based pedagogies: Building lexical cohesion in fifth-grade L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(2), 125–140. DOI: 10.1016/j.jslw.2013.03.006.Google Scholar
Harman, R., & Khote, N. (2017). Critical SFL praxis with bilingual youth: Disciplinary instruction in a third space. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 2, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2017.1318663.Google Scholar
Hedges, H., Cullen, J., & Jordan, B. (2011). Early years curriculum: Funds of knowledge as a conceptual framework for children’s interests. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43(2), 185–205.Google Scholar
Herrera, S. G., Perez, D. R., & Escamilla, K. (2015). Teaching reading to English language learners: Differentiated literacies (2nd ed.). Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.Google Scholar
Hite, C. E., & Evans, L. S. (2006). Mainstream first-grade teachers’ understanding of strategies for accommodating the needs of English language learners. Teacher Education Quarterly, 33(2), 89–110.Google Scholar
Hogg, L. (2011). Funds of knowledge: An investigation of coherence within the literature. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 666–677.Google Scholar
Howard, T. C., & Aleman, G. R. (2008). Teacher capacity for diverse learners: What do teachers need to know. In Cochran-Smith, M., Feiman- Nemser, S., McIntyre, D. J., & Demers, K. E. (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts (pp. 157–174). Routledge.Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16(3), 148–164.Google Scholar
Jewitt, C. (2005). Technology, literacy and learning: A multimodal approach. Routledge.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. M. (2019). Choosing and using interactional scaffolds: How teachers’ moment-to-moment supports can generate and sustain emergent bilinguals’ engagement with challenging English texts. Research in the Teaching of English, 53(3), 245–269.Google Scholar
Keefer, N., Lopez, J., Young, J., & Haj-Broussard, M. (2020). Gathering funds of knowledge: An elementary social studies unit plan for bilingual settings. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 33(2), 14–19.Google Scholar
Kerfoot, C., & Van Heerden, M. (2015). Testing the waters: Exploring the teaching of genres in a Cape Flats Primary School in South Africa. Language and Education, 29(3), 235–255.Google Scholar
Khote, N. (2018). Translanguaging in systemic functional linguistics: A culturally sustaining pedagogy for writing in secondary schools. In Harman, R. (Ed.), Bilingual learners and social equity (pp. 153–178). Springer.Google Scholar
Kress, G., Ogborn, J., Jewitt, C., & Tsatsarelis, C. (2001). The rhetorics of the science classroom: A multimodal approach. Economic and Social Research Council.Google Scholar
Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: Aka the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 74–84.Google Scholar
Lenters, K., & Winters, K. L. (2013). Fracturing writing spaces: Multimodal storytelling ignites process writing. The Reading Teacher, 67(3), 227–237.Google Scholar
Llopart, M., & Esteban-Guitart, M. (2018). Funds of knowledge in 21st century societies: Inclusive educational practices for under-represented students. A literature review. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 50(2), 145–161.Google Scholar
Lotherington, H., & Jenson, J. (2011). Teaching multimodal and digital literacy in L2 settings: New literacies, new basics, new pedagogies. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 226–246.Google Scholar
Lucas, T., & Villegas, A. M. (2011). A framework for preparing linguistically responsive teachers. In Lucas, T. (Ed.), Teacher preparation for linguistically diverse classrooms: A resource for teacher educators (pp. 55–72). Routledge.Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. (2009). Genre and language learning: A social semiotic perspective. Linguistics and Education, 20(1), 10–21.Google Scholar
Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2005). Designing literacy pedagogy: Scaffolding democracy in the classroom. Continuing discourse on language: A functional perspective, 1, 251–280.Google Scholar
Martínez, R. A., Orellana, M. F., Pacheco, M., & Carbone, P. (2008). Found in translation: Connecting translating experiences to academic writing. Language Arts, 85(6), 421–431.Google Scholar
Mead, J. (2021). Teachers’ experiences incorporating English language learners’ funds of knowledge into scripted curricula. Unpublished Dissertation, Georgia State University. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss/104.Google Scholar
Mehan, H. (1979). ‘What time is it, Denise?” Asking known information questions in classroom discourse. Theory into Practice, 18(4), 285–294.Google Scholar
Michell, M (2021). How many English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) learners are there in Australian schools? https://tesol.org.au/how-many-english-as-an-additional-language-or-dialect-eal-d-learners-are-there-in-australian-schools/.Google Scholar
Moje, E. B., Ciechanowski, K. M., Kramer, K. et al. (2004). Working toward third space in content area literacy: An examination of everyday funds of knowledge and discourse. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(1), 38–70.Google Scholar
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132–141. DOI: 10.1080/00405849209543534.Google Scholar
Moore, J., & Schleppegrell, M. (2014). Using a functional linguistics metalanguage to support academic language development in the English Language Arts. Linguistics and Education, 26, 92–105.Google Scholar
Morales, J., Schissel, J. L., & López-Gopar, M. (2020). Pedagogical sismo: Translanguaging approaches for English language instruction and assessment in Oaxaca, Mexico. In Tian, Z., Aghai, L., Sayer, P., & Schissel, J. L. (Eds)., Envisioning TESOL through a translanguaging lens: Global perspectives (pp. 161–183). Springer.Google Scholar
NCES (National Center for Education Statistics). (2020). English language learners in public schools. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgf.asp.Google Scholar
Ortega, L. (2013). Ways forward for a bi/multilingual turn in SLA. In May, S. (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education (pp. 32–52). Routledge.Google Scholar
Pacheco, M. B., & Smith, B. E. (2015). Across languages, modes, and identities: Bilingual adolescents’ multimodal codemeshing in the literacy classroom. Bilingual Research Journal, 38(3), 292–312.Google Scholar
Palincsar, A. S., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2014). Focusing on language and meaning while learning with text. TESOL Quarterly, 48(3), 616–623.Google Scholar
Pappas, C. C., Varelas, M., Gill, S., Ortiz, I., & Keblawe-Shamah, N. (2009). Research directions: Multimodal books in science-literacy units: Language and visual images for meaning making. Language Arts, 86(3), 201–211.Google Scholar
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97.Google Scholar
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Peercy, M. M., Tigert, J., Fredricks, D. et al. (2022). From humanizing principles to humanizing practices: Exploring core practices as a bridge to enacting humanizing pedagogy with multilingual students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 113, 1–14.Google Scholar
Peercy, M. M., & Chi, J. (2022). “Oh, I was scaffolding!” Novice teachers learning to teach multilingual youth. In de Oliveira, L. C., & Westerlund, R. (Eds.), Scaffolding for multilingual learners in elementary and secondary schools (pp. 102–120) Routledge.Google Scholar
Polio, C. G., & Duff, P. A. (1994). Teachers’ language use in university foreign language classrooms: A qualitative analysis of English and target language alternation. The Modern Language Journal, 78(3), 313–326.Google Scholar
Poza, L. (2017). Translanguaging: Definitions, implications, and further needs in burgeoning inquiry. Berkeley Review of Education, 6, 101–128.Google Scholar
Ramos, F. (2005). Spanish teachers’ opinions about the use of Spanish in mainstream English classrooms before and after their first year in California. Bilingual Research Journal, 29(2), 411–433.Google Scholar
Reyes, I. (2012). Biliteracy among children and youths. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(3), 307–327.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, G. M. (2013). Power and agency in education: Exploring the pedagogical dimensions of funds of knowledge. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 87–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolin-Ianziti, J., & Varshney, R. (2008). Students’ views regarding the use of the first language: An exploratory study in a tertiary context maximizing target language use. Canadian Modern Language Review, 65(2), 249–273.Google Scholar
Rose, D., & Martin, J. R. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn: Genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. Equinox.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J., Achugar, M., & Oteíza, T. (2004). The grammar of history: Enhancing content‐based instruction through a functional focus on language. TESOL Quarterly, 38(1), 67–93.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2013). Systemic functional linguistics. In Gee, J. P., & Handford, M. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 47–60). Routledge.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2020). The knowledge base for language teaching: What is the English to be taught as content? Language Teaching Research, 24(1), 17–27.Google Scholar
Schulze, J. (2011). Writing to persuade: A systemic functional view. GIST Educational and Learning Research Journal 5(1), 127–157. DOI: 10.26817%2F16925777.78.Google Scholar
Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. (2013). Teaching young learners English: From theory to practice. National Geographic Learning / Heinle, Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Short, D., Becker, H., Cloud, N., & Hellman, A. B. (2018). The 6 principles for exemplary teaching of English learners: Grades K-12. TESOL Press.Google Scholar
Symons, C., & Bian, Y. (2022). Using SFL in linguistically responsive instruction with multilingual youth: A self-study. International Journal of TESOL Studies, 4(2), 91–107. DOI: 10.46451/ijts.2022.02.07.Google Scholar
Takeuchi, M. (2015). The situated multiliteracies approach to classroom participation: English language learners’ participation in classroom mathematics practices. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 14(3), 159–178.Google Scholar
‘t Gilde, J., & Volman, M. (2021). Finding and using students’ funds of knowledge and identity in superdiverse primary schools: A collaborative action research project. Cambridge Journal of Education, 51, 673–692.Google Scholar
Turner, E. E., Aguirre, J., McDuffie, A. R., & Foote, M. Q. (2019). Jumping into modeling: Elementary mathematical modeling with school and community contexts. North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
WIDA. (2020). WIDA English language development standards framework, 2020 edition: Kindergarten–grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA-ELD-Standards-Framework-2020.pdf.Google Scholar
Woo, M. M., Chu, S. K. W., & Li, X. (2013). Peer-feedback and revision process in a wiki mediated collaborative writing. Educational Technology Research and Development 61(2), 279–309. DOI: 10.1007/s11423-012-9285-y.Google Scholar
Wood, D., Brunner, J. R., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89–100. DOI: 10.1111/j.14697610.1976.tb00381.xGoogle Scholar
Yi, Y., & Choi, J. (2015). Teachers’ views of multimodal practices in K-12 classrooms: Voices from teachers in the United States. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 838–847.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 22
- Cited by