Empowering Multilingual Learners

Education is a topic that sparks passionate debate, with everyone seeming to have an opinion on how schools should function. When it comes to multilingual learners (MLs), the challenges are even more complex. In the context of international schools, where students are acquiring English as an additional language, these challenges become both urgent and crucial. As Dixon et al. (2012) point out, the demand for English language learning has surged, reflecting the global influence of English in today’s interconnected world. As educators, it’s clear: we must get this right. The stakes have never been higher.

One of the main challenges that has struck me during my time in education and throughout my learning journey is that MLs learners can be given fewer opportunities than others due to presumptions of what they are capable of. Educational research is overwhelmingly in favor of providing all learners the opportunities to succeed. However, progress in meeting the challenges of MLs has been hampered by the failure to integrate information from across several fields of research (Dixon et al., 2012). It’s important, then, to delve headfirst into the perceived ability of MLs and their self-esteem and ways we, as educators, can address this.

Teachers need to realize that they influence not only students’ academic performance but also their emotional states (Khasinah, 2014). This is crucial as MLs already face enough additional challenges, social and cultural, as well as being in a society that is often very unfamiliar to them. If our MLs are not given adequate support and connection from their educators, they are likely to be left behind their peers.

What can we as international school educators do to support self-esteem?

Mathew, A. (2013) states that language learning and teaching is a complex and multifaceted process that involves cognitive, social, affective, and cultural factors. One way to address these complex areas is through Systemic Functional Linguistics. Contextualizing learning and involving home languages are two potentially significant impacts on MLs. In the past, I, like many of us, was probably “guilty” of simplifying all language instruction and giving separate work to those with language proficiency differences. Many theories explain that exposure to academic language and same-level instruction has benefits, and Vygotsky says that learning should be a process of participation in cultural practices and communities through social interaction and collaboration (Mathew, A., 2013). Furthermore, Mathew, A. (2013) states that motivation and affective factors contribute to challenges to MLs. Below is a list of suggested strategies to help build stronger self-esteem for both your ML learners and all learners.

Strategies to bring into the classroom:

1. Creating and Instilling a Positive and Supportive Environment: Encourage learners to risk-take and normalize making mistakes (Mathew, A, 2013).
2. Translanguaging: Use of home language. As supported by Garcia and Leiva (2014), translanguaging as pedagogy holds the promise of fostering an inclusive, safe learning environment that incorporates learners’ familiar language and cultural practices into learning.
3. Teaching and Learning Cycle for Disciplinary Genres: This process builds peer and teacher interactions through joint construction as well as building confidence in their second language through breaking down the tasks to contextualize what the students are learning, paving the way for success to be measured and achieved. The prior knowledge allows students to use home languages to connect with the genre.

Expanding student language resources in the service of learning. (Photo source: Westerlund)

4. Add Multilingual Resources to Your Classroom
   As Garcia and Leiva (2014) state, multilingual resources validate and privilege minoritized students' dynamic, meaning-making practices, which aim to make education more just and equitable for multilingual youth. De Oliveira (2024) says students use their linguistic and cultural resources rooted in their home language to support their academic learning and connection between home and school. Bringing multilingual and cultural resources into the classroom could benefit their sense of belonging, cultural identity, and second language acquisition.

Ask yourself, are these strategies achievable? With further teacher education around successful strategies to support MLs, we can improve self-esteem and dismantle limited perceptions about what they can achieve.

A recent example from my international school context involved a student learning English as an Additional Language. We had an assessment task for the end of one of our units centered around cultural understanding. Translanguaging was at the front of my mind due to my studies, and I told the student that answers in Spanish, her home language, were more than fine. She looked surprised – which then turned to delight as she was able to give an answer to demonstrate her understanding. I utilized her peers and my colleagues (with tech as a backup) to translate. I also learned a new Spanish word myself! This was a powerful moment and an important reminder that learning should occur both ways!

I am committed to driving impactful change with my ML learners by holding myself accountable through my self-reflection tool. My next step is to share these insights with my colleagues at a staff meeting to amplify our collective impact. What will your next step be?