Supporting Multilingual Students in Schools: Perspectives, Challenges, and Opportunities

Dear Colleagues,

Supporting students in our K-12th grade classrooms who are in the process of learning English and content in tandem continues to be a critical issue. The terms used to describe students who are learning English as an additional language have varied over the years and include the following, to name a few: limited English proficient students, language minority students, English language learners, and English learners. In more recent years, the field has turned away from deficit-perspective language to using more asset-based terms including emergent bilingual students and multilingual students. Currently, the U.S. federal government continues to use the term English learners. The number of multilingual students our schools serve continues to grow at the same time that we are experiencing a teacher shortage, especially bilingual/multilingual teachers. The COVID-19 pandemic drew focus to the additional support needed to address the academic and linguistic needs of our multilingual students and their families.

This Special Issue will address various perspectives, challenges, and opportunities for supporting multilingual students in K-12 schools. We encourage submissions that address various models of bilingual and multilingual education serving multilingual students. Manuscripts focused on various language approaches, including translanguaging, are also encouraged. We are also seeking manuscripts that examine issues related to the preparation of teachers, paraprofessionals, and other specialists who support this population of students. Manuscripts that examine how to support teachers of multilingual students are also encouraged. Research focused on current issues and trends, i.e., the use of AI, related to supporting multilingual students is also welcome for submission.

Prof. Dr. Margarita Jimenez-Silva
Dr. Karen Guerrero
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• multilingual learners
• emergent bilinguals
• bilingual education
• teacher preparation
• teacher professional development
• translanguaging
• language and identity
• heritage language speakers
• heritage language programs
• dual language programs
• bilingual models
• international contexts
• STEM content areas
• social studies/social sciences
• culturally sustaining pedagogy
• culturally responsive pedagogy
• culturally relevant pedagogy
• language loss
• family engagement

Title: Pre-service English teachers’ understanding of multilingualism in the Swedish classroom

Abstract: /

Title: Building Knowledge across Language Systems: The Role of Audio and Visual Supports in Bilingual Learning

Abstract: The US has a history of educational inequity for children who enter school speaking non-English languages. Children who enter the system as English Learners (ELs) show significant gaps in test scores and graduation rates compared to their English-speaking (non-EL) peers (Kieffer et al., 2009; Polat et al., 2016). Bilingual education programs may provide an instructional context that capitalizes on EL children’s strengths and supports their academic performance while they acquire English. However, there is a lack of research investigating the educational practices that best support integration of academic content across language systems. Prior research has shown that integrating knowledge across language systems poses a challenge, with some indication that the challenges can be mitigated by appropriate support (Esposito & Bauer, 2019). Thus, across two studies, we examined instructional practices that may facilitate integration of academic content across English and Spanish in elementary-age children. In Study 1, we examined whether reading-while-listening or children’s independent self-paced reading more effectively supported cross-language integration. In Study 2, we examined whether combining graphics with text was more effective in supporting cross-language integration than text alone. In both studies, we experimented with support at encoding with the assumption that learning the individual facts is a necessary precursor to integration that has been a barrier for cross-language integration. In Study 1, we examined whether self-paced reading or reading-while-listening would be more supportive of cross-language integration. Reading is recommended for incidental vocabulary acquisition in language learners and reading-while-listening is recommended for language comprehension and fluency. Self-paced reading may require more cognitive processing, leading to deeper engagement. However, reading-while-listening may support comprehension that is necessary for learning. Participants were 78 (39 girls) children (M = 9.97 years) across grades 3, 4, and 5. The results indicate that extending reading-while listening into later grades may support content integration across languages for bilingual learners. This differs a non-bilingual learner study which indicated higher performance for self-paced reading by 5th grade (Esposito & Chakrabority, 2023). In Study 2, we examined whether the use of graphics to support text would mitigate the challenges of cross-language integration. The use of images is recommended because it is believed that images can transcend a language barrier. However, prior research has indicated that graphics and images are often misinterpreted or misunderstood. Indeed, integrating in a same-language format with graphics can pose a challenge (Esposito et al., 2021). In this study, we used best practices for presenting content through graphics and text to examine whether graphic presentations would facilitate cross-language integration. Participants were 50 (26 girls) children (M = 10.63 years) across grades 4 and 5. The results showed that performance in the same-language integration conditions was significantly higher in both the text only and the text with graphic support conditions. Thus, the inclusion of graphics did not mitigate the challenge of integrating content across language systems. Overall, the reported studies underscore the difficulty of integrating content across languages. We will discuss individual differences in vocabulary and working memory and how these variables impact performance. Implications will be discussed for creating contexts to support learning for emerging bilingual children.

Title: Teacher’s use of English and Spanish interactive strategies during book reading: Relations to emergent bilingual children’s responses

Abstract: Little attention has been paid to describing the ways early childhood education (ECE) teachers implement interactive strategies and the use of Spanish and English, in real-time, to support Spanish-English emergent bilingual children’s contributions to shared book reading interactions. Video recordings from 19 ECE classrooms were used to conduct sequential analysis to examine the different types of interactive strategies (e.g., questions, extensions) implemented by ECE teachers and emergent bilingual's responses to these strategies. This study found that teachers’ interactive strategies may reflect a degree of reciprocity, with teachers and children sensitively attuned to one another’s contributions in real time. For example, teachers and children tended to respond to one another in the language used in the prior utterance. By examining teacher-child dynamics, results from this study can address issues that may have direct, translatable implications for ECE practice and intervention efforts.

Title: Supporting Translingual Pedagogies with Innovations and Partnerships in Teacher Education

Abstract: Given the increasing number of multilingual students in our country (NCES, 2023), innovations in education are essential in order to honor and develop all languages in a student’s repertoire during their educational journey. One approach to improving educational experiences for multilingual K-12 students is developing partnerships between Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) and local school districts in order to re-imagine dual-language bilingual education (DLBE). These partnerships result in high quality teacher preparation by aligning the EPPs work with the needs of the district to recruit and retain highly trained bilingual teachers. This article shares the process by which one school district partnered with an institution of higher education to prepare emerging and in-service educators with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to design translanguaging classrooms (Garcìa, Ibarra Johnson, and Seltzer, 2017). Designing translanguaging classrooms requires teachers to take up translanguaging as a stance as much as they seek shifts in practice or new strategies. This stance involves understanding the complexity of the linguistic repertoire of multilingual learners and how to design a classroom that allows for students to develop and apply all of their language skills while learning to read or while learning content. The process by which we prepared teachers for translanguaging classrooms included documenting a baseline of the sociolinguistic landscape (Fishman, 1965) of our partner school district, supporting the implementation of new district curriculum, providing professional development to in-service teachers, and redesigning courses in an EPP to align with a translanguaging stance. Here we will share the power of EPP and school district partnerships in creating a framework to guide the expansion of a dual language program with a stance toward translanguaging pedagogy. Centered here are the reflections and experiences of teacher educators as they navigate the transition between traditional and innovative DLBE program models. Identifying the challenges to our approach suggest opportunities for transformation in the way we prepare bilingual teachers for such innovation.