Advancing Literacy Among Multilingual Learners

The third episode of Usable Knowledge Live: Literacy Insights brought literacy experts together to discuss what research tells us about supporting multilingual learners’ literacy development. Assistant Professor Phil Capin hosted Stanford’s Claude Goldenberg and HGSE Professor Paola Uccelli for a discussion on why multilingual learners need access to rich content and complex texts, how educators and families can support language development, and how home languages can serve as assets for learning.

“Advancing Literacy Among Multilingual Learners” will be followed by the next episode of Usable Knowledge Live on Wednesday, June 3 at 5 p.m. “Raising a Reader in the Digital Age” will feature Capin in conversation with Assistant Professor Ying Xu.

Key Takeaways

Multilingual learners bring rich linguistic and cultural assets to the classroom
English learners are not a uniform group, but come to schools with varied language experiences, strengths, and needs. Effective bilingual literacy instruction should build on their knowledge, languages, and the cultural resources students bring to the classroom.

Families should be encouraged to use the language they know best
Skills essential to language — storytelling, explaining ideas, and understanding how language works — can transfer across languages.

Multilingual learners need rich content, complex texts, and intentional scaffolds
Educators should not wait for students to gain full English proficiency before starting grade-level content and meaningful discussions. Designing core instruction with scaffolds that support multilingual learners — explicit vocabulary instruction, attention to academic language structures, sentence-level unpacking, etc. — will benefit all students, not just bilingual learners.

High-quality bilingual education can support, not hinder, English literacy development
Developing a student’s home language can strengthen learning in English. Through proper implementation and time, bilingual education supports academic growth, biliteracy, and leads to long-term educational, cultural, and economic advantages for students.

Literacy instruction should integrate explicit instruction focused on foundational skills, language development, and comprehension
All students benefit from explicit instruction to learn to read alongside structured supports for making meaning from texts. Multilingual learners need the same ambitious goals as their peers, along with explicit English language development supports that help access, understand, and participate fully in academic learning. 

Related Resources

Multilingual and Multicultural Learners: Development in More Than One Language
A research overview led by Paola Uccelli’s Language for Learning Research Team highlights how multilingual students' home language skills and cultural resources support English language and literacy development.

The Language for School Reading: Core Academic Language Skills
An introduction to Core Academic Language Skills, a framework for understanding the language demands that shape student reading, comprehension, and writing.

Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does and Does Not Say
A research review by Claude Goldenberg summarizing what is known and still uncertain about effective instruction for English learners.

The Bilingual Brain and Reading Research: Questions About Teaching English Learners to Read in English
A practitioner-facing commentary by Claude Goldenberg that addresses common questions about multilingual learners, the science of reading, and reading research.

Evidence-Based Practices in the Treatment of Reading Disabilities Among English Learners
A research-based overview of academic language and reading interventions for English learners who have, or are at risk for, reading disabilities. (Phil Capin, Colby Hall, and Sharon Vaughn)