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The use of social language, the language used in everyday conversations, and academic language, the language of texts and high-level discussions, are often thought of as dichotomous. That is, we think of language use as either one or the other. Actually language use falls along a continuum. In a social situation you may use a lot of conversational language, but the conversation may shift to discussion of issues, or an interesting article recently read. That part of your conversation borders on academic talk, rather than just social talk. Often conversations flow smoothly from serious topics to funny ones, and then back again to something more thoughtful. We are able to use both conversational language or academic language fluidly. 

Making students aware that language is used in different ways for different purposes validates the language they already know, and the continuum shows them other language uses that they’re in the process of learning in school.

Standards have focused attention on the need for all students to be able to engage in rich, meaningful discussions, whether orally or in writing. This requires that they have facility with aspects of academic language, such as: comprehend and evaluate complex texts across a range of types and disciplines…construct effective arguments and convey multifaceted information….discern a speaker’s key points, request clarification, and ask relevant questions…build on others’ ideas and articulate their own ideas, and so forth.  As educated adults, we are able to move easily across a continuum of language use from conversational to more academic, and then back to conversational. 

The following activity teaches students (grades 3 and above) that conversational language and academic language are not opposites. Rather, they exist along a continuum from conversational to academic.  

• Select three or four students to engage in a social conversation in front of other class members about a familiar topic, such as their favorite video game. After several minutes, debrief the conversation with your class. How did the conversation look and how did it sound? Assist students in recognizing that some students used facial expressions and gestures when communicating; they used words and phrases they all knew; the topic was easy topic to talk about since they had lots of experience with it; and their sentences were primarily simple rather than complex. Jot some of the characteristics on the board.
• Strategically select three or four other students to engage in an academic discussion about a topic that they’re currently learning, such as settling the thirteen colonies, making sure the selected students are able to use some key vocabulary during their discussion. You might also provide a list of sentence frames that the students can use when referring to their text for support.  Examples include:
  • The author said….
  • ……… because …………
  • According to the article (or chapter), ……..
  • For instance,……..
  • For example, …….
  • On page ….., it said, ………
  • From my reading, I learned ……
• As with the social conversation, debrief and list how students characterize the academic language used during the modeling.  What kinds of words and sentences did the students use? How was their language different from the first group? Their body language? How did they support their positions with evidence from their reading? 
• It may be helpful to have the class complete a Venn diagram, comparing and contrasting conversational language and academic language, based on the students’ models, or they can write a few sentences about each type of language use to clarify their understanding.  
• After students have compared and contrasted conversational language and academic language, create on your white board a continuum, with “Conversational Language” at one end, and “Academic Language” at the other end. Together with your class, fill in the continuum, using students’ examples.  For instance, the first spot on the left (currently “Texting family about whereabouts”), could be “Talking about your favorite video game with a friend.” The other end of the continuum (currently “Reading and taking notes…”), could be “Explaining why the thirteen colonies were established with specific examples from our book.” 

Here’s what’s important to convey to your students, whether English speakers or multilingual learners: Conversational language is easier to learn because it has lots of clues built in such as facial expressions, simpler sentences, known words and phrases, a familiar topic, and so forth. Academic language is more challenging – and that’s to be expected — because the topic may not be as familiar, the sentences may be more complex, and the vocabulary may be new.

The more academic language students are explicitly taught and provided opportunities to practice, the better they will be able to produce that level of language orally and in writing. This activity teaches students that they need to know both conversational language and academic language to navigate school and careers effectively. 

(Graphic from Savvas SIOP professional development)

Oral language — the processes involved in speaking, listening, and understanding spoken language — serves as the basis for the development of literacy, which in turn paves the way for academic achievement. Teachers often overlook the need for multilingual learners to practice speaking and to enhance their oral language abilities.

Students acquire basic social language skills through classroom interactions, however their comprehension of English often surpasses their ability to speak as effectively as they would like. Consequently, it’s important for teachers to specifically focus on providing lots of opportunities to develop speaking skills, especially practice using academic language. 

However, many multilingual learners are reluctant to speak in class since they may not have the words to express their thoughts completely. They’re aware that they aren’t completely fluent in the language their teacher and peers speak and understand. The following are 5 ways teachers can encourage students to improve speaking skills.

1. Create the right environment. Few people are willing to speak up or participate in group discussions when they feel anxious or if the setting is intimidating. Establishing a classroom environment where multilingual learners feel respected, welcome, and comfortable when speaking is the first step in building oral language skills. The affective dimension of language learning matters. Multilingual learners take a risk when they use their new language so it’s important for teachers to be accepting of all attempts to express themselves, and correct errors gently and only as a means for avoiding confusion. Another way of creating a stress-free environment is to accept translanguaging as an effective communication strategy. Translanguaging is the process by which multilingual students use two or more languages strategically to accomplish a task. For example, at times multilingual learners are able to express some ideas better in one language or the other and may mix the two languages in a discussion or when completing an assignment with a partner. Allowing students the freedom to use all their language resources encourages oral participation and signals to students that their home language is respected and accepted. 
2. Select interesting topics. If we want students to talk, we need to give them something interesting and relevant to talk about. Teachers can use students’ backgrounds and lived experiences to make connections to nearly any topic. A lot of language can surface in discussions that tap into what students know. For example, when reading about a character in a book or an historical figure, ask: How would you react in that situation?  Or What would your family say if you did that? Why? Pictures also can be used effectively to elicit language. For example, show an interesting picture, preferably related to a topic being studied, and ask, What do you think is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you think that? What else do you see? This process is a less-demanding version of citing text evidence, an important academic skill, and elicits language by having students explain their idea and defend it using the picture.
3. Form groups intentionally. Opportunities to practice and develop speaking skills need to be planned, intentional and purposeful. Research confirms what most educators know: teachers do more than 80% of the talking in class. Speaking with a partner or small group encourages participation and provides each student with more practice speaking English, expressing themselves, and experimenting with the language. 

Sometimes during a lesson teachers realize they have been doing a lot of talking and so suddenly ask the students to turn-and-talk. This haphazard approach is not effective. Whether students turn-and-talk with a partner or participate in a more extended discussion with a small group, interactions should have an academic purpose such as making predictions, summarizing information, discussing an experience they’ve had related to the topic, and so forth. The group interaction should be structured, have an intentional purpose, and be given a reasonable time allotment. 

4. Use technology. There are a number of voice and video recording programs available that give students a chance to practice speaking English privately to build oral proficiency. A recording allows students to listen to themselves and identify areas for improvement. Teachers should maintain a digital portfolio so that students can periodically listen to past recordings and hear how they’re speaking improved over time. Teachers have reported that some students barely recognize their own voice on recordings from the beginning of the year to the end, which is gratifying evidence of progress and a real confidence builder. 

5. Make it fun. Have students pretend to be a news anchor delivering information, a podcaster who engages in discussion with a guest, a game show host who asks questions of peers, a historical figure who tells about her life and accomplishments, and so forth. The purpose is educational, but the language practice activity is low-stress — and fun!

Jana Echevarria, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita at CSULB where she was selected as Outstanding Professor. She is co-creator of the SIOP Model of instruction for multilingual learners and co-author of Making Content Comprehensible for Multilingual Learners: The SIOP Model among other publications. 

A colleague who is presenting a session at our upcoming SIOP Virtual Conference requested that I take an opportunity on this blog to publicize the conference and the other resources available to educators of multilingual learners. Great idea!

“Teachers of multilingual learners” means essentially every educator in America since multilingual learners are the fastest growing student population comprising approximately 10% of students nationwide with much greater percentages represented in urban areas. If you don’t have multilingual learners in your class today, you will shortly. In many areas of the U.S., the numbers of multilingual students continue to grow and other areas will experience a new influx of students. The resources we offer are designed to make an impact on the lives of our multilingual learners — and their teachers.

For more than 10 years we have hosted an annual SIOP conference where educators can come together and learn from SIOP colleagues from around the U.S. and internationally. There are many excellent sessions offered to teachers and administrators on a variety of topics pertinent to educating multilingual learners. (See agenda). This year’s theme is, Making an Impact.

Also, we’re delighted to announce that a new edition of Making Content Comprehensible for Multilingual Learners: The SIOP Model is hot off the presses. Why a new edition? What educators know about effective instruction continues to evolve as we learn more from research and practice. Over the past decade, understanding of effective sheltered instruction and the needs of multilingual learners has grown substantially. As a result, there are new trends in teaching multilingual learners which are included in the book, highlighted below. 

Perhaps most notable is that we have added a new author to our SIOP team, Dr. Katie Toppel, who brings a wealth of experience, creativity, and knowledge to the team. (And fun!)

We hope that you’ll use this new book as a guide for lesson planning and teaching in general education and ELD classes. SIOP teachers tell us that it’s a resource they turn to again and again as they plan and carry out effective lessons. We encourage you to highlight sections, mark pages with sticky notes, and fill margins with application ideas. There is also an e-book available.

Although the format is the same as previous editions, approximately 50% of the content is revised or new. 

What are the most significant changes? 

• Asset orientation. Since the creation of SIOP, we have consistently adhered to an asset orientation, but you will find it more prominently presented in this edition. We emphasize that multilingual learners bring cultural, linguistic, and experiential assets to the classroom and give concrete examples of how teachers can and must acknowledge those assets and build upon them instructionally. Another way we emphasize an asset orientation is a change of the book’s title. We have previously used the term, English Learners, but Multilingual Learners more accurately captures the linguistic abilities of these students. Oh, that we all were multilingual!
• Use of the home language. There is growing understanding that students benefit from using their full linguistic repertoire in two or more languages purposefully to accomplish a task. Translanguaging in a SIOP classroom is a pedagogical practice that encourages students to use and apply the knowledge they have gained through any language medium (e.g., meaning of words in their home language) to make meaning and perform instructional activities. You’ll find more explicit attention in chapters as to how teachers can use translanguaging practices and build upon students’ home languages and other assets. Further, SIOP Feature 19 has been slightly reworded to make it clear that using the home language in class strategically can help students acquire English and deepen their content knowledge. 
• New chapter, Collaborative Practices for Implementing the SIOP Model. Collaboration between ELD/ESL specialists and general education teachers is essential for providing coherent, effective services for multilingual learners. Co-teaching is most effective so that both teachers support one another. This important new chapter provides a detailed explanation of how to implement the co-teaching process effectively. Included are profiles of a general education teacher and ELD/ESL specialist to illustrate the co-teaching process. ELD/ESL specialists and general education teachers will find the content of this chapter to be an invaluable guide for effective collaboration.
• New chapter on Multi-Tiered System of Supports for Multilingual Students (MTSS). Many educators are concerned about multilingual learners who exhibit reading or learning problems and are struggling academically because of them. Few books about teaching multilingual learners address the topic of using data-driven supports to improve students’ academic performance. We provide an illustrated step-by-step process to help educators navigate MTSS with attention to the special considerations needed with multilingual learners. The chapter also includes three case studies of struggling multilingual learners and demonstrates how these students move through the process.
• Focus on technology. During remote learning, teachers found the use of technology to be essential for teaching. Competence in technology went from a skill that was nice to have to one that was a must-have. Accordingly, we’ve integrated technology throughout the chapters to reflect the competence teachers have developed in embedding technology in their lessons. We’ve also added more ideas for using technology for remote learning, which remains a reality for some teachers.
• Teaching ideas. Teachers enjoy learning a new activity or teaching idea to use with their students that reinforces their explicit teaching. You’ll find innumerable fresh, new, use-tomorrow ideas and activities throughout the chapters. 
• Research. Research studies and syntheses conducted in the past decade are included throughout the book to ensure that multilingual students are receiving instruction that is grounded in proven, tested practices. In sections that address literacy and multilingual learners, studies from the body of research known as the science of reading (SOR) are included. 
• Additional resources. There are links to new videos, revised teaching scenarios for practice in analyzing and rating lessons, revised discussion questions and application exercises for use in teacher preparation classes or professional learning networks (PLNs), an updated list of resources for further information, including books, journal  articles, book chapters, and downloadable research briefs.
• Professional Learning. There are links to blogs and a link for information about SIOP professional development, http://siop .savvas.com. You’ll find a variety of professional learning opportunities offered by Savvas.

The SIOP authors also have a podcast series, Essentials for Supporting English Learners / Multilingual Learners. We hope you’ll find it informative and useful.

We are gratified that for more than 20 years SIOP has provided a resource that, simply put, helps teachers help kids. With SIOP now being used in dozens of countries, and with over 50 peer-reviewed published research studies demonstrating its effectiveness, we hope that the new edition of our book and other resources we offer will continue to positively impact the education of multilingual learners. 

See you at the SIOP Virtual Conference! You can register here.

Multilingual students who have been in U.S. schools for 6 or more years and have not yet been reclassified as fluent English proficient are referred to as long-term English learners, or LTELs. There are significant numbers of these students in American schools, and we need to take a serious look at how to best support their academic and linguistic growth.   

Too often multilingual learners are passed from class to class, and grade to grade with the assumption that, given time, they will advance in their English language proficiency. However, academic language doesn’t develop simply through exposure to English in school. The best outcomes result from teachers providing consistent instructional supports for making grade-level content comprehensible while at the same time focusing on academic language development. 

Apathy can be insidious among long-term English learners. Some students understandably have lost a degree of motivation; they have struggled academically for years. Unfortunately, teachers sometimes also become apathetic about multilingual learners and inadvertently have low expectations for them. 

The following are four ways to reduce apathy and to support the needs of long-term English learners.

1. Practice student agency.  Capitalize on the assets and interests students bring to the classroom by providing activities that are meaningful and relevant to them. Allow students to complete assignments through alternative means, driven by their interests, with appropriate guidance from teachers. Student agency gives students voice and often, choice, in how they learn. In so doing, students are empowered to take responsibility for their own learning, which is sure to increase motivation. 
2. Develop a learning profile. Since LTEL students have been in U.S. schools for at least 6 years, they have a foundation of knowledge and skills on which to build. For each LTEL student find out: What are her strengths? Where are there gaps in learning? Which specific literacy skills need targeted instruction? If a student has strong listening and speaking skills, less time needs to be devoted to oral language activities and more time spent on the area that will get them “over the hump” in attaining proficiency. In creating a learning profile, teachers get to know each LTEL student as an individual learner and can better tailor instruction to meet their academic and linguistic needs.  
3. Use proven instructional strategies and techniques. Students who have yet to reach English proficiency likely have not had the benefit of instruction that provides access to the core curriculum and is designed with their linguistic needs in mind. In research with the SIOP Model, multilingual learners whose teachers consistently used proven instructional supports outperformed those students whose teachers were more hit-or-miss in their use of supports. Quality of teaching matters. 
4. Collaborate with colleagues. During grade level planning or in a PLC, the progress of LTELs should be part of the discussion. Share ideas that have worked, offer one another suggestions for helping LTELs access grade-level materials, and discuss ways to integrate language development into content lessons. Creating a community of support with fellow teachers benefits LTEL students and teachers alike. It’s a win-win. 

It has become popular – and accurate – to say that every teacher is a language teacher. Each content area has its own topic-specific terminology such as parameter in math, photosynthesis in science, coup in social studies and character traits in English language arts. In addition, language is used in ways that may be unfamiliar to multilingual learners. The use of various English sentence structures, language forms, and general vocabulary encountered across content areas are examples of language use that may prove challenging for multilingual learners. 

Language is learned and practiced most effectively in context rather than through isolated tasks such as fill-in-the-blank worksheets or a list of words to look up in the dictionary. Instead, while students are immersed in a topic, the teacher highlights and discusses key vocabulary and capitalizes on other language-learning opportunities throughout a lesson. The following are four ways that teachers can ensure that they are developing students’ English proficiency while teaching content.

By the way, many native English-speaking students benefit from a focus on academic language development as well. Studies have shown that English speakers are not disadvantaged by using techniques that are intended to support multilingual learners. 

1. Design and Post Language Objectives: One of the most effective ways to integrate language and content is by setting clear language objectives for each lesson. This means defining specific language skills or functions that students should be able to use or demonstrate by the end of the lesson. For example, a language objective for a science lesson might be for students to be able to ask and answer questions using scientific vocabulary. By focusing on language objectives in addition to content objectives, teachers help students learn and practice specific academic language which will also deepen their understand of the content.  

2. Explicitly Teach and Practice Vocabulary: Vocabulary is a crucial component of language and content integration. Teachers help students understand and remember content by explicitly teaching the vocabulary words and concepts that are necessary for understanding the content. This can include pre-teaching vocabulary before a lesson, creating word walls, or having students create their own vocabulary notebooks. In addition, teachers can use visuals and graphic organizers to help students connect new vocabulary to what they already know. Think about the multiple meanings of the word current. It may be part of the term, “current events” in social studies, the flow of water in science, current meaning up-to-date, and electrical current. Students may know one meaning of the word but be confused when it is used in another subject area with another meaning. The teacher takes time to discuss these homonyms and clarify the meaning of each one. Multilingual learners benefit from developing word consciousness. That is, they begin to see relationships between words, word parts, the connection between English words and words that are like their home language, called cognates (admit in English and admitir in Spanish) and so forth. 

3. Plan for Peer Interaction: Encouraging peer interaction is another effective way to integrate language and content. By giving students opportunities to interact with one another in meaningful ways, they can practice using the language they are learning while engaged in activities that deepen their content knowledge. This can include group work, partner activities, or class discussions. Teachers can also provide support by giving students sentence starters, language frames, or guiding questions to help facilitate communication.

4. Make Content Comprehensible: Finally, making content understandable is key to integrating language and content. This means using strategies to support students in understanding the content, even if they are still developing their English language skills. Effective teachers use visuals and multimedia to illustrate content concepts, break down complex concepts into more manageable parts, use hands-on activities, and provide clear explanations. Additionally, teachers adjust their language by using simpler vocabulary, shorter sentences, and more concrete examples to support student understanding, especially for beginning speakers. 

By using these four strategies, teachers help students make connections between language and content, allowing them to use language as a tool for learning and understanding. This can result in improved language proficiency and greater academic success for all students.