Understanding multilingual learner identities to enhance learning outcomes

Serving the needs of multilingual and English Language learners (ELL) is as important in furthering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work in schools as many other aspects of student identity such as racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and immigration background. Indeed, there are also often and inevitably intersections between these identities in our students.

I work as a science teacher in a bilingual (English-German) international school in Berlin, Germany, where as of February 2023, nearly 1 in 4 residents (24.3%) have a migration background (The Local, 2023). In Germany as a whole, that number is 27.2% of the population, with most coming from other countries in Europe, as well as the Middle East, Asia and Africa (Janjevic, 2022). While it is expected that the children of many of these families will enter the public/state schooling system, international schools will also be a key point of matriculation for migrant families. As such, the work I am currently doing as part of my M.Ed. centers on teaching multilingual learners and has lead me to reflect on the importance of understanding language learner identities as well as pedagogical approaches to support language learners in the classroom. The former of these is the focus of this blog post.

Understanding language learner identities to enhance learning outcomes

Karen Pittman, President and CEO of the Foundation for Youth Investment, in a video by Edutopia (2020) says that “as we are thinking about how to maximize chances that young people are thriving, it’s important to let students lead with their identity,” and makes the point that students may unconsciously but correctly think that “If I don’t have a relationship with you and I don’t get to be a little bit more of who I am, you’re going to slow down my learning and development by not knowing me” (Edutopia, 2020). This sentiment makes it an imperative that teachers go out of their way to get to know their students as whole people, as not doing so can actually be an impediment to their learning.

One way to ensure that we as teachers get to know our ELL/multilingual students as whole people is through the creation of language learner profiles. As part of my coursework this week, we were asked to read two language learner profiles and create a third profile of our own in order to reflect on the importance of language learner identities in our teaching.

The first of these learner profiles concerned Pedro, a student in 4th grade whose home language is Spanish and has been living in the United States for four years. The profile states that Pedro is motivated by his peers and social interactions, and that he can express himself well through drawings and diagrams. As a science teacher, I can imagine this last characteristic as a major strength, given the utility of drawings and diagrams in science communication. This also provides an avenue and opportunity for differentiation; wherever possible I would consider modifying the inputs and the product to leverage his aptitude for visual representations of science content. Given his sociability and leadership skills described in the learner profile, I would also consider offering Pedro the choice to work with peers and as many opportunities for social interaction in the classroom as possible. Were it not for intentionally seeking out this information, it would be easy to see his language proficiency as an impediment to success and adopt an “deficit” mindset rather than focusing on the skills which serve as an asset.

The second language learner profile concerned Kenji, a 17 year old exchange student from Japan attending the 11th grade in the United States. His profile states that he enjoys learning English as a way to make friends and connect with others, that he enjoys anime cartoons and that his career aspiration is to become an illustrator. For me, this profile illustrates how knowing a student’s set of motivations around school, career, and language learning can be leveraged to help them academically in various subjects. For example, the fact that Kenji wishes to improve his English in order to make friends and connect would allow me as his teacher to design learning experiences where he is asked to practice and improve speaking personally about himself and asking about others. In my classroom, this might look like setting up chat stations in which students engage in casual but focused conversations about some aspect of the curriculum content (Gonzalez, 2019). Similar to my ideas above for Pedro, I would also consider Kenji’s interests in anime and illustration as an opportunity to offer students choice regarding the product through which they demonstrate their learning. I would design assignments and learning engagements that incorporate aspects of artistic expression and illustration so that Kenji gets the opportunity to shine and excel in my subject through his artistic talents.

The third language learner profile was based on a student of my own, a 16 year old girl named Yuri whose home language is Chinese and who moved from China to Berlin, Germany, two years prior. She is academically motivated and relatively high achieving with good grades, but she is shy and quiet in class. An analysis of her English language proficiency using the the WIDA (2016) Can Do Descriptors for grades 9-12 reveal that Yuri’s skills at receptive language (listening and reading) are quite a bit stronger than her productive skills (writing and speaking) and that her writing skills are also somewhat stronger than her speaking skills. Understanding these differential language proficiencies ensures I, as her teacher, do not underestimate her intelligence or academic capabilities based purely on how little she speaks, or that I misunderstand her lack of oral participation in lessons as an indication that she is not academically motivated. Knowing this about Yuri allows her teachers to adopt a strengths-based mindset: she is an attentive listener and a focused reader. As a teacher, I would be wise to compliment her on these attributes and let her know the ways in which these skills are appreciated and likely to set her up for success in the future. In this way, I would help Yuri to remain motivated in my subject by feeling appreciated, seen, and understood.

Why understanding learner identities and multiculturalism is important

As we see from the above reflections on the three language learner profiles, having a detailed and personalized conception of a student’s cultural and linguistic background, interests, motivations, goals and specific strengths allows us to further the learning outcomes of our students. Such profiles can be used for differentiation of learning inputs and products, as in the case of Pedro; for leveraging a student’s goals and interests to increase their motivation, as in the case of Kenji; or for appropriately assessing and discerning a student’s strengths, as in the case of Yuri. Understanding learners’ full identities – including and in addition to their language proficiency levels – allows for a far more enriching learning experience for these students, better academic outcomes, and more meaningful, substantive inclusion of our multilingual students in the learning process and in our educational systems.

In her argument for a strengths-based approach to teaching ELL students, Gonzalez (2023) calls on us to imagine a school that focuses on the assets and unique potential of English learners: “What brilliance might be unleashed? What confidence might be built? What might non-ESL students learn from the ESLs?” (Gonzalez, 2023). Gonzalez’ first recommendation is to make it clear that students’ first languages and cultures are a tremendous asset. I think that living in a diverse society means being able to navigate multiple cultures and languages with respect, curiosity, and even admiration without forcing assimilation to one dominant language or culture. When we communicate to our multilingual students – through our words and through our actions and teaching practices – that their identities are valued and that they are free to show up as their whole selves, then we can also model this type of inclusion for all students to see.

References

Edutopia. (2020). Letting Young People Lead With Their Identity. YouTube. Retrieved July 8, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaMsFGhAQgk 

Gonzalez, J. (2019, July 26). Students sitting around too much? try chat stations. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/chat-stations/ 

Gonzalez, J. (2023, February 3). A strength-based approach to teaching English learners. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/strength-based-teaching-esl/

Janjevic, D. (2022, April 12). Germany: Over 1 in 4 people have “migrant background”. DW. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-over-1-in-4-people-have-migrant-background/a-61452241

The Local. (2023, February 15). In numbers: Who is coming to – and leaving – Berlin?. The Local Germany. https://www.thelocal.de/20230215/in-numbers-who-is-coming-to-and-leaving-berlin

WIDA. (2016, August 1). Can Do Descriptors. WIDA. https://wida.wisc.edu/teach/can-do/descriptors