Multilingual Learners

Embracing and encouraging linguistic and cultural diversity throughout our school community is key to an inclusive school ethos and curriculum, and has the potential to enrich all of our lives.

This section will explore themes relating to Multilingual Learners and will respond to three key How are we doing? statements:

  • We recognise the value and advantages of multilingualism and multiculturalism within our schools and embed the development of our linguistic and cultural diversity as part of an inclusive ethos.
  • We celebrate and encourage multilingualism, ensuring that our learners’ languages are both seen and heard throughout our school and through events, initiatives and as part of learning.
  • We engage with learners, parents, community links and other partners to support development of our learning of languages and cultures.

Click on the links below to read more about Multilingual Learners and then use the How are we doing? statements to reflect on your current practice and explore your next steps.  Further reading and resources are also provided at the bottom of this page.

Finally, watch the video below to learn how practitioners have engaged with this TILE.

The benefits of multilingualism Knowing our linguistic context Engaging with multiple languages Translanguaging

The benefits of multilingualism

Multilingualism is the global norm.  There are around 7000 languages spoken in the world, within 195 countries. This means that every country in the world is multilingual. (Duarte, 2021), and Grosjean (2010) notes that over half of the world’s population use two or more languages in everyday life.

In the 2020 Scottish Government pupil census, a total of 168 languages were spoken as the main home language by pupils in publicly funded schools in Scotland, and 9.8% of pupils (68,872 pupils) have a ‘main home language’ other than English. (Scottish Government, 2021)

Speaking multiple languages is argued to bring a wide range of linguistic, sociocultural, cognitive, educational, and economic benefits. Marian & Shook (2012) argue:

The cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism extend from early childhood to old age as the brain more efficiently processes information and staves off cognitive decline. Bilingual people enjoy advantages: they have enriched cognitive control, it’s likely that they have improved metalinguistic awareness, as well as better memory, visual-spatial skills and even creativity. There are also social benefits from being bilingual. For example, having the ability to explore a culture through its native tongue or talking to someone with whom you might otherwise never be able to communicate.

The Education Scotland guidance document, Learning in 2+ languages (2020, p.8) states that:

Bilingualism brings with it definite cognitive advantages.  Many of these advantages are important for raising the achievement of bilingual learners across the curriculum. They may include:

    • greater awareness of how language operates. This can help with the development of literacy skills, especially decoding, and with the learning of other languages
    • enhanced problem-solving abilities
    • heightened creative potential, which may display itself in writing and critical understanding
    • an awareness of the importance of context and audience in language use.

This message about the advantages of bilingualism is also reflected by the Bell Foundation who provide guidance and support for learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL). The Bell Foundation (2021) note:

Bilingualism and multilingualism are an asset – the ability to use more than one language is a valuable skill that learners who use EAL bring with them, regardless of whether they are New to English or not. Learners actively use the languages they already know to learn English.

Multilingual learners switch between, and make connections between languages, and apply a range of strategies to support their learning. Bilingualism Matters’ guidance for parents provides a helpful overview on how learners operate across multiple languages and how best to support them (Sorace and Ladd, 2004: see Resources section).  For practitioners, developing an understanding of the cognitive processes, skills and attributes of multilingualism, as outlined in this section, is a key starting point for planning how best to encourage and support multilingual children and young people.

Knowing our linguistic context

“Language is the door to another culture’s soul.” (United Nations Refugee Agency, 2018)

Language is central to our identity. It shapes and reflects who we are, our communities, our world views, and how we process new ideas and concepts. As schools and practitioners, we have a responsibility to recognise, engage with, and support the languages and cultures of our children, young people, and families and to ensure that learners feel that all aspects of their identities are valued and respected.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNHCR) Article 8 (in child friendly language) states that:

You have the right to an identity – an official record of who you are. No one should take this away from you. Language and culture are essential parts of our identity. This should be celebrated, encouraged, and nurtured in schools and in wider society. No child should have to hide who they are.

Understanding the linguistic and cultural experiences of our learners helps us to deepen our understanding of our school community and how to support and encourage children and young people in their learning and skill development.  By talking with young people about their languages and cultures, and by developing an understanding of which languages they use in their families, with friends and across their communities, we support the development of a language-rich and inclusive school community.

We can enhance our collective understanding of the richness of the languages and cultures within our own school contexts through a range of activities such as:

  • Exploring and mapping our linguistic heritage and landscapes e.g. place names, people’s names, local words and dialect, etymology (i.e. origins of words)
  • Creating a class culture map e.g. Exploring and mapping where different family members live or come from and discussing what this means in terms of our identity as individuals and as a class
  • Talking with children and young people about the languages they use in their daily lives
  • Linking to different cultural events and festivals
  • Exploring comparisons and links between languages and cultures

Such approaches contribute to a whole school ethos which values, celebrates, and engages with the languages and cultures of our school community.

Engaging with multiple languages

By engaging with the languages spoken in our schools we help to create an inclusive learning ethos where multilingualism and multiculturalism are valued, encouraged, and shared.  Celebrating the linguistic diversity in our school communities also brings opportunities to normalise the use of many languages and to deepen intercultural learning and understanding.

Examples of whole school/department activities and approaches relating to multilingualism and multiculturalism are provided below:

  • Intercultural events e.g. bring a dish events for families, language sharing events
  • Cultural festivals and celebrations
  • Linking creativity and multilingualism through multilingual storytelling, art activities, poetry, songs, and rhymes
  • Mapping your school or class languages e.g. Surveying class members and/or their family members to map out languages spoken
  • Celebrating national / international languages days and events e.g. European Day of Languages, Languages Week Scotland, Sign Languages Week, Seachdain na Gàidhlig, International Mother Tongue Day and the World Day for Cultural Diversity

Additionally, practitioners can use a range of strategies to encourage the use of learners’ languages and cultures in schools and classrooms. For example:

  • Encouraging reading in learners’ home languages by making books available in these languages
  • Inviting families into the class to read stories aloud and share aspects of language and culture
  • Singing songs in the languages of our learners
  • Sharing in, and celebrating, cultural traditions
  • Teachers modelling language learning and engagement e.g. by teachers recognising learners’ home languages positively
  • Developing opportunities to reference and use learners’ languages throughout learning

Many multilingual young people are excellent ambassadors for languages learning, sharing strategies and exemplifying the benefits of being multilingual. There are many excellent examples of multilingual learners leading learning, such as:

  • Learners leading learning of their home language e.g. as an L3 for other learners in their class, delivered in part by the multilingual learner(s)
  • Multilingual language ambassadors sharing what it means to them to be multilingual, the language learning strategies they may have developed as a result, how they use their skills and showing their peers the positive benefits of speaking multiple languages
  • Learner led language sharing events e.g. multilingual language fair with learners sharing their languages
  • Language leader activities e.g. multilingual learners working group, identifying approaches to support other multilingual learners
  • Multilingual mentors i.e. peers working together to offer support for new arrival multilingual learners

Translanguaging

Translanguaging is where learners are actively encouraged, supported and enabled to draw on their complete linguistic repertoire (all of their different languages) in their learning and communication.  According to the National Framework for Languages:

  • In situations where children can use all the languages in their linguistic repertoire (translanguaging) links are created between the different social, cultural, community and linguistic domainsof their lives. This creates a rich, inclusive learning environment with multiple perspectives that allow a child’s experiences to be meaningfully integrated into the classroom.
  • Translanguaging allows bilingual children to develop flexible bilingualism – the ability to move between multiple languages.
  • Translanguaging can be used as a tool in an immersion educational model, such as Gaelic medium education, or EAL. In these situations code-switching needs to be planned and strategic to be effective.

For example, a translanguaging activity may involve a learner researching a topic in their home language (by watching an online video, or by doing internet-based research) and then writing about it in English. This is a developing area of practice in Scotland, however there are several examples of translanguaging activities and approaches are shared in the Resources section below.

How are we doing?

  • We recognise the value and advantages of multilingualism and multiculturalism within our schools and embed the development of our linguistic and cultural diversity as part of an inclusive ethos.
  • We celebrate and encourage multilingualism, ensuring that our learners’ languages are both seen and heard throughout our school and through events, initiatives and as part of learning.
  • We engage with learners, parents, community links and other partners to support development of our learning of languages and cultures.

Record your practice

Now you have researched the methodology and best practice in Multilingual Learners it's time to record how you are doing. Download the interactive/printable PDF file which you can fill in digitally (or manually if you prefer) for your records and CPD.

Download the Multilingual Learners self-evaluation PDF (189 KB)

Bak, T. (2017) Myths and Misconceptions in Multilingualism, Available at:

Available at: http://www.bilingualism-matters.ppls.ed.ac.uk/misconceptions-myths-multilingualism/

Bilingualism Matters (2021) Frequently Asked Questions, Available at:

Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/life-bilingual/201011/bilingualisms-best-kept-secret

Duarte, J. (2021) Facts about Multilingualism, Available at:

Available at: https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/multilingual-practices/0/steps/22634

Education Scotland (2020) Learning in 2(+) Languages , Scotland: Education Scotland.

Grosjean, F. (2010) Bilingualism's Best Kept Secret: More than half the world's population is bilingual, Available at:

Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/life-bilingual/201011/bilingualisms-best-kept-secret

Marian, V. & Shook, A. (2012) ‘The cognitive benefits of being bilingual.’ Cerebrum, 13, Available at:

Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/

National Framework for Languages (2017 ) Translanguaging, Available at:

Available at: http://www.nffl.education.ed.ac.uk/lens-2/approaches-to-language-learning-transformative-practices-2/translanguaging/

Office of English Acquisition (2020) Benefits of Multilingualism, Available at:

Available at: https://ncela.ed.gov/files/announcements/20200805-NCELAInfographic-508.pdf

Scottish Government (2021) Pupil Census: Supplementary Statistics 2020, Edinburgh : Scottish Government.

Sorace, A. and Ladd, D.R. 2004. Raising bilingual children. Series: Frequently Asked Questions, Linguistic Society of America. Available at:

Available at: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Bilingual_Child.pdf

The Bell Foundation (2021) EAL Assessment Framework , Available at:

Available at: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-programme/guidance/effective-teaching-of-eal-learners/

UNHRC (the UN Refugee Agency) (2018) Language is the door to another culture’s soul: a story of refugee integration through language learning. Available at:

Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ua/en/12733-language-is-the-door-to-another-cultures-soul.html

Guidance and Support

Bilingualism Matters is a research and information centre at the University of Edinburgh. It studies bilingualism and language learning, and communicates what it knows to enable people to make informed decisions based on scientific evidence

Bilingualism Matters

Learning in 2 + Languages aims to help practitioners working with bilingual learners by identifying good practice in supporting young people whose first language is not English to access the curriculum through English as an additional language (EAL). This updated resource provides clear, practical advice for education practitioners on how best to support bilingual learners and reflecting Scotland’s cultural and linguistic diversity.

Education Scotland, Learning in 2 (+) Languages

The Bell Foundation offer a comprehensive range of resources, guidance for supporting multilingual learners and specifically on supporting EAL.

The Bell Foundation

Resources and guidance from SCILT on supporting multilingual learners and EAL.

SCILT: EAL and Bilingualism

The Mother Tongue Other Tongue (MTOT) multilingual poetry competition celebrates linguistic and cultural diversity through creative writing, and showcases the many languages spoken and learned by young people in school and at home.

Mother Tongue Other Tongue (MTOT) multilingual poetry competition

Professional Learning

This MOOC hosted by University of Glasgow, explores multilingual education and how it can impact and improve education and even wider society.

MOOC - Multilingual Learning for a Globalised World

Learn about central aspects of multilingualism in today's globalised societies, such as cognition, policies and education.

MOOC – Multilingual Practices: Tackling Challenges and Creating Opportunities

This article explores the language communities in Scotland and the impact of the 1+2 language strategy on them

Scotland’s language communities and the 1+2 Language Strategy

Translanguaging

Exemplification and resources for developing translanguaging through Expressive Arts.

Art, Creativity and Language Education

Article exploring approaches to translanguaging and the impact on learners.

EAL Journal: What is translanguaging?

Exemplification of approaches to developing translanguaging as part of learning including a full suite of support resources.

Creative Language Practices: Translanguaging

Definition and research summary of translanguaging

National Framework for Languages: Translanguaging

All the World is Our Stage is a journey that every school can take to enhance relationships between parents, pupils and educators, raise awareness of the benefits of multilingualism and engage in creative language learning.

All the World is Our Stage

Project exploring translanguaging approaches in Scotland and Namibia. Website includes some exemplification of development of approaches in Castlebrae High School in Edinburgh.

Translanguaging Modern Languages

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