Best practices are intended to support multilingual learners (MLs) in all classes, no matter their proficiency level. These strategies are expected to be used by all teachers within lessons, assignments, and assessments to support MLs and all learners. Best practices are strategies that educators can quickly implement within daily instruction, activities, and classroom assessments.

Description

Using Stephen Krashen’sTheory of Language Acquisition, students are able to acquire new language when instruction is delivered in language just beyond students’ current level of proficiency. Students should be able to understand the essence of what is being said or presented to them, but learn best when language they receive (input) is just a bit more difficult than they can easily understand. For example, students may understand most, but not all, of the words the teacher is using. 

Examples:
Appropriate Speech: Rate, enunciation, complexity of speech vary according to the level of student’s language level. These include teacher talk, vocabulary choice, rate, sentence complexity, use of idioms. Students at beginning levels benefit from teachers who slow down their rate of speech, use pauses, and enunciate clearly while speaking. Differentiated speech is not needed for students at higher English proficiency levels.  

Clear Academic Tasks: Explaining and rewording unclear content, presentation of enough relevant background and context, share visual models of expected finished products, clear and straighforward directions that are written and readily accessible, oral directions accompanied with written as a reference while students complete tasks, and steps to complete academic tasks should be delineated and include visuals to demonstrate each step.

Variety of Effective Techniques Used: 

• plan for, use and present context and visual cues. Use gestures, body language, pictures, and objects to accompany speech
• build context through relatable experiences
• provide a model of process, task, or assignment
• preview material for optimal learning
• allow students alternative forms for expressing their understanding of information and concepts
• provide repeated exposures to words, concepts, and skills, but avoid excessive practice of a single word or skill).

Use graphic organizers effectively by matching the task and lead to attaining the lesson’s objective by taking the information, vocabulary, or concept and making it more understandable by showing the key points graphically.
 

	Teacher	Student
	The teacher uses appropriate speech patterns and terms easier for Multilingual Learners (MLs) to understand:  avoid idioms, especially with beginners employ paraphrasing and repetition to enhance understanding point out cognates to promote understanding  simplify sentence structures to reduce the complexity	The student understands content at a greater level if language delivery level is provided at a level where the content is accessible.  The student interacts with language and content through the scaffolded supports put in place.

 

	Teacher	Student
	"Using the strategy, “Vary Speech  Appropriate for Student’s Proficiency Levels,” teacher adjusts the following for student’s language level:  1. Rate & Enunciation:  Beginning Levels: teacher slows rate of speech, uses pauses, and enunciates clearly while speaking.  Higher Proficiency Levels: teacher’s rate of speech matches that of general classroom. 2. Complexity of speech:  This varies with student’s level. Use judiciously; oversimplification of spoken / written language eliminates exposure to a variety of sentence constructions and language forms.      Example of varied complexity of speech: HS History Class - Complexity Varied for Beginning Levels:  “He broke political rules and went on his own. He knew that he might be criticized and disgraced if things went badly.”  HS History Class - Complexity Varied for Intermediate Expanding / BridgingLevels:  “He decided to break the rules of diplomatic convention and embark on his own. He knew that he might be ridiculed for it and be disgraced if things went badly.” HS History Class - Complexity NOT Varied:   “By breaking the rules of diplomatic convention and by embarking on his own, he was, he knew, risking ridicule and, in the event that things went sour, disgrace.”	The students can understand content at a greater level so are able to be more successful than if language delivery level is too high for student’s language level.

Recommended Domain(s)	Recommended Level(s)
Listening, Reading	All levels