Applied Learning

Navigating (and Teaching) Among Streams of Meaning

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by Jason D. DeHart

“You spend too much time on the Internet,” a student said to me one day. She was in midst of a conversation with some of her peers using a recently coined bit of young adult jargon. When I joined the chat with knowledge of the term, she shared this admonition.

Teaching adolescents is both challenging and enriching. As in my time navigating my own period of adolescence, students are engaged in connected experiences that follow multiple streams of conversation – fandom, affinity, digital gaze, and more – all with the notion of community and belonging in mind. There is an always-changing multimedia flow of trends and treasured knowledge, often disseminated by digital platforms and what appears to be word of mouth.

Considering the literacy lives of the youth I work with daily, there is a clear sense of multiple channel navigation. Elements of identity weave together cultural practices and notes from popular culture. Youth are, indeed, like buoys among the stream of social media and technological message, including wider avenues of jargon and trend. They are purveyors of this wide range of culture, as well as curators of the space – whether they are fully aware of this aspect of their agency or not.

Spaces of Joy and Fandom

As Riesco and Goering (2025) recently explored, the anchor of popular culture continues to be part of adolescent practices. These changes in popular focus and language are fascinating from a researcher’s perspective, as well as a source of joy as an educator. This attention toward youth as the center of popular culture is hardly new – indeed, the mall culture of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as changing forms of music consumption have tracked with young people from the origin of the commercial. As a youth myself in the 1980s and 1990s, I was first the focal point of animation and branding that included popular characters; as an adult now reliving those days, I am a target of nostalgia branding. This is the sense of agency that companies do not necessarily consider when they are engaged in transmedia branding – they are handing their power over to youth, whose role is then to take up a particular trend and exercise this focal point of pop culture for so long as their engagement affords.

Indeed, language is always changing and the markers of what it means to be current are in constant flux. The popularity of comics is one site of further joy, as these texts were part of my literacy practices as a young reader and composer. While stakeholders in the film industry grapple with superhero fatigue, digital comics and manga continue to be mainstays of popularity (Benatti, 2024; Lowe, 2024). Students in my classroom autonomously engage with web comics during independent reading times, as well as graphic novels about popular characters like Blue Beetle and Plastic Man.

Critical Approaches and Boundaries

This collective sense of branding and messaging across multiple streams of meaning carries with it a series of significant questions for educators, especially those concerned with literacy. Rather than ask the question of how to stay relevant, I am curious about what is already continuously relevant about our pedagogy and about the series of actions and practices which result in or add to literacy development.

These practices are not limited to reading. Last year, I partnered with the media specialist at my school to engage in a grant-funded project that allowed students to read historically-based comics, select comics for their own reading choice, and then create one-page comics in response. Students were exposed to the range of stories, from superhero narratives to memoir, and their comics reflected this variance. Some composed responses included fantasy elements, while others documented friendships and other grounded experiences. In terms of composing, some students planned and developed their responses with traditional tools (paper, pencils, markers), while others used AI to brainstorm and plan their work and digital tools (Canva, Pixton) to create their responses.

My students are poised with a teacher whose positionalities exist alongside a variety of borders – completely up for popular character study alongside or even instead of the canon, yet (appropriately) critical of the ways that technology can be used to subvert multistep processes. I am an educator who is always interested in the step of thinking that occurs between teaching/assignment and turn-in.

Sometimes this means that I critique the material with which I am asking students to engage. Literacy is part of a wider ecosystem for adolescents, not an end. Older readers link engaged reading with topics that are relevant and interesting to them. VanderVelden and Apedoe (2025) recently explored the relationship of reading motivation and learning environment for adolescents, noting one particular area of importance. This area was inquiry – that is, readers needed to be engaged in an inquisitive set of discovery and problem-solving practices in order to be motivated. The purpose of the reading activity had to be clearly and clearly situated.

The Present and the Future

I continue to ponder and explore the best ways to teach my students. At times, I anachronistically reference prior trends to be ironic. At other times, I link my practices (like attending comics conventions) with student interests.

Literacy is also an expansive set of practices and interlinking set of ideas (Roberts et al., 2025). Effective reading and writing practices are linked within the wider space of conversations and culture, and they are reflective of the ways that people actually compose in daily life. This includes the digital and visual. I find that my identity as an educator in a cusp generation helps me bridge these links; that is, I remember what it was like to have one computer in the classroom, and to be expected to read the segmented literature presented in textbooks and answer the perennial questions at the end of the passages. I also remember what it was like to suddenly have computers at home, and I recall how these shifts only grew through the advancement of smaller, personalized technology.

I am not the teacher I was in 2007 when I embarked on my career, and I have no doubt that my instruction will change, refresh, and update along with the practices of my students as they continue to root and flow with questions of engaged citizenship, popular culture trends, and I contemplate what it means to be the educator that my students need me to be.

References

Benatti, F. (2024). Innovations in Digital Comics: A Popular Revolution. Cambridge University Press.

Lowe, S. (2024). Book review: Manga in libraries: A guide for teen librarians. The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, 5, 254-258.

Riesco, H. S., & Goering, C. Z. (2025). Italian brain rot and skibidi toilets: Students’ joyful literacies in an ELA space. English Journal, 114(6), 23-31.

Roberts, C. A., Wilhelm, A., Allred, B., & Hudson, R. F. (2025). Expanding literacy: Caregiver experiences with literacy engagement for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Exceptional Children, 91(3), 281-302.

VanderVelden, T., & Apedoe, X. (2025). The Relationship Between Situated Reading Motivation and Perception of the Learning Environment for Adolescent Students. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 69(3), e70023.

Jason D. DeHart is a passionate educator, actively engaged in finding what works for connecting readers with literacy practices. He served as a middle grades English teacher for eight years, has worked at the university level at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, as well as at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Appalachian State University, and currently works with high school students in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Text Sets That Build Curiosity, Confidence, and Connection

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By Dr. Rachelle S. Savitz

Have you ever handed out a text you thought your students would love, only to realize halfway through that they’re lost, disengaged, or overwhelmed? We’ve all been there. Sometimes, it’s not the students—it’s the setup. That’s where text sets come in.

What Are Text Sets?

A text set is a carefully chosen group of texts—articles, infographics, poems, podcasts, infographics, art pieces, even songs—that explore a common idea, theme, or question from different angles. Together, they build knowledge, deepen understanding, and give every student a way in.

Instead of relying on one “anchor text” to do all the heavy lifting, text sets layer multiple types of sources, each with its own voice, structure, and level of complexity, to help students make sense of big ideas. Sarah Lupo and her colleagues (2020) call this the layered text set approach: start with accessible, high-interest texts to build background knowledge, then layer in more complex disciplinary readings that push students’ thinking.

For instance, imagine a ninth-grade science unit on climate change and environmental impact. You might begin with a short infographic or video from National Geographic Kids that visually explains the greenhouse effect (an accessible, high-interest text). Next, students could read a news article summarizing local climate data or community responses to flooding—something concrete that connects to their lives. Once students have built some shared understanding, you could layer in a section of a scientific report or a peer-reviewed study that examines climate data patterns. Finally, students might read a commentary piece by a climate scientist debating mitigation strategies.

Each layer increases complexity: the first builds understanding, the next establishes relevance, and the final texts invite students to engage with disciplinary thinking—interpreting data, analyzing arguments, and evaluating evidence.

Josh Lawrence and Emily Phillips Galloway (2022) remind us that this balance of pedagogical and expert texts is key. Pedagogical texts (like the infographic and local news story) support comprehension by introducing key ideas and vocabulary. Expert texts (like the research article or scientific commentary) show students how scientists write, argue, and reason within their field. Pairing both types of texts allows students to move from “learning about science” to doing the work of scientists, where they get to analyze data, question sources, and communicate findings.

The same principle applies across disciplines. In English, pairing a contemporary poem about identity (pedagogical text) with a literary essay on voice and structure (expert text) helps students explore how authors craft meaning. In social studies, combining a political cartoon (pedagogical) with excerpts from historical speeches (expert) helps students analyze perspective, bias, and rhetoric.

When we layer and balance texts intentionally, we give all students the tools and confidence to enter complex conversations regardless of where they start. Differentiation happens naturally in this design: accessible texts provide shared entry points, while increasingly complex ones invite students to stretch their thinking at different levels of readiness. Because readability scores don’t tell the full story of what makes a text approachable, layering ensures that students who might struggle with dense syntax or specialized vocabulary can still engage meaningfully with ideas through visuals, multimodal sources, or shorter, conceptually rich pieces. In other words, text sets create multiple on-ramps to rigorous learning, allowing every student, regardless of reading proficiency, to participate in authentic disciplinary inquiry.

Why Text Sets Matter

Reading across multiple texts encourages students to build background knowledge, spot contradictions, and develop critical empathy, allowing them to see the world through others’ experiences while reflecting on their own (Savitz et al., 2024). The texts we choose send messages about whose knowledge matters and whose voices belong in the conversation (Savitz & Kane, 2023). When we design text sets with intention, we help students think critically, see themselves reflected, and recognize how knowledge is constructed (Sims Bishop, 1990).

For example, imagine an eighth-grade unit on migration and belonging.

  • Start with a short, illustrated article that introduces migration trends.
  • Add a poem or spoken word piece that captures the emotion of displacement.
  • Include a personal narrative or podcast that brings an individual story to life.
  • Layer in a primary source or historical document that gives context.
  • End with a local news story or youth interview connecting migration to students’ communities.

Each text adds a layer of meaning. Together, they help students connect ideas, think historically and empathetically, and practice disciplinary reasoning—all without relying on one lengthy or “perfect” text.

Understanding Text Complexity

Of course, choosing the right combination of texts isn’t just about variety – we need to think about complexity.

Text complexity isn’t simply how difficult something is to read. It describes how challenging a text is to read, understand, and use—and three interrelated dimensions shape it:

  1. Quantitative measures – the “countable” features such as sentence length, word frequency, and cohesion. These provide a general sense of difficulty (similar to a Lexile score) but can’t capture meaning, structure, or cultural context. A scientific article full of short sentences might have a moderate Lexile but still require deep disciplinary reasoning.
  2. Qualitative dimensions – the interpretive features of a text, such as multiple levels of meaning, abstract ideas, or cultural references. A novel like Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (2016) may appear straightforward because of its verse format and accessible language, yet its layered exploration of identity, memory, and belonging invites readers to interpret its symbolism, navigate shifting perspectives, and connect ideas to historical context. The text’s qualitative complexity emerges through what students notice, question, and connect—especially when they analyze how Woodson’s poetic structure shapes meaning and how her personal narrative intersects with collective histories of race and resilience.
  3. Reader and task considerations – the human factors: who your students are and what you’re asking them to do. The same article can be “simple” when students summarize it, but deeply complex when they compare sources, critique perspectives, or connect it to lived experience.

These dimensions remind us to ask three essential questions:

  • What makes the text itself complex?
  • What do we know about our students as readers?
  • What’s the purpose of the reading?

Complexity Is Both Found and Made

Something to consider when we determine the complexity of a text is that complexity is both inherent and constructed.

  • Inherent complexity lies in the text itself—its structure, language, and assumptions about readers.
  • Constructed complexity is created through what teachers and students do with the text—the questions they ask, the inferences they make, and the conversations they have.

That means a poem, infographic, or historical document becomes rigorous when students engage critically with it—not because it’s “hard,” but because it invites deep thinking.

Consider two quick examples:

  • A history teacher uses a primary source with archaic language. Students decode vocabulary (inherent complexity) and then debate the author’s bias (constructed complexity).
  • An art teacher studies Picasso’s Guernica. Students analyze form and symbolism (inherent), then discuss its political message and relevance today (constructed).

In both, rigor grows from the interaction between text, reader, and purpose.

Bringing It Together: Designing with Intention

When you plan a text set, you’re not just building reading lists—you’re creating pathways into complex ideas. You can adjust the quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task elements to support access and rigor for all learners. Scaffolds like visuals, vocabulary previews, or collaborative discussions don’t lower complexity, but they open the door wider.

That’s where Lupo’s Quad Text Framework can help balance

  • Complexity – texts that stretch students appropriately
  • Variety – genres and modalities that enrich understanding
  • Accessibility – supports that meet students where they are
  • Relevance – connections to students’ lives and interests

When we design text sets that do all four, we help students not only read like experts but think like experts—questioning, synthesizing, and creating new understandings that extend beyond the page.

Final Thought

Text sets remind us that literacy is not one-size-fits-all. The magic happens when multiple voices, formats, and perspectives come together, and when we, as teachers, design with both challenge and care. Because the real goal isn’t to make reading harder. It’s to make one think more deeply.

References

Lawrence, J., & Galloway, E. P. (2022, April 12). Disciplinary expert and pedagogical texts: Implications for creating text sets. Reading Ways.

Lupo, S. M., Berry, A., Thacker, E., Sawyer, A., & Merritt, J. (2020). Rethinking text sets to support knowledge building and interdisciplinary learning. The Reading Teacher, 73(4), 513–524.

Savitz, R. S., Irvin, V., & Soulen, R. R. (2024). Developing an empathic analysis: Using critical literacy, dialogue, and inquiry with literature to explore issues with gender labels. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 68(1), 14–22.

Savitz, R.S., & Kane, B. (2023). Trauma-sensitive literacy instruction: Building student resilience in English language arts classrooms. Teachers College Press.

Sims Bishop, R. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix–xi.

  • Literacy Cited

Woodson, J. (2016). Brown girl dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books.

Rachelle S. Savitz is an associate professor of reading/literacy at East Carolina University. She was previously a K-12 literacy coach/interventionist and high school reading teacher. She values working with graduate students and teachers and learning with and from them. She explores the intersections of critical inquiry, culturally sustaining pedagogy, trauma-sensitive practices, and teacher self-efficacy related to disciplinary literacy and equitable literacy materials and curricula. In addition, Dr. Savitz is widely published and serves as president of Literacy in the Disciplines, 6-12.

Literacy as a Bridge: Practical Strategies for Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students

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Welcome back to Dr. Jennifer C. Mann!

Immigrant and refugee students bring incredible linguistic, cultural, and life experiences to our classrooms—strengths that are too often overlooked. In my recent presentation, Literacy as a Bridge: Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students in Today’s Classrooms, we talked about how literacy can act as a bridge, connecting students’ home languages and personal experiences to the academic content they’re learning. But what does that really look like day to day?

First, it helps to remember that literacy is about more than reading words on a page or writing essays. It’s about voice, identity, and belonging. When teachers intentionally draw on students’ experiences, they’re sending a simple but powerful message: your perspective matters. And the benefits go beyond engagement—they build confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of community.

Here are some practical strategies teachers can use right now:

1. Bring in Culturally Relevant Texts. Look for books, articles, or media that reflect your students’ lives. If you’re teaching a unit on community or family, include stories from different countries or immigrant communities. Ask students to share connections or differences with their own experiences—it makes the material come alive and shows that their perspectives are valued.

2. Invite Students to Share Their Stories. Journals, oral storytelling, and digital projects give students a chance to share who they are. A student might create a photo essay about a family tradition or write about their journey to a new country. These activities strengthen literacy while affirming identity.

3. Lean into Multilingual Strengths. Encourage students to use their home language as a tool, whether it’s for brainstorming, storytelling, or peer support. Multilingualism is an asset that can support English development while boosting confidence.

4. Connect Learning to Real Life. Design lessons that tie directly to students’ experiences. Math word problems could reflect real situations they encounter in their communities, or science projects could explore local environmental issues. This makes learning feel relevant and empowers students to see themselves as capable problem-solvers.

5. Use Collaborative Activities. Peer discussions, writing projects, and group tasks give students a chance to learn from each other. For example, students could co-write a story about a cultural festival or community event—building literacy, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding at the same time.

6. Focus on Strengths. Teachers’ mindsets matter. When we focus on what students can do rather than what they lack, our lessons—and our expectations—shift. Reflecting on our own practice and learning from colleagues helps us recognize and leverage student strengths effectively.

When literacy connects academic content to students’ personal worlds, it becomes a true bridge. Classrooms become places where students feel seen, capable, and valued. Beyond building reading and writing skills, these inclusive practices nurture resilience, pride, and a sense of belonging that extends far beyond the school day.

By weaving these strategies into everyday practice, teachers can create classrooms where all students thrive. Literacy, when approached this way, is more than a skill—it’s a bridge to opportunity, understanding, and equity.

Dr. Mann is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, where she supports equity-centered education research focused on multilingual learners and their language and literacy growth. She presented a LiD6-12 webinar found here: Literacy as a Bridge

Supporting MLs Through Disciplinary Literacy: A Practical Guide for Teachers

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by Carrie Rieder

You’ve learned about disciplinary literacy and are convinced that this is the best path of success for your students. You’ve been to professional development, read books, found this blog…you are all in! 

Or perhaps you are an administrator, embarking upon a school-wide plan to focus on disciplinary literacy. The first day of school arrives, and you greet students as they come through the door. As you smile and say hello, inwardly you realize that you might have forgotten about one not-so-small thing: several of your students are new to the country and have only just  begun learning English. 

Your anxiety increases when you have a conversation with your ESOL teacher and she explains that one of the students only attended school sporadically, and had no formal education for the past two years during the family’s transition to the United States. 

What now? You’ve planned so many exciting, challenging lessons centered around the specific characteristics of your content language. Can the students even learn that? Should you just give them something else? Do nothing at all?

 I’m here to tell you that  not only is it possible, but it is beneficial and necessary to teach disciplinary literacy to your newcomer multilingual learners (MLs)

I’ve been working with and living beside multilingual learners of all ages and language levels for 20 years. For the past four years at Carolina High School, I have focused on newcomer MLs and SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education). As a co-teacher, and now a sheltered class teacher,  I’ve used many strategies that teach and expose my students to the disciplinary literacy required in English Language Arts.

 Accommodating for these students doesn’t have to be time-consuming or daunting. I can give you insight into the best mindset and strategies to use in general education classes to ensure that every student in the room can access what is taught.

Accommodation is not “dumbing-down”

As educators, we know that we are expected to teach with rigor and high expectations. Accommodating lower-level MLs in your classroom does not remove rigor or high expectations. MLs are still expected to do challenging work, achieve success, and grow academically. The only thing you are lowering is the language load. 

You might be familiar with cognitive load theory. The application of cognitive load theory to teaching means that teachers need to design lessons that reduce confusion and overwhelm so that students can focus on actually understanding and learning content. 

For MLs, this means reducing the amount and complexity of the language so that students can focus their energy on learning new concepts or practicing skills. We are not changing the destination—-we are simply paving the road.

Accommodations—-often outlined in  ML language acquisition plans—-are guidelines for engaging MLs in disciplinary literacy at their level of English language proficiency. They are not a rigid set of rules. These supports allow the MLs to reach the same standards as English-proficient students. Many states even include “best practice” strategies that work for all students—-because good teaching is good teaching.

Accommodating for your MLs can feel overwhelming. Language acquisition plans can seem lengthy or vague. I encourage you to start your mindset shift by reading an ML language acquisition plan, start to finish—-not just the list of accommodations. Doing this will open your mind to what it really means to support MLs in your classroom.

Accommodation is not an afterthought

Planning a unit takes time and attention to detail. I often see teachers get to the end of a unit plan and realize that they must accommodate for their MLs. After investing so much energy into the core content, there’s little left to adapt it. The result? A translated test or reliance on digital translation tools.

But if your goal is to teach the language of your discipline, translation won’t be enough. It won’t help students develop the academic language needed to access the content. Not to mention—-this assumes a high level of native language literacy, that students may not have. There is a better way.

The best way to accommodate is to start from the beginning—-by pairing each standards-based learning target with a language target.

  • Learning targets focus on the knowledge or skills that students must master.
  • Language targets focus on the language students need to access and express that knowledge.

Together, they tell students what they are learning and how they’ll use language to show it. This is a key step in making disciplinary literacy accessible at any level of English proficiency.

Step 1: Accommodate Input

Students receive new information through instruction and texts. As you plan your unit, ask:

  • Where will ML students struggle with language?
  • How complex are the texts?
  • Which lessons or texts are essential for content mastery?

Feeling overwhelmed? Take a breath. Like riding a bike, the best way to learn to accommodate is to start—and keep trying.

Step 2: Accommodate Output

Once you have thought about how to scaffold input, turn to output —-how students will demonstrate understanding. This includes assessments, writing, and projects. Begin by:

  • Accommodating instructions.
  • Modeling expectations.
  • Using an adjusted grading rubric based on language level.

Accommodation does not have to be difficult

Creating Language Targets

My favorite way to create language targets is by using  AI  tools such as MagicSchool or Chat GPT. The key is crafting a simple prompt. Here’s an example:  

“Create a language target from this learning target [insert target] for a WIDA Level 2 English language learner. Include sentence frames.”

You may need to revise the AI output to best suit your needs—-but it’s a great place to start..

Accommodate Input: Lessons

Pre-teach vocabulary: 

Use your language and learning targets to create a list of 8-12 vocabulary words per unit. Avoid trying to teach too many at once. Use a pretest to narrow your list.

  • Create a word wall (physical or digital)
  • Create a glossary with native-language translations and student-friendly definitions
  • Refer to the word wall throughout lessons
  • Encourage students to use the word wall or glossary during class and assessments.

Add visuals:

Use pictures, charts, icons, or illustrations to emphasize meaning. AI tools can generate custom images.

Reduce cognitive load:

  • Give students a copy of your notes/slides (paper, digital, or both)
  • Encourage two language note-taking using resources like Read&Write or bilingual dictionaries
  • For higher level students, create fill-in the blank guided notes

Accommodate Input: Texts

Using grade-level texts is essential to ensure equitable access to rigorous content. When scaffolded appropriately, these texts allow MLs to develop the skills necessary to long-term success. Do not limit students with simplified or below-level texts.

Translanguaging:

Translanguaging harnesses the power of all of the student’s  languages to make learning more meaningful.

  • Allow students to annotate and summarize text in their own language.
  • Pair students with their native-language peers to discuss key points before sharing in English.
  • Encourage native-language drafting or brainstorming. 
  • Provide a native-language copy of side-by-side with English text (use a two-column table for display)
  • Offer native-language summaries (AI tools can generate these)

Accommodate Output: Assessments, projects, and writing

Instructions:

  • For lower level students, translate instructions yourself—-don’t rely on students to do it
  • Paste translations onto worksheets, post them in Google Classroom, or project them on your board
  • Review instructions—in English—before modeling

Modeling:

  • Always model tasks or show examples
  • Think-aloud while modeling
  • Show completed examples of writing or projects

Rubrics:

  • Use student-friendly rubrics aligned to their proficiency level
  • Include native-language translations of the criteria along with English
  • Use single-point rubrics for clarity

Sentence Frames and Stems:

  • Provide word or phrase banks for sentence frames
  • Use AI to generate frames and stems based on your learning and language targets

Multiple-Choice Tests:

  • For written response items, provide sentence frames with a wordbank.
  • Remove one incorrect answer choice
  • Repeat familiar vocabulary, language patterns, and visuals
  • Open-note tests

Accommodation is not a smooth road

This list will jump-start your dive into supporting disciplinary literacy for MLs. The first time you try something, it might not work perfectly. You may still see students struggle, even after accommodation. That’s okay.

Struggle is expected. You are lightening their cognitive load—-you cannot remove it entirely. The goal is to bring the content closer, so they can reach out and touch it, not jump and miss it altogether.

Sometimes a scaffold works like a charm—fantastic! But often, you will need to adjust. 

Keep trying, keep tweaking, keep going. 

You, and your students, will get there. 

 Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
 Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.

Carrie Rieder holds a Master’s in TESOL from Furman University and has over a decade of experience supporting multilingual learners. A certified Literacy Teacher and member of the Greenville County Impact Leadership cohort, she brings both academic and personal insight into language acquisition, shaped by raising bilingual children and living abroad. At Carolina High School, she teaches ESOL and sheltered English classes, working closely with colleagues to support the school’s high population of multilingual students.

Supporting Multilingual Language Learners in interdisciplinary literacy learning contexts

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by Dr. Elke Schneider, Winthrop University

Who are multilingual language learners?

Multilingual language learners (MLLs) in middle and high school settings are as uniquely different as any plant and animal life, as the human race itself. Their personal life stories, their own or their families’ immigration stories from the past make them fascinatingly diverse members of a classroom when it comes to learning disciplinary content such as social studies, science, math and even English Language Arts. For instance, many are born here in the United States and have only known schooling in America (called second generation immigrants) while others have distinct socio-emotional imprints from their migration story (first or 1.5 generation immigrants) with either no or partial schooling experiences in the country they left. Students who have spent much time in refugee camps or an otherwise long migration experience with no or hardly any schooling (Students with Interrupted Formal Education or SIFE students) require significantly different attention than those born in the US without such experiences.

One might think only of the ‘deficits’ MLLs may have regarding the disciplinary curriculum content and/or language and cultural competencies. However, this narrow view fails to consider that MLLs can be great assets in an interdisciplinary learning community because of their varied life and home culture experiences. As educators, we can provide support mechanisms for language and content issues and integrate MLLs as valuable contributors to interdisciplinary learning in which everyone’s life story and experiences provide meaningful pillars for learning.

What constitutes interdisciplinary literacy?

Interdisciplinary literacy is based on the understanding that literacy, the ability to read, write, hold critical, academic dialog about disciplinary content with active listening and speaking skills, is a vital component of learning in every content area, may that be science, social studies, English language arts or mathematics. Digital literacy skills can also be added to interdisciplinary literacy since much of today’s learning in middle and secondary schools involves using digital devices and learning how to use digital resources in effective and ethically appropriate ways. These components are all embedded in South Carolina’s recent Career Ready Standards (2024) as well as in new 2024 Read to Succeed Standards. Each content area discipline has discipline-specific questions that are asked and pursued along with unique vocabulary and sentence structures that are used in discipline specific readings and writing. These discipline-specific features are new for all students, not just MLLs, but MLLs in various language acquisition stages will require specific support to become comfortable in using these unique disciplinary literacy skills.

What is the challenge for multilingual language learners with interdisciplinary literacy?

Based on their life story and background knowledge on content, MLLs require different kinds of support. Most commonly, it is the content language support that is in focus. However, language acquisition and acculturation to the school system and way of life go hand in hand. The more safe and accepted MLLs feel in the learning community of the school and the classroom, the faster their language skills improve (Ariza & Coady, 2018). Their background knowledge on academic content is also a key factor in determining what kind of language and social-emotional support MLLs need to succeed in interdisciplinary learning.

How can we support MLLs in succeeding in interdisciplinary literacy?

While collaboration with the multilingual teacher is paramount when paying individual attention to MLLs’ socio-emotional and academic needs, the general education teacher plays a crucial role in helping MLLs succeed in the interdisciplinary learning settings common in middle and high schools. The ways MLLs can be supported include a) helping MLLs comprehend and use the codes of disciplinary literacy, including both language features and disciplinary procedures, b) utilizing and honoring MLLs’ home language and cultural /content knowledge, c) providing an interactive, collaborative, and trusting learning environment in which peers and teachers interact closely and teachers foster questions and dialog.  Here are some selected ideas how to ensure MLLs feel actively integrated in interdisciplinary learning.

Suggestions for content literacy instruction

Utilizing and honoring MLLs’ home language and cultural /content knowledge

  • Take time to develop a personal bond with your MLLs by spending lunch time in small groups with them or individually to build the trust based necessary for MLLs’ healthy risk taking in the challenging tasks of disciplinary literacy. In this process, find out about MLL’s home situations and cultural and academic background and interests so you can utilize that when helping students make personal connection to disciplinary literacy tasks.
  • Prior to any disciplinary literacy task and content introduction, activate MLLs’ prior knowledge by eliciting experiences from their home culturewhere appropriate (i.e., wild life, weather, socio-cultural routines, historic sites, life/historic events, or how basic math skills were taught in the home culture). Focus on making real life connections of the disciplinary literacy content/skill explicit. This provides MLLs with motivation to explore disciplinary language and content because they feel valued and see a real life connection.

Providing an interactive, collaborative, and trusting learning environment

  • When possible, build in station work in which students work collaboratively in teams, native speakers and MLLs mixed together so they naturally engage in problem-solving team work and language use prior to individual work or assessment tasks. For a different collaborative learning set up, pair MLLs up with a trusting peer (native speaker or MLL) to talk through the steps of a tasks before requiring written notes. (i.e. math task, comprehension questions, science report content)
  • Include project-based learningin which MLLs can engage hands-on without being at a linguistic disadvantage. Using foldables in which student can paste drawings to images with supporting phrases or given sentence frames allows MLLs to demonstrate gained knowledge. This can meaningfully replace a standard written exam. (for resources see Dinah Zike’s website: https://dinah.com)
  • Schedule regular personal or small group meetings to check on and provide individualized learning support and feedback on learning progress. This is much more easily done when the classroom is set up for station and group work so that individual or small group conferencing can naturally be integrated. This allows for personal teacher-student connections in which MLLs can ask questions that they otherwise might not dare ask in front of the whole group.

Helping MLLs comprehend and use the codes of disciplinary literacy

  • Explicitly teach content specific vocabulary in connection with common phrases and sentence frames typical for the discipline so that MLLs can get used to using these structures with the vocabulary.  In this practice, provide at least 10-20 opportunities for MLLs (and other students who struggle with academic language tasks) to orally use the content vocabulary and break multisyllabic words down first demonstrating how to say these words syllable by syllable and then blending them together into the whole word at natural pace after having gone slowly on each syllable. For instance, for the word ‘photosynthesis’, the teacher has students repeat several times “photo”, then “syn”. Then students are shown to blend “photosyn” together several times. Then “the” (with unvoiced TH and long E)”, then “sis”, then “thesis” and then all syllables together as a whole word pronounced as ‘photosynthesis” several times in whispering, loud, happy, grouchy, or stern tones of voices to make the repetition more fun. Then students practice using the word in given sentence frames with common verbs and structures used to discuss and write about photosynthesis.
  • For MLLs, vocabulary instruction includes Tier 1, 2, and Tier 3 vocabulary. Therefore, word and language structures at Tier 1 (basic common life vocabulary) and Tier 2 (words that can be used in common life and disciplinary-specific contexts)
  • Support learning resources with visuals such as graphic organizers, handouts, PowerPoint Presentations and posters (illustrations graphs, pictures) so MLLs can derive meaning from them. If content specific graphs or charts are used, do not assume that MLLs know how to interpret and use them. Instead, demonstrate explicitly how to gain information from them. This is an essential component of building visual literacy in the content areas.
  • Encourage and provide space on graphic organizers or other platforms, for MLLs to use in their home language to engage in interdisciplinary literacy learning. This assists in utilizing translanguaging and the use of the whole learner with their home and new culture knowledge. It also fosters a sense of being respected as a multilingual learner.
  • Visually display sentence frames typical for a given task. For instance, sentence frames needed to complete certain math task in all its steps or sentence frames to use to make statements about a science experiment, or sentence frames to talk or write about a comparison of historic facts or two poems. MLs can use such structures in oral reflection about content or a task they have completed. Since even standardized math exams require students to write down their reasoning for steps taken, practicing orally before asking students to write down their thoughts is crucial (for more on academic oral language practicing in content areas, see Zwiers reference below). These sentence frames can vary in complexity so that various language competencies can be addressed in a scaffolded way. The following table (Table 1) provides a selective collection of sentence structures commonly used in interdisciplinary literacy settings:

Table 1: Examples of Sentence Frames for oral and written tasks

Literacy contextFor oral dialogFor writing
Compare-contrast information…. is/look/feels like. But …. Is/feels/looks like….…. Is/has/can…. On the contrary/in contrast, …..When I look at…., on the one hand I notice…., on the other hand I see….   I hear you but I see x differently/ I have another perspective to offer. While you…., I think…. because….   I would like to add a contrasting point of view/argument….When comparing…., it is obvious that….. is/has/shows…… while….. is/shows/has….   In contrast to…., x can….. As opposed to …, X can … because…..While……., x can/does….Contrary to…., ……    
Cause and effect informationIn my observation of/experience with…, I see the cause for….. in……I think based on what I read in…/we saw in the video clip, …. happened because….I conclude/infer that … because/because of …..Because….., …. happened.Because I forgot to…., I miscalculated….One reason for…..seems to be…. since/because…..As a result of…., …..              X was/is caused by….. Due to……, ……… Consequently, Based on information by (author) on page,… …. resulted in….  
  • Use gap filling exercises or assessments only with word banks. This allows MLLs to find the correct word which they can only do if they can receptively recognize the correct word. You can place more than the needed words in the word bank to increase the challenge. Without word banks, MLLs in initial and medial language acquisition stages are put at unjust disadvantages.
  • Allow for digital translation devices to assist when needed and let students write their translanguage findings down in a digital or handwritten resource file/folder. Allow students to use this as a reference whenever needed. Discuss this approach with grade level teams so MLLs can use their resources across disciplines.
  • Provide opportunities forchoral or paired readingto increases MLLs’ linguistic confidence in interdisciplinary reading, writing oral tasks. In choral reading, teachers read sentence by sentence with appropriate intonation, pausing, phrasing and pronunciation in natural pace and ask students to repeat these modeled sentences aloud as a class chorally. Students follow along on their own printed text copy. Teachers select such sentences/passages for choral reading based on important information and vocabulary.
  • A variation is choral responses of essential content in phrases and sentences. The teacher mindfully makes an important statement and then has students chorally repeat that essential content once or twice by saying the information/sentence again but then letting students complete the sentence with the missing information.
  • In order to build basic content vocabulary and routine language for novice MLLs with next to no understanding of English, label classroom items, provide images/photos with supporting language underneath for content specific routines (i.e. science lab procedures, mathematical procedure). Do also for content specific items such as science, math, social studies, technology tools (i.e., cursor on screen, magnifying glass, microscope, ruler, compass, scale, historic timelines, poetry features)

Selected resources:

  • Ariza, E. N. & Coady, M. R. (2018). Why TESOL? Theories and issues in teaching English to speakers of other languages in K-12 classrooms. (5th edition). Kendall Hunt.
  • Blair, L., Oliveira de, L. C., & Avalos, M. A. (2024). Expanding teacher understanding of scaffolding for multilingual learners using a language-based approach to content instruction. TESOL in Context, 33(1), 25-42.
  • Harrell, A. & Jordan, M. (2019). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners (6th edition). Pearson.
  • Zwiers, J. (2019). Next steps with Academic conversations. New ideas for improving learning through classroom talk. Routledge.

 Macintosh HD:WINTHROP:FALL 2022_classes & tasks:IDA proposals for F22:BIO PIC Elke.png For over 20 years, Dr. Elke Schneider has been a professor of literacy, special education, and multilingual learner education at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Webinar: Multilingual Voices, Disciplinary Spaces: Literacy Practices for Equity and Inclusion

Webinar

Missed the live webinar? You can now access the recording of “Multilingual Voices, Disciplinary Spaces: Literacy Practices for Equity and Inclusion”! Held on June 17, panelists Shari Revels-Davis, Jasmine Lauer, Diana Vargas Hager, and Carrie Rieder discussed proper resources for MLLs, how to navigate linguistic & cultural diversity, centering MLLs’ identities, and leveraging multilingualism as an asset.

Webinar: Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise

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Missed the live webinar? You can now access the recording of “Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise”! Held on May 29, 2025, this insightful session members were Nikki Upchurch and Haleigh Jo Baker. Discover how Nikki, a middle grade teacher, and Haleigh, a high school math teacher, engage in creative and effective literacy practices that support classroom learning.

Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise

Performing Poetry: How Music Shapes Poetic Analysis

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Missed the live webinar? You can now access the recording of “Performing Poetry: How Music Shapes Poetic Analysis”! Held on April 24, 2025, this insightful session led by Catheryn Cofield explored the powerful connection between musical literacy and deeper poetic analysis for grades 6-12 educators. Discover practical strategies to illuminate complex elements of spoken word and poetry, such as cadence and structure, using the universal language of music. Learn how to reinforce key reading skills and enhance student engagement, as presented by music educator Catheryn Cofield. Click the link below to watch the recording and unlock new ways to connect your students with poetry!

About the Author

Ms. Colfield is a first-year teacher serving at Chester Middle School in Chester, SC. She graduated from Anderson University in 2024 with her bachelor’s in Vocal Music education and is currently serving as both a general music teacher and choir director at her school. She believes musical literacy is a key component of any competent music program and one of the greatest tools that a developing reader can have.