A Focus on Early Literacy: Rethinking Core Materials for Multilingual Learners
Right now, California is actively transforming the early literacy landscape with new policies, committed budgets, and dedicated professional learning designed for all K–5 teachers to specifically address student reading needs. The potential for change is real.
At the same time, in California, as in many other states, instructional leaders are making critical choices about TK–3 literacy curricula and implementation. Decisions made now about materials adoption will affect teaching and learning for years to come. Curriculum adoption alone is far from sufficient for the four in ten California students who enter classrooms speaking a language other than English at home. Yet, it is an essential first step.
Upcoming ELA adoptions, paired with early literacy policies and the current landscape, make it even more urgent to maximize this moment for early literacy materials in California. But, in order to identify, adopt and implement early literacy materials that are aligned to the ELA/ELD Framework and responsive to MLL needs, we must understand the specific and unique research that highlights the additional considerations necessary for multilingual learners to become truly literate.
The Full Picture of Literacy Development for MLLs
Current research shows us that skilled reading is not a singular skill; it is an integrated process requiring decoding, language comprehension, and bridging skills like vocabulary development, fluency and students’ awareness of their own understanding while reading. In other words, rather than treating word recognition and language comprehension as completely separate processes, the research shows that successful reading requires bridging processes, the interactive skills that connect the two. Every component, including bridging, requires intentional, explicit instructional focus in TK–3 classrooms.
For multilingual learners however, this model must expand. Building on this research and framework, ELSF has identified five core components that distinguish genuinely MLL-responsive early literacy materials and instruction:
- Integrated Language and Literacy Development: Language development cannot be a peripheral add-on; it must be a core driver of literacy. Foundational skills must explicitly connect to meaningful language use. For example, when students practice decoding, those specific words should immediately be used in structured academic conversations and writing tasks so that word recognition fuels broader language expansion.
- Extensive Oral Language Development: Decoding a word without knowing what it means is merely sound-matching, often called "word calling." MLLs are frequently constrained by language comprehension rather than basic word recognition. True reading requires the complete circuit: connecting spelling, sound, and deep meaning. Because students build thorough word knowledge gradually through spoken exposure, rich oral language development is the indispensable foundation of meaningful reading.
- Systematic Knowledge Building: High-quality materials must activate and expand upon the rich background knowledge students bring from their homes and communities. Honoring students' prior knowledge validates their lived experiences and makes complex academic concepts highly accessible. Building knowledge through robust, content-rich units provides MLLs with the necessary context to acquire specific vocabulary and understand complex texts.
- Deep Support for Meaning-Making: Instruction must move beyond basic decoding and rote recall to ensure students critically analyze, discuss, and internalize complex ideas. If early literacy instruction overemphasizes isolated mechanical skills at the expense of higher-order thinking, it reduces the MLL learning experience to basic mechanics and risks widening equity gaps. A lack of focus on meaning-making is a primary reason why students start to fall behind in reading comprehension by the third and fourth grades.
- Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness: Effective materials must honor and leverage the linguistic assets students already possess in their primary languages. This involves providing systematic guidance on cross-linguistic connections, such as identifying cognates, and actively promoting strategies that engage students' full linguistic abilities while partnering with families to build biliteracy.
These five pillars are not optional enrichments for districts serving multilingual students - they are the non-negotiable baseline for educational equity. When any pillar is absent from instructional materials or classroom practice, MLLs are systematically underserved.
Educational leaders must rigorously evaluate materials for these core components before adopting them. When adopted materials fall short, districts must provide targeted professional learning to equip teachers to adapt and strengthen lessons for classroom diversity.
Selecting quality materials is only the prelude; implementation after adoption is where the rubber meets the road in driving MLL reading outcomes.
High-quality instructional materials cannot succeed in a vacuum. Educational leaders and teachers across California and nationwide consistently emphasize that lasting literacy gains require a robust system of support, funding, and professional infrastructure. Statewide literacy initiatives in states accelerating outcomes for MLLs and minoritized students treat literacy legislation not as policy mandates or curriculum shifts, but as systemic equity initiatives. Rather than passing a sweeping mandate and leaving underfunded schools to navigate implementation alone, these states deploy targeted funding, human resources, and hyper-local accountability directly to the communities and schools that need them most.
The opportunity is here for California and other states. Let’s maximize it so all students, including MLLs, gain the literacy skills they need to succeed in later grades and beyond.
Resources for Instructional Leaders
Two ELSF resources provide essential operational guidance for leaders establishing MLL-responsive early literacy systems:
- ELSF Early Childhood Guidelines for Multilingual Learners — a research-grounded framework for evaluating early literacy and math materials against MLL needs.
- ELSF Designated ELD Guidelines — essential criteria for high-quality Designated ELD instruction that amplifies and extends core academic language rather than operating in isolation.
ELSF also partners with county and district leaders to support them in the adoption and implementation of high-quality materials, including early literacy materials, that are responsive to MLL needs. Schedule a call with our team to learn more.
