Sep 20, 2024

The Importance of Coherently Embedded Language Development Supports

Written by

ELSF Staff

By effective, we mean that content area language is explicitly introduced, spiraled, and connected coherently over units to develop conceptual understanding and analytical skills. Instead, we typically see language scaffolds focused more at the lesson level, and while important, they don’t connect and extend across lessons to the unit level. This intentional design benefits all students, but is essential for MLLs in language development.

However, coherent language development support is an essential component of a linguistically responsive curriculum that enables multilingual learners (ML) students to participate equitably in grade-level learning and successfully meet the standards of the grade. While perspectives from researchers and practitioners on content area language development have shifted (e.g. every teacher is a language teacher in their subject area), language supports in lesson and task design still do not progressively build to culminate in the skills assessed at the end of a unit.

Publishers: are your instructional materials designed with coherence in language development across units and over time? What are the components of a language-coherent curriculum? Below, we outline six components of a language-coherent curriculum. Additional context and explanation can be found in ELSF’s Guidelines.

Designing for the progression of students’ language practices over time by sequencing language development across units,
Making academic language connections across the curriculum to raise students’ awareness of how language is used in various contexts,
Supporting authentic language learning experiences that are relevant to students’ lives,
Designing formative assessment opportunities that support teachers in progressing students’ language development day-by-day, and
Focusing on the discourse features students need to interpret and produce coherent and meaningful texts.

Benefits of a Coherent Curriculum for Teachers and Multilingual Learners

We know that design decisions require an investment of time and resources. So, what are the benefits to the users? Both teachers and students will benefit immensely from language supports designed coherently across tasks, lessons, and units in all K-12 instructional materials. With a systematic approach to language development, teachers and multilingual learners will likely experience the following:

Enhanced Teaching and Learning: Guidance for progressively building language skills supports teachers who have yet to build this expertise and are asking for guidance in providing effective language support. By building on previous language and knowledge, students develop a deeper understanding of concepts and retain information more effectively.
Increased Engagement: A structured curriculum that gradually introduces new language and builds language over time helps teachers provide entry points to grade-level work and challenges ML students in a supportive way, boosting confidence and motivation.
Effective Language Skill Development: Consistent focus on key language elements in the context of the unit helps teachers focus on the most important language to teach and leads to stronger language proficiency.
Improved Transferability: Teacher guidance for supporting interdisciplinary academic language can help ML students apply their language skills confidently in various contexts and situations.

Creating instructional materials that are coherently designed for content AND language development is a strategic investment in ML students' success. By carefully considering these key aspects, content developers can foster a rich and engaging learning environment that empowers students to become proficient communicators within academic disciplines.

Follow our next blogs in which we expand on the key features of coherent materials’ design. What does it look like to sequence and progressively promote language development across units? How can publishers make content and language authentic and relevant to students’ lives? How do we develop discourse features in tasks, lessons, and units? What does effective teacher guidance for formative assessment of language and content look like?

Want to learn more about coherent HQIM design principles? Join ELSF in Atlanta, Georgia on Oct 29-30 for our annual content developer convening: Shaping a Coherent Future for High-Quality Instructional Materials for Multilingual Learners.

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Jack has an academic appointment as the Director of Research at youcubed at Stanford University, documenting the effectiveness of youcubed’s learning opportunities including Jo Boaler’s online courses in mathematical mindset and other youcubed research-based practices and materials. Prior to joining youcubed, Jack was the associate director for curriculum at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE), where he led the math team in performance assessment development. As a scholar of teaching, Jack’s additional research interest is in the area of “language for mathematical purposes”, especially for English learners. Jack was an Senior Advisor, Mathematics at ELSF. He advised on reviews of math curricular materials to support language development. Jack received his doctorate in mathematics education at Stanford GSE in 2009, co-advised by Jo Boaler and Linda Darling-Hammond. For the past 16 years, Jack has served as an instructor in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), Jack continues to consult across the country and internationally in China, Brazil, and Chile in the areas of math education and teacher learning.

Renae Skarin has almost 30 years of experience working with English learner and minoritized populations through research, advocacy, and program development and implementation with educators nationwide and abroad. She currently serves as the Senior Advisor for Content at the English Learners Success Forum (ELSF) where she leads its research efforts to identify strategies and develop resources for improving education policies and practices with regard to high quality instructional materials for multilingual learners. Before joining ELSF she served as an associate researcher at Understanding Language at Stanford University. She received her M.A. in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and did Doctoral studies in Educational Linguistics at Stanford University.

The mission of the English Learners Success Forum (ELSF) is to collaborate with field-leading researchers, district leaders, teachers, content creators, and education funders to improve the supply and accessibility of high-quality K-12 mainstream instructional materials that address the linguistic and cultural needs of ELs while building smart demand to reach educators at scale – all with the goal of providing ELs full access to grade-level content and quality learning. Unlike most efforts that aim to improve EL learning outcomes, ELSF focuses exclusively on ensuring that full-year core instructional materials guide teachers in addressing these students’ varying needs.