Understanding and Supporting Multilingual Learners in the Classroom: Teacher Perspectives

Understanding and supporting multilingual learners (MLs) is critically important to the field of education. This topic addresses the need for effective inclusive practices that embrace the cognitive and cultural assets that multilingualism brings. Effective teaching practices and improved student performance are direct outcomes of teachers being well-prepared to support MLs.Participants will be able to: 1. Identify and articulate the cognitive, cultural, and academic benefits of multilingualism, recognizing how these assets can be leveraged to enhance student learning and classroom equity. 2. Implement culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive instructional strategies, such as translanguaging and the Six Cs of Support, to scaffold content and language development effectively. 3. Reflect critically on their current teaching practices and adapt them to better meet the needs of multilingual learners through intentional planning, language-integrated instruction, and the use of students’ home languages as instructional resources.