• Content-based language learning is considered one of the best ways for students to learn a language (Gibbons, 2015; Tedick and Wesley, 2015; Walqui and Van Lier, 2010; Bunch et. al., 2005).
• Here are some of the key features of the content-based literacy components of the curriculum (Module Lessons, K-2 Labs, 3-5 ALL Block) that are most supportive to multilingual learners’ English language development.  
  • The Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle

Read: Successful language development hinges on input, both in the form of reading and listening to expert texts and media, peers, and teachers. 

Think: Multilingual learners need time to think to internally process and comprehend not only the content (or input) they are absorbing, but also the academic English used to communicate that content. 

Talk: Beyond input, output is a crucial contributor to language development. Output is the opportunity to talk as part of a process of “negotiating meaning” with peers and teachers. During negotiation of meaning, a multilingual learner may say or write something that peers and teachers either understand or are confused by. When confusion ensues, multilingual learners can “repair” their language output using cues given to them by peers or teachers, thus helping the multilingual learner to advance or develop their language skills. These cues can include a peer or teacher providing an explicit correction or modeling of a comprehensible way of saying the intended meaning. This oral rehearsal provides multilingual learners with the time they need to formulate what they want to say and write, and then reformulate their speech if necessary, based on any confusion, correction, or modeling from their peers. Talk time is a non-negotiable for successful writing for multilingual learners.

Write: Writing is also a type of output, a way of practicing using academic English to express intended meaning, and of having readers respond to your writing with resonance or confusion or wonder. Multilingual learners benefit from multiple drafts as an opportunity to refine their academic language use to express their intended meaning.

The Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle translates well as a Read for Input-Think to Process Language-Talk to Negotiate and Write-Write to Negotiate Cycle for multilingual learners. 

In addition, Language Maker Routines dovetail nicely with the Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle. For example, Conversation Cues, Hear It, Say It, Write It, and Sentence Language Dives can be used in all parts of the cycle, and Write Together works very well during the Talk-Write portions.

• Engaging with Complex Texts:  “There is only one way to acquire the language of literacy, and that is through literacy itself. Why? Because the only place students are likely to encounter these structures and patterns is in the materials they read. And that is possible only if the texts they read in school are written in such language. Complex texts provide school age learners reliable access to this language, and interacting with such texts allows them to discover how academic language works” (Fillmore and Fillmore, 2012, p. 2)  

• Student Discourse: Conversation between students is crucial for multilingual learners’ language development because successful language development hinges on oral interaction and “just in time” negotiation of meaning, or the opportunity for a multilingual learner to synchronously “try out” new academic language to see if they can be understood, or to immediately “repair” their language if they aren’t understood. Extensive and ongoing oral practice opportunities to try out and repair language are critical prerequisites to prepare multilingual learners for writing.
• Writing for Understanding: A central premise of the Writing for Understanding approach is that students need to deeply understand a topic to use writing structures and tools effectively. The writing process includes building content knowledge, planning, revising, editing, and rewriting or trying a new approach. These components parallel the typical writing process for multilingual learners: engage, make meaning, discover, apply, and reflect. 

• Language Maker Routines: Language Maker Routines deepen students’ understanding and contribute to oral interaction, writing practice, and student-engaged assessment. Furthermore, they represent the highest-leverage routines that teachers can use throughout the Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle to ensure successful academic language development for students. Once teachers and students internalize these routines, they can transfer them to any topic, text, target, or task.

• Language Focus Learning Targets: The Daily Learning Targets: Language Focus support students’ growth for the highest-priority language required to meet the demands of the module assessments and performance task. The Language Focus targets align with the lesson’s other Daily Learning Targets as well as college- and career-ready standards and English language development standards.