Leveraging Multilingual Learners’ Home Language for Academic Achievement

Abstract

This project seeks to support staff, educators and administrators working with Multilingual Learners (MLs) at Roosevelt Children’s Academy Charter School (RCA). Formerly hosting mostly African American students English native speakers, now RCA has a growing number of MLs whose potential is not fully explored. Their failure to succeed academically is greatly impacted by lack of integration of home language into classroom practices. Although the achievement gap between MLs and native-English speakers is also attributed to other factors such as income, state policies, access to resources, and community support, we will focus our attention on restrictive language practices in schools. Restrictive language practices lead to academic failure and school dropout, inability to form a positive cultural identity, isolation, and home language loss which leads to alienation from family and community. To solve this problem a schoolwide shift to a translanguaging pedagogy is suggested. This shift will begin with a schoolwide professional development that aims to educate teacher and staff on the latest research, theories, and classroom practices that incorporate translanguaging flexibly and purposefully, as a tool for social justice and academic success. Recommendations include continuous support and feedback for classroom teachers as they shift their practices, bi-weekly in-house faculty meeting (to further discuss research, classroom observations, challenges in applying a translanguaging mindset, successful stories, student work samples), and a new lesson plan to include translanguaging goals.