Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Inspiring Multilingual Children To Explore The Natural World Using Nature-Based Literature, Jennifer Hill, Deborah Wheeler

Journal of English Learner Education

Nature-based learning has become more popular in the United States since COVID-19, and incorporating nature-based learning including books about the natural world aligns with children’s natural curiosity, and desire to actively explore through play. Indeed, nature-based learning has many benefits ranging from supporting child development, promoting social-emotional well-being, and creating an inclusive learning environment for multilingual students. Reading nature-based literature and providing access to nature-based literature is a holistic methodology teachers should include in their classroom. This paper highlights the benefits of nature-based learning and provides a variety of topics and resources teacher can utilize.

Teaching Isixhosa As A First Additional Language In Former Model C Schools: Implications For Educator Experiences In The Harry Gwala District, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Lundi Nomlala, Lwandile Ncam

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This paper explored educators' experiences of teaching isiXhosa as First Additional Language (FAL) in former Model C schools in the Harry Gwala District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study aimed to understand practical teaching approaches that enhance linguistic diversity and improve IsiXhosa proficiency while addressing systemic challenges. A qualitative case study design was employed, using semi-structured interviews with five IsiXhosa FAL teachers across three schools. The findings revealed the need for partnerships between schools and communities, curriculum revision, including mentorship and professional development for teachers, collaborative learning, and the effective use of technology. However, challenges such as unequal language recognition, insufficient …

At A Crossroads: Is English-Only Gaining New Ground In U.S. Education Policy?, Joao Goebel

SPACE: Student Perspectives About Civic Engagement

This article explores the implications of the recent Executive Order declaring English the official language of the United States, situating it within the historical context of English-only ideology and its impact on multilingual learners. While framed as a unifying policy, the order revokes Executive Order 13166, reducing federal protections for language access and echoing past efforts to marginalize non-English languages in schools. Drawing on precedents from 19th-century monolingual policies to Proposition 227, the article argues the order signals a renewed shift toward restrictive, subtractive approaches, offering an "educated guess" about their potential return and consequences. The analysis considers broader impacts …

A Journey And A Roadmap: Lessons Learned From Co-Creating An After-School Art Program With/For Newcomer Youth From Refugee Communities., Sally Anne Ball

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on my participation in a project developed in collaboration with a non-profit organization, Canopy NWA, with a goal to design and implement an after-school art program for newcomer youth from refugee communities that Canopy serves. This research inquiry is a self- study supported by observation, reflexive practice, and the use of a critical friend for mentorship, collaborative planning, group reflection, and co-developing and co-teaching curriculum. Through investigating my current teaching practices and my lack of experience teaching students from refugee communities, I set out to answer the following two questions: How will my art teaching practices develop, …

Translanguaging In Indonesian Efl Classrooms: Pedagogical Insights And Student Perspectives, Fauzi Miftakh, Elih Sutisna Yanto, Annisa Fitria Harjadi

The Qualitative Report

This study investigates translanguaging practices in Indonesian secondary English classrooms and analyzes how teachers and students use multiple languages to enrich the learning experience. Drawing on observations, interviews, and field notes from two teachers and four students in West Java, the study found that translanguaging fosters student comprehension, confidence, and identity affirmation. Teachers strategically used English, Indonesian, and Sundanese to scaffold instruction across various phases, creating an inclusive learning environment. Students responded positively, pointing to a reduction in anxiety and improved participation. These findings are consistent with sociocultural learning theories and challenge monolingual ideologies. The study concludes that translanguaging is …

Volume 8 (2025) The Spanish Language, Language Variations, Cultures And Responsibility

International Journal on Responsibility

This issue reflects an intentional and profound commitment to linguistic inclusion, cultural diversity, and the shared responsibility of scholars to broaden the scope of academic dialogue beyond the boundaries of English. The essays collected here invite us to reimagine bilingualism not only as a communicative skill but also as a moral, social, and institutional responsibility.

Esta edición representa un compromiso intencional y profundo con la inclusión lingüística, la diversidad cultural y la responsabilidad compartida de ampliar los horizontes del diálogo académico más allá de los límites del inglés. Los ensayos aquí reunidos nos invitan a reimaginar el bilingüismo no solo …

Improving Multilingual Competence In Higher Education: An Integrated Framework For Parallel Learning Of Two Foreign Languages, Aiym Kontek, Albina Dossanova, Galiya Kulzhanbekova

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The study aims to create a comprehensive framework for the effective organization of parallel teaching of two foreign languages in higher education in Kazakhstan, accounting for linguistic, psychological, didactic, and technological aspects.

Methods: We used theoretical (modeling, analysis, and generalization) and empirical methods (pedagogical experiment, testing, questionnaires, and methods of mathematical statistics) in the research. An original structural and content model of parallel learning was developed, including interrelated blocks for the integrated formation of speech activity skills and a lexico–grammatical base in each of the languages. The effectiveness of the proposed model was confirmed during the pedagogical experiment, which …

Jmer Volume 13

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Empowering Multilingual Learners Through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy And Arts-Based Learning In Burkina Faso, Inoussa Malgoubri

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation explores how culturally sustaining pedagogy and arts-based learning can engage multilingual learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Burkina Faso. The research emphasizes the incorporation of local cultural elements and learners' linguistic backgrounds into the EAL curriculum to address challenges such as limited classroom interactions (Somé-Guiebré, 2020) and monolingual instructional strategies with inadequate cultural representation (Ndlangamandla, 2024). This qualitative study integrates culturally relevant materials, including Forum Theater, slam poetry, and griot-style storytelling, to create an engaging and inclusive learning environment. Data consisted of observation, images from arts-based workshops and pre- and post-workshop interviews with selected teachers …

Rising Tides Lift All Boats: Significant Disproportionate Identification Of Latine Students In The Eligibility Category Of Specific Learning Disability, Erica Gordon

Educational Leadership Professional Doctorate Dissertations

The study explored the complex problem of practice (POP) of significant disproportionate identification of Latine multilingual learner (ML) students in the special education eligibility category of specific learning disability (SLD). The study employed improvement science as its methodological framework. Integral partners and a leadership team from a rural Oregon district reviewed the literature and used a root cause analysis to identify six causes behind these outcomes. Iterative plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles test with concise data collection, enabling real-time adjustments and improvements within the improvement cycle was used to implement two change ideas. These prioritized change ideas resulted in the implementation of …

Non-Plus Ultra Ideologies In Multilingual Teacher Education Research: Towards Real Inclusion, David Martinez-Prieto, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this duo autoethnography, we reflect on the ideologies prevailing in the United States regarding the use of English as the de facto academic language. In a parallel manner, we analyze the ideologies embedded in the rejection of academic variations in other languages (i.e., Spanish and Mandarin). We collected data from 2016 to 2023 in physical and digital spaces while interacting with U.S. academia. To analyze our experiences, we used a framework that combined critical literacies and language ideologies. We found the rejection of non-English academic domains related to structural and epistemological ideologies present in some U.S. institutions and among …

Introduction To The Special Topics Issue On Rural Multilingual Education, Maria Coady, Diego Román

The Rural Educator

No abstract provided.

Escuchemos Las Voces Bilingües De Nuestros Educadores Rurales: Who And What Matters For The Education Of Secondary English Learners In A Rural Florida School Community, Nidza V. Marichal

The Rural Educator

Guided by constructive epistemology and grounded in Greenwood’s place-conscious education theory and critical race theory in education, (CRT), this narrative-informed qualitative study critically examines how the lived experiences of three bilingual educators shape their work with English Learners (ELs or multilingual learners, MLs) in a Florida rural school community. Primary data consist of videorecorded interviews and photo elicitation that illuminated teachers’ told life narratives. Findings from this study demonstrate that the voices of the bilingual teachers matter for improving EL education in this rural community. The teachers’ reflections about their “ontological-becoming,” their engagement with the rural school community, and the …

Multilingual Educators In Superdiverse Rural Schools: Placing Administrators And Teachers’ Cultural And Linguistic Wealth At The Center Of Rural Education, Carla Paciotto, Gloria A. Delany-Barmann

The Rural Educator

Centered on reconceptualizations of “rural” and “rurality” that reimagine and transcend the “traditional imaginaries” of rural educational settings as places of disadvantage and isolation, this article presents the partial results of a mixed methods study funded by the Spencer Foundation about expanded and pivotal roles played by rural multilingual (ML) teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators in two rural school districts located in U.S. Midwest COVID-19 hotspots. The pandemic made the historical struggles and inequities that ML students face in U.S. schools glaringly evident, as ML families experienced a disproportionately negative impact of the virus on their health and financial stability and …

Aspirational Mexican American Parenting In The Rural South: Multilingualism, Hard Work, And The Middle Class, Alma D. Stevenson, Scott Beck

The Rural Educator

This study examined the parenting choices of Mexican-heritage former child migrant farmworkers who are now financially stable and raising their own children in the rural South. The study yielded multiple significant findings using data collected during semi-structured, bilingual focus groups and analyzed through grounded theory coding. The participants spoke of painful childhood memories of how their poverty and biculturalism left them isolated. Now, as adults, they have sought middle-class belonging for themselves and their children. They described their “pedagogies of the home” as seeking to preserve their linguistic heritage, teach the value of hard work, and facilitate their children’s upward …

Leveraging Innovative Digital Media Technology: Voicing Scholarship On Multilingual Education, Ming Zhu

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Volume 12 of the Journal of Multilingual Education Research introduces their first two podcast episodes. These provide an insightful look at the editors of the journal. The first features an interview with JMER’s senior editor, Dr. Aída A. Nevárez-La Torre, in which she spoke about how inspiration, passion, and motivation led her to create JMER. The second presents JMER’s associate editors and editorial assistants, as well as their roles within JMER. This episode informs listeners about the journal’s sections, including Theory and Research, Practice, and Book/Multimedia Reviews and what the editors look for when screening submissions. …

Improving Second Language Learning Through Performance-Based Assessment Practices, Maria Granados

Dissertations

From the time of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) to the present day, standardized testing has become the benchmark measure for student assessment and school accountability in the United States. Multilingual learners are a vulnerable population with more testing and accountability requirements than mainstream students. Not only are they required to learn a second language, but they are also assessed within the same standardized testing paradigms as their peers - native speakers of the English language. This study aimed to examine and evaluate the benefits of instructional practices and assessments that provide multilingual students and teachers prompt and …

Socio-Cultural And Educational Aspects Of Multilingual Multicultural Learners And Communities, Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This volume of JMER represents a research-based consideration of several elements of language acquisition and use and seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of how multilingual learners acquire and apply their knowledge of language and culture.

Jmer Publication Description & Guidelines For Submission

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Notes On Contributors To This Volume

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Jmer Volume 11 Full Volume

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (Mtb Mle), Ni Komang Darmini

International Programs

Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) is an educational program for helping ethnic minority children that rarely speak the national language. Firstly, in early grades, children will learn only in their native language, with other language(s) added in later years. The research studies presented here examine the effectiveness of MTB MLE program in improving students’ academic achievement in Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines.

Jmer Volume 10

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

No abstract provided.

Liberating Instruction: A Critical Bilingual Literacy Approach For Latinx Students, Anel V. Suriel

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article reviews Dr. Carla España and Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera’s En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices of Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Though a critical bilingual literacies approach, the language practices, experiences and cultural histories of Latinx students are centered for literacy instruction in grades 3-8. Before instruction begins, the authors support educational practitioners in creating equitable educational and language stances that hold students’ language practices in a strength perspective. Each chapter that follows details and explains a thematic unit of student that guides educators in creating lessons based on students’ experiences and are summarized within this review. …

Mother Tongue, Please!, Anannya Chakraborty

Teacher India

There is sufficient research to show that mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) can help improve learning levels of students. Anannya Chakraborty discusses the key role of teachers in driving MTB-MLE and the systemic challenges of successfully engaging teachers in such programmes.

Best Practices For A Translingual Pedagogy: An Undergraduate Perspective, Jacob S. Wilson

University Honors Theses

This thesis traces the last nine years of translingual scholarship in the hopes of theorizing best practices to enact a translingual pedagogy in first year composition (FYC) contexts. Despite translingual theory’s high profile in the field, scholars like Ligia Mihut (2019) have brought attention to the fact that little has been done to bring translingual theory into classrooms. After reviewing relevant literature in Composition Studies, the author explores how translingual tenets can be implemented within current university curricula. Through three well-established pedagogical approaches, the author suggests, instructors can adopt translingual practices that support students’ linguistic agency and challenge monolingual ideologies. …

6th Grade: English Level 3, Learning Packet #5 • Theme: Aztecs, Mayans, & Incas, Amanda Mclaughlin, Lauren Gatti, Alexa Yunes

ICMEE Learning Packets: Level 3 of English Proficiency (K-12)

This week you will travel back in time to the civilizations of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca. These three civilizations built great cities throughout Central America and South America, also known as Mesoamerica. Their inventions and culture can still be found in these regions today!

Day 1 • Ancient Mesoamerica Vocabulary, Mesoamerica: Where Civilizations Flourished, and Crashed, Repeatedly, Map of Mesoamerica Scavenger Hunt, What is PEMDAS?

Day 2 • Aztec Primary Source, Mayan Xocolatl, Order of Operations

Day 3 • Suspension Bridges, Mayan Girls use their language skills to help immigrants from Guatemala, Roll an equation

Day 4 • Math …

7th–8th Grade: English Level 3, Learning Packet #4 • Theme: Disasters #4, Caryn G. Jones, Lauren Gatti, Alexa Yunes

ICMEE Learning Packets: Level 3 of English Proficiency (K-12)

Exploring Survivor Stories, Grades 7-8

We've already explored a few survivor stories, but we're going to look at a few other experiences. This week we are going to take a look at the stories of people, kids in particular, who have experienced disasters and lived to tell about them. We're going to take a look at their encounters with natural disasters to understand how they withstood these dangers.

Lesson 1 • It's going to BLOW!, Mountain of fire, Meetings challenges

Lesson 2 • Too hot to handle, Lost in Death Valley, Meeting challenges

Lesson 3 • Cold enough for you?, …

6th Grade: English Level 3, Learning Packet #3 • Theme: China, Amanda Mclaughlin, Aaron P. Johnson, Alexa Yunes

ICMEE Learning Packets: Level 3 of English Proficiency (K-12)

Thinking Skills Glossary

Question Words

Ancient China Vocabulary

A Look at China's Ruling Dynasty's Throughout History

Natural Barriers in Ancient China

Intro to Percentages

Chinese Zodiac

The Ballad of Mulan

Finding Percentages

Tangrams

Ancient Chinese Dynasties

Finding Percentages: Riddle

The Silk Road

Giant Panda vs. Red Panda

Discounts, Tips, and Taxes

Vocabulary Story

Chinese Philosophy: What Would They Do?

Percent Mystery Picture

Weekly Reflection

My Packet Journal

Reference Sheet

Answer Keys

11th–12th Grade: English Level 3, Learning Packet #2 • Theme: Space, Katie Loughrist, Lauren Gatti, Alexa Yunes

ICMEE Learning Packets: Level 3 of English Proficiency (K-12)

Lesson 1 • Space: Outer space and inner space, Vocabulary

Lesson 2 • Get some space! Strengthen your body & clear your mind

Lesson 3 • Measuring distances to galaxies by Jonathan D. Davis

Lesson 4 • X= space: using algebra to study the solar system, Use PEMDAS to simplify the expressions

Lesson 5 • Lonely as a cloud: poetry inspiring art, Reflection: a focus on space

Reference Sheet

Answer Keys