Literacy Matters Vol. 25 Winter 2025

My Talker Matters: Providing Bi/Multilingual Students Communication Support to Enhance Their Literacy Skills

by Alexis Lawton

Lastly, learning a new language can affect social-emotional skills, causing students to feel less motivated, confident, and willing to engage in literacy activities. Effective literacy instruction for bi/multilingual students requires an inclusive approach that values their linguistic backgrounds and incorporates strategies that bridge their languages, ultimately promoting literacy as a dynamic, transferable skill across contexts. Anecdote As a school-based speech-language pathologist, 14% of the students on my caseload are emergent bilingual or multilingual learners. Out of the 14%, I have a few students who are using either a low-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), such as a printable picture communication board, or a high-tech AAC device, such as a speech-generative device or tablet. Throughout the school year, I work to ensure they can functionally use their device to the point that it naturally extends their communication and academic abilities. It requires ongoing collaboration among me, the teachers, the ESOL teacher, the district interpreter, and the families. One significant obstacle to successful collaboration is that I am often the sole source of AAC expertise within the school. Despite having a few years of experience, I am considered the ‘expert’ in speech-language pathology, encompassing AAC, bi/ multilingualism, and literacy.. Through my education and training, I learned that an AAC device is an individual’s voice and shouldn’t only be used during a specific activity but in that individual’s daily routine. AAC promotes literacy by providing visual and auditory support to help students learn vocabulary, sentence patterns, alphabet knowledge, and grammar. It doesn’t hinder a student’s native or second language skills. Instead, it promotes language by providing themwith an additional communication modality, whether text, pictures, or other symbols. AAC is individualized, so it can be programmed in the student’s native language, and the output can be in English for monolingual educators to understand. Challenges also arise regarding access to and consistent engagement with AAC devices, in addition to a general lack of AAC knowledge among staff. Unfortunately, I often encounter situations where the student’s AAC device is either absent from the classroom or remains unused throughout the school day. I educate teachers and paraprofessionals that literacy skills are required for almost everything we do, not just reading and writing assignments. We need these skills to follow instructions on where to go, what/when to take medicine, how to write a shopping list, what aisle to go on in the store, among other daily activities. What’s the point of only being able to utilize the device during literacy block but not using it to ask

The Relationship Between Bi/ Multilingual Students and Literacy The relationship between bi/multilingual students and literacy is complex and multifaceted. Literacy skills are particularly vital for bi/multilingual students for several reasons. Research shows that these students often possess unique skills that can enhance their literacy development. Being proficient or fluent in multiple languages allows them to transfer cognitive and linguistic skills across languages, fostering greater metalinguistic awareness. This ability can improve comprehension and analytical skills when engaging with texts, as they can draw on different linguistic frameworks to interpret meaning. Strong literacy skills enable them to follow instructions and complete tasks effectively, which leads to gaining an understanding of academic content across all subjects. As these students improve their literacy skills, they also enhance their vocabulary, grammar, and overall language proficiency in English, ultimately improving communication, critical thinking skills, personal development, and academic achievement. Literacy facilitates their cultural integration by helping them understand their new environment’s language, customs, and norms. By allowing them to communicate with friends, teachers, and faculty, it helps with their social-emotional development by allowing them to feel confident to participate, share their thoughts, and ideas, which will ultimately make them feel less excluded. Challenges to Bi/Multilingual Students Literacy Development Nevertheless, bi/multilingual students often face challenges that affect their literacy development. These challenges mainly occur in educational settings where the focus is primarily on one dominant language (i.e., English). Societal attitudes towards bi/ multilingualism can impact students’ confidence and motivation. As stated above, a certain level of proficiency in English is required for literacy development. Without it, these students will have difficulty with vocabulary, grammar, creating sentences, comprehension, etc. These students might have difficulty interpreting idioms, concepts, and expressions in written text. They will struggle with gaining vocabulary in English because they have to learn new words and their meanings and be able to use them effectively in different contexts. Bi/multilingual students might not have access to resources that can help them with their English, which could be an organizational problem due to a shortage of staff or lack of resources. Nonetheless, having limited exposure to literacy resources in their native language can hinder their overall literacy development.

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