TESOL International Association

Writing Team
Deborah J. Short, Lead Writer
Helene Becker
Nancy Cloud
Andrea B. Hellman
Linda New Levine
FOREWORD BY JIM CUMMINS
This book has a
companion website. Go to
www.the6principles.org/K-12
for additional resources.
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Recommended citation:
TESOL International Association (TESOL). (2018). The 6 principles for exemplary teaching of English
learners: Grades K–12. Alexandria, VA: Author.

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The Role of Language in Identity
We must always remember to consider each learner as an individual. The way in which we use
language is personal. Our identity is delicately wrapped in how we speak and interact with one
another (Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Norton, 2013). Each of us is easily recognized by our voice,
the characteristic intonation of our speech, our particular speech habits, and our accent. How
individuals relate to our language use is important for our self-worth and bears powerfully on any
potential relationship that we establish. The way in which we use language may serve to create
common ground, or it can become a source of “othering.” Othering is a mental judgment of an
individual as “not one of us”; it positions a person as an outsider to the community, “a cultural
other” (Sanderson, 2004). Othering can manifest itself in subtle ways. Even the interjection of the
question “Where are you from?” into a conversation with an English learner may suggest to the
learner that the conversational partner does not think that he or she belongs. These judgments are
consequential, potentially determining whether individuals feel invited to take part in all aspects
of the life of a community (Pavlenko & Norton, 2007).
As teachers, one of our main responsibilities is to act mindfully to ensure that students feel
accepted and included, regardless of accent or dialect or any perceived idiosyncrasy of language
use. Effective teaching ensures that every student in the classroom community knows that their
home language is valued and their multilingual ability is an advantage, even as it is developing
(Cummins, 2001). Effective teachers are vigilant in their efforts to ensure that non-native-like-
ness does not serve “othering,” nor is developing language proficiency viewed or reflected
as deficiency.
In fact, knowing two or more languages is a strength. Culturally responsive educators recog-
nize that English learners are well poised to be fully proficient in more than one language, and
the optimal long-term outcome for these students is dynamic bilingualism. Dynamic bilingualism
is the ability to adapt to communicative situations and use more than one language flexibly and
strategically to make meaning, depending on the audience, conversation partner, or topic (García,
Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017). One aspect of dynamic bilingualism is translanguaging, the
strategy of switching between languages to accomplish tasks with others. Translanguaging can be
a practical choice; it can serve to help others and convey solidarity or group identity.
Dynamic bilinguals are fully functional with communicative partners who use either or both
of their languages. They can cross linguistic boundaries with ease, and they can participate in
knowledge communities beyond these borders. Dynamic bilinguals are an invaluable asset in the
community. They begin as emergent bilinguals—English learners who also maintain and continue
to develop their home language. With support, they can experience their dual language skills as a
functional resource and a recognized element of an ideal identity.
We know that self-image plays a powerful role in the motivation to learn a new language
(Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Muir & Dörnyei, 2013; Murray, Gao, & Lamb, 2011). To succeed
as a language learner over the long run, a student needs to hold a clear, positive image of his or
her future self as a competent multilingual person. This future image must be vivid and plausi-
ble, and, preferably, in harmony with the expectations of family and peers. TESOL International

30 THE 6 PRINCIPLES FOR EXEMPLARY TEACHING OF ENGLISH LEARNERS: GRADES K–12

Association supports multilingualism and multicultural literacy as an educational goal for all
English learners, and promotes instructional approaches for the teaching of English that align
with that goal. The three vignettes below show students who can use their home and new lan-
guage flexibly and strategically, gaining not only content knowledge but also confidence in the
classroom.
In the first vignette, Anita, a Hungarian-English bilingual, is sharing her homework with her
second-grade class. Her task was to talk about a decision her family made together, add details,
and illustrate the event with a drawing. Anita elects to use both languages to do so. (See a brief
video on translanguaging at www.the6principles.org/K-12.)
Translanguaging in Grade 2
MS. CONNORS: Tell us how your family decided on this trip.
ANITA: I wanted to go to the ocean. So I told my mom, “Anyu, menjünk a tengerpartra.
Oda ahol a játszótér van. Ahol lehet hintázni.” And my mom said, “Az egy nagyon
jó hely, csak messze van.” Then my dad said, “We can go to the ocean much closer.”
My brother said, “Oda ahol a nagy sziklák vannak.” So we went there where all
those rocks are and there is lots of sand also. You can dig with your fingers into
holes and find razor clams. That’s how my family decided on that trip.
MS. CONNORS: I really like how you told us this in the words that everybody in your family used.
So you wanted to go to a far-away beach. Is that what you said?
ANITA: I really like a beach with a playground, but it’s far away in Maine. We went to
a beach that’s closer. It doesn’t have swings and slides, but you can go there in
an afternoon.
MS. CONNORS: Show us your picture and tell us about the words you wrote.
ANITA: This is my family on the beach—my mom, dad, and my brother. I wrote anyu, apu,
and Robi. Here is the ocean, the sun, and the sand. Tenger, nap, homok. And the
razor clams that my dad got. They are called kagyló, but I just put clam. I am going
to ask my mom how to write kagyló. Then, we are going to share the picture with
my Magdi mama.
MS. CONNORS: Your Magdi mama must be very happy because you can write to her in Hungarian.
Say those words again slowly, in your teacher voice. We can try our best to repeat
them after you. Then, you can tell us how well we did.

In the second vignette, Mateo, a dynamic bilingual sixth grader, is working on a word problem
with Diego, who is an English learner.
Translanguaging in the Math Classroom
MATEO: El primer ejemplo dice: A car uses 3 gallons of gas to go 96 miles. Express the
miles to gallons as a ratio using different formats. Entonces, un auto usa 3 galones
de gasolina en 96 millas. Vamos a escribir la relación entre galones y millas de
diferentes formas.
DIEGO: Una forma es decir la razón 3 a 96 y otra forma es 3 : 96.
MATEO: The ratio 3 to 96, which we can also write as 3 : 96. Another way to say it is
96 miles per three gallons and 32 miles per gallon. 96 millas por 3 galones y
32 millas por galón.
DIEGO: Sí, otra forma es la fracción 3 sobre 96, y también en fracción común, 1/32.
MATEO: Okay, we can use the fraction 3 over 96 and the simplified fraction 1 over 32.

In the third vignette, Ana, a bilingual fourth grader of Mexican heritage, volunteers to read to the
class a book of her choice in Spanish. She reads the text in short segments and explains to her

WHAT TEACHERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TO PLAN INSTRUCTION 31
classmates in English what is happening in the story, highlighting for them some key Spanish
words they may want to learn.
Dynamic Bilingual Book Sharing in Language Arts
[Ana reads aloud from the Spanish-language version of the storybook Abuela by Arthur Dorros,
and then she explains what she has read in her own words.]
ANA [Reading aloud]: “Ella es la madre de mi mamá. En inglés ‘abuela’ se dice grandma. Ella
habla español porque es la lengua que hablaba la gente del lugar donde
nació antes de que ella viniera a este país. Mi abuela y yo siempre visitamos
diferentes lugares.”
ANA [To class]: So the little girl is saying that she calls her grandmother abuela, which is
Spanish for grandmother. Because her grandmother came from a coun-
try where they speak Spanish. She and her grandma, abuela, I mean, are
always visiting different places. You can see in this picture how they get on
the bus to go together to visit a new place. They are sitting together, happy
and dressed up very nicely. ¡Me gustan sus vestidos de colores! ¡Van en un
camión! They are riding a bus.
Effective teachers are aware that learning languages is a process of self-exploration and self-dis-
covery, and they understand that motivation to learn a language is bound up with the work of
shaping identity (Cummins, 2001; Dörnyei, 2014; Norton, 2013; Pavlenko & Norton, 2007). Such
teachers help learners kindle an ideal self that incorporates multilingual competence as integral to
success. Their learners are not afraid to take on this challenge, and they possess the strategies to
achieve this long-term goal. Effective teachers recognize that identity is dynamic; it can be shaped
and formed by discourse communities, and, in turn, membership in these communities motivates
learners to communicate in the valued ways of those groups. Integrating and including learners in
the discourse community shapes their identity and motivation to realize their ideal self.

32 THE 6 PRINCIPLES FOR EXEMPLARY TEACHING OF ENGLISH LEARNERS: GRADES K–12