Cultivating Bilingual Learners’ Language Arts Knowledge: A Framework for Successful Teaching

It is essential to support bilingual learners’ language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an increasingly diverse population and an increasing number of bilingual learners in formal school settings. This article introduces a framework for accomplishing both linguistic and content literacy simultaneously. The framework takes into account the four elements of the principles of learning, learner appropriate pedagogy, contextual interaction theory, student language (L1/L2) proficiency level, and a learner-centered environment that can lead to the successful achievement of content literacy for bilingual learners. The framework illustrates both the theory and practical applications that are needed for bilingual learners to achieve linguistic and cognitive success by attaining the language arts content literacy needed to succeed both in and out of the classroom