Supporting Multilingual Learners in the Social Studies Classroom

Social studies courses teach students essential knowledge and skills, such as how to critically analyze sources, how to effectively communicate ideas, how to respectfully disagree, how to read a map, and so much more.

In today’s diverse classrooms, however, many students may not speak English as their home language, making it difficult for teachers to ensure those students have equal access to the lessons taught in their classrooms. And while multilingual learners bring unique strengths to the table, they also face distinct challenges as they navigate both language development and academic content simultaneously.

In this blog, we will explore strategies for supporting these learners in the social studies classroom, ensuring they engage deeply with the content while building language skills along the way.

Multimodal Learning: Making Social Studies Content Accessible in Multiple Ways

One of the most effective strategies for supporting multilingual learners is providing content through multimodal learning.

Multimodal learning means offering students multiple sensory modalities to engage with content, such as reading, listening, watching, and interacting. This strategy reinforces their comprehension by tapping into different learning styles.

How it works:

• Lesson Summary Videos: Concise, visual explanations of key concepts help students see and hear content simultaneously, an essential support for language learners.
• Interactive and Visual Learning Tools: Digital interactives, visual timelines, maps, and graphs engage students in hands-on exploration while providing contextual visuals that make abstract or complex ideas more concrete. Tools like these allow students to truly interact and engage with the content.
• Audio-Supported eTexts: Combining written and spoken language exposure helps students strengthen literacy skills while processing content.
• Lesson Summaries: Lesson summaries for students to read at a lower Lexile® level ensure that students grasp key concepts while gradually building their understanding. These summaries allow learners to review core ideas in simpler language, offering a scaffold to the more complex texts they are reading initially as they learn lesson content.
• Checks for Understanding: Frequent pauses for reflection and assessment allow multilingual learners to take a moment to stop what they’re doing and solidify their comprehension, ensuring they’re not just passively receiving information but actively engaging with it.

These multimodal strategies support social studies in Spanish as well as in many other languages, ensuring that all students have the resources they need to succeed.

First-Language Support: Empowering Multilingual Learners Through Language Access

Providing multilingual learners with the opportunity to engage with social studies content in their first language is a beneficial strategy for helping multilingual learners access social studies content.

Research shows that language skills transfer across languages, meaning that when learners engage with content in their home language, they develop foundational literacy skills that support success in a second language. For example, summarizing information and presenting key takeaways concisely is a universal skill, and whether a student is summarizing in Mandarin or English, the skill is fundamentally the same.

How it works:

• Side-by-Side Language Support: Whenever we have the opportunity to present students the content in both languages, we invite learners to acquire new knowledge in both their first language and the language they are simultaneously learning. This approach accelerates comprehension and gives students a more well-rounded understanding of the material.
• Audio Support in Multiple Languages: When students have access to audio support in their home language, it reinforces language acquisition and supports comprehending content without hindrance from language barriers. Hearing text read aloud supports understanding, aids in pronunciation, and helps learners bridge the gap between their first language and new concepts.

By offering side-by-side support, multilingual learners can bridge the gap between their home language and the language they are learning, fostering both academic achievement and language growth.

Tailored Scaffolding: Supporting Multilingual Learners at Every Level

Every multilingual learner is at a different point in their language journey, so offering personalized support is essential. It’s important to understand where each student is in their language development and provide scaffolds accordingly to best address any gaps in content acquisition before they arise.

How it works:

• Assessing Language Proficiency: Before implementing strategies, it’s important for teachers to assess each learner’s language proficiency level to provide appropriate support. This ensures that students receive the right kind of scaffolding—whether they are beginners, intermediate, or advanced learners.
• Research-Based Scaffolding & Techniques: Every level of English learner processes information differently, and meeting students where they are in their language journey is key.
• Beginning language learners benefit from visuals, hand motions, and simplified summaries to build basic comprehension.
• Intermediate language learners thrive when they’re provided with structured sentence frames, collaborative group activities, and guided discussions that allow them to practice language transference skills.
• Advanced language learners polish their language proficiency through vocabulary-building exercises, more complex reading passages, and critical analysis of text. Primary sources offer great opportunities for practice for advanced language learners.

By understanding the language development stages of their students, teachers can provide scaffolding that builds students’ academic language skills while ensuring they’re still able to engage with complex social studies content.

Encouraging Peer Interaction for Deeper Learning

Language learners thrive when they have the chance to talk about content, make personal connections, and work together. Collaborative learning encourages both the development of social skills and the deepening of content knowledge.

How it works:

• Structured Peer Discussions: Teachers can provide opportunities for students to engage in structured discussions about social studies topics, allowing them to connect historical events to their own lives. These conversations build not only an understanding of the content but also academic language.
• Group Activities: Group activities allow multilingual learners to collaborate with peers, practice using the language in a supportive environment, and gain exposure to different perspectives. Whether it’s working on a project together or solving a problem as a team, students are able to practice language skills and strengthen their grasp of social studies concepts.
• Language Transference: Through peer discussions, students also practice language transference, where they connect new terms or concepts in the target language to similar words or ideas in their home language. This process enhances comprehension and language retention.

By creating opportunities for multilingual learners to engage with their peers, teachers can create a classroom environment that fosters both academic growth and language development.

The Power of Graphic Organizers: Supporting Multilingual Learners Visually

Graphic organizers are essential tools for multilingual learners as they help students visually organize their thoughts, make connections between concepts, and process complex information. These tools are especially valuable when learners are processing both new social studies content and a second language.

Best Practices:

• Select the Right Type of Organizer: Use graphic organizers that match the learning task. For example, a Venn diagram is great for comparing historical events, while a timeline is effective for sequencing events. These organizers provide visual clarity, helping students focus on relationships between ideas.
• Incorporate First-Language Support: Encourage students to first label key ideas or terms in their home language before transitioning to the target language. This strategy reinforces comprehension and helps students draw on their existing linguistic knowledge.
• Collaborative Organizing: Have students work together to complete graphic organizers. This not only allows for peer support but also provides an opportunity for verbal interaction, further reinforcing language acquisition and content understanding.
• Use It as a Learning Tool, Not Just a Task: Encourage students to revisit and refine their graphic organizers as they learn more. This iterative process helps deepen their understanding and creates a visual record of their growing knowledge.

Graphic organizers are an indispensable tool for making social studies content accessible, especially for multilingual learners who benefit from visual representations of complex ideas.

Empowering Multilingual Learners to Succeed in Social Studies

Supporting multilingual learners in the social studies classroom requires intentional, research-based strategies that address both language development and content mastery.

By integrating multimodal learning, providing first-language support, offering targeted scaffolding, fostering peer interaction, and using graphic organizers, teachers can ensure that multilingual learners have the tools and resources they need to succeed.

With these strategies in place, students can engage with social studies in Spanish and other languages, building both their language and academic skills in tandem. Through thoughtful, strategic support, we can help multilingual learners thrive in the social studies classroom and beyond.

Before You Go …

• BLOG: Inquiry-Based Learning Is Essential to the Social Studies Classroom
• BLOG: Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in the Spanish Classroom
• UPCOMING WEBINAR: Using Authentic Resources to Build Communication and Culture