Language Matters: Making Learning Accessible Across All Subjects

It’s Not Just About Bilingual Learners

Here’s what I’ve come to realise: all teachers need to be aware of language and explicitly integrate it into their lessons if they’re going to make their teaching accessible to all students.

And this isn’t just about bilingual learners. The language used in school, and education is very different to the language we use elsewhere. Academic English has its own vocabulary and grammar, so even first-language English-speaking children have lots to learn. A ‘product’ in Maths isn’t the same as a ‘product’ in English, and culture to a scientist definitely doesn’t have anything to do with traditions and the arts! I remember at primary school having a teacher repeat ‘AD1066’ while discussing the Norman conquest, and I had no idea what AD or 1066 referred to. I could repeat it back if asked, and the teacher was happy with that. But I wonder – how much time would he have needed to take from his lesson to give a quick explanation? A few minutes, maybe.

This might be a trivial omission, but if this is happening across subjects on a regular basis, how much learning are students missing out on?

When I Got It Wrong

As a newish English teacher, I once had a bilingual learner in a GCSE class who really needed extra support with her written language. But I was concerned that with an exam class to teach and texts to cover, I couldn’t take time out to work on basic grammar.

It took me too long (unfortunately for that student) to realise that the basic grammar work would have benefited quite a few of my native-speaker students, and might have taken some of my more able students to new levels of language awareness. We live and learn.

But What Do We Actually Do?

That’s the big challenge, isn’t it? It’s easy to see the problem, but not necessarily easy to fix it.

Here are some strategies I’ve come across and seen work well in practice:

1. Embrace the Whiteboard

I’ve always preferred writing as I go along rather than using finished PowerPoints. I might have headers and keywords projected, but I tend to fill the board with my ‘thoughts’ or those elicited from the students, discussing and re-reading them as I write.

I’m not sure if there’s any scientifically backed-up benefit, but in my mind, it slows the information process down. Students have time to digest while I’m writing, and there’s always talk around what I’m recording. It’s making the thinking visible.

2. Model Everything

I trained as a primary teacher, and on one teaching practice I was surprised to see five-year-olds doing a measuring exercise and recording their results. It was only when the teacher began to collect the results that I realised this was very much not only a Maths exercise – it was a language exercise.

What are the words for measurements? All that instructive language on how to use a ruler. And then the recording – how do we record, what does it look like, why do we record it like this? We use this abbreviation for centimeters.

Further up the school, where students complete cognitively demanding tasks while using sophisticated language, it’s useful to give scaffolds to help with organisation, and sentence starters. Collecting and discussing these is also a way to help students learn about their learning: Why do we need to pay attention to this? What difference is it making to your work? Why is this better than that?

3. Check In on Vocabulary

One of my most eye-opening experiences was doing vocabulary checks on the books my students were reading. Each lesson started with 10 minutes of reading, and at the end of one session I asked if there were any words they weren’t sure of.

There were loads! And they really wanted to know, or to clarify. I ended up integrating time into some lessons to repeat this exercise, and the students loved it (and hopefully learned from it). They could share their knowledge of words, get clarity, expand their vocabulary, and find out what their friends were reading – all in one go!

The enthusiasm for understanding was there all along. It just needed the space for it to come out.

4. Pre-Teach Key Vocabulary

Before starting a new topic, use pictures or diagrams to see what students already know. It’s a great diagnostic tool and really helpful to learners who are less familiar with the topic or the words.

Make sure to:

• Write new terms on the board (students often mishear or confuse words)
• Give students time to take down any new words 
• Discuss them together
• See if there are any you’ve missed
• Revisit them in future lessons, or refer back as you meet them

Over to You

These are just a few strategies that have worked for me and colleagues I’ve worked with. Language awareness doesn’t have to mean overhauling your entire curriculum – sometimes it’s the small adjustments that make the biggest difference.

What strategies have you encountered? If any of these are new to you, how about giving them a try?

I’d love to hear from you about what’s working in your classroom! Contact me here.