Adolescent English Learners come to our classrooms with a wide range of experiences. Some bring strong literacy skills in their first language, while others have had limited or interrupted schooling. Teachers often ask: How do I know what to expect from my Multilingual Learners, and how can I set goals that are both realistic and rigorous?

The Science of Reading emphasizes that literacy instruction requires more than phonics. Students also need oral language, vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension practice. When teachers understand how English compares to students’ home languages, they can anticipate common challenges, identify transfer points, and set expectations that accelerate learning rather than hold students back.

Teachers do not need to become experts in every language that their English Learners speak. However, knowing the basics of a student’s home language can transform the classroom experience and make instruction more effective. This awareness benefits instruction and relationships in several ways:

• Instructional Clarity: When teachers know which sounds, letters, or structures exist in a student’s first language, they can anticipate where transfer will be smooth and where students may need explicit support. For example, Spanish speakers often transfer knowledge of phonics quickly, while Mandarin speakers may need more time with plurals and verb tenses.
• Targeted Feedback: Instead of treating errors as random, teachers recognize predictable patterns tied to language differences. This allows them to correct students more precisely and explain why the challenge exists.
• Stronger Connections: Even if teachers cannot hold a conversation in a student’s language, referencing similarities, cognates, or cultural touchpoints shows students that their background matters. This fosters trust and helps Multilingual Learners feel included.
• Higher Expectations: Understanding language basics prevents teachers from underestimating or overestimating students. For instance, a Haitian Creole speaker may omit tense endings not because they cannot grasp the concept, but because their first language structures verbs differently. Knowing this, teachers hold firm expectations while scaffolding appropriately.
• Student Confidence: When teachers explain that a challenge stems from a language difference, not a lack of ability, students feel capable and more willing to take risks in reading, writing, and speaking.

In short, language awareness bridges instruction and inclusion. It allows teachers to design lessons that are responsive to students’ real needs while also creating a classroom culture where every learner feels seen and valued.

Teachers who understand language differences can design structured literacy instruction that meets students where they are and targets the skills that matter most. Rather than assuming all students approach English in the same way, teachers can anticipate challenges, leverage strengths, and set expectations that reflect both the Science of Reading and students’ linguistic backgrounds.

Phonics instruction looks very different depending on a student’s home language.

• Phonetic systems like Spanish and Haitian Creole have highly consistent sound-symbol relationships. Students who speak these languages often adapt quickly to English decoding because they already understand the concept that letters represent sounds. However, they may overapply this assumption and spell words as they sound (for example, “espeak” instead of “speak”).
• Non-phonetic systems like Mandarin or Arabic require students to learn English orthographic mapping as an entirely new concept. Mandarin uses logographic characters, while Arabic does not consistently represent vowels in print. Students from these systems may need more explicit instruction in vowel patterns, irregular spelling, and the idea of “sounding out” words.

Why it matters: Awareness helps teachers know which students may catch on quickly to phonics routines and which may need more intensive, systematic support.

Syntax—how words and phrases form sentences—varies greatly across languages.

• Spanish places adjectives after nouns (“house big” instead of “big house”).
• Korean uses Subject–Object–Verb order, so a student may write “She homework did” instead of “She did homework.”
• Somali grammar includes gendered nouns, which can transfer into English sentence patterns.

Why it matters: When teachers see these patterns in student writing, they can respond with explicit modeling rather than misinterpreting them as comprehension gaps. This reduces frustration for both the teacher and the student and ensures feedback is precise and supportive.

Vocabulary represents one of the largest barriers for adolescent English Learners. Teachers can:

• Leverage cognates: Words that look and mean the same across languages (for example, “information” in English and “información” in Spanish) give students an immediate boost.
• Address false cognates: Some words appear similar but differ in meaning (for example, “embarazada” in Spanish means “pregnant,” not “embarrassed”). Clarifying these prevents misconceptions.
• Build morphology: Many English Learners come from languages with different or less complex affix systems. Explicitly teaching prefixes, suffixes, and roots helps adolescents access academic vocabulary across content areas.

Why it matters: Vocabulary knowledge is central to Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Teachers who actively teach meaning alongside decoding ensure that words do not remain empty sounds.

Language awareness helps teachers hold students to high expectations while scaffolding realistically.

• A Mandarin speaker who struggles with plurals is not “behind” but navigating a feature that does not exist in their home language.
• A Haitian Creole speaker who omits tense markers may be transferring a common structure from their first language.
• A Spanish speaker who spells words exactly as they sound is applying a phonics principle that works in their home language but not in English.

Why it matters: Teachers who know these patterns avoid mislabeling students as struggling readers. Instead, they see language-transfer issues as normal stages of English acquisition and respond with targeted instruction.

In short, language awareness empowers teachers to apply the Science of Reading with precision. They can teach phonics more effectively, correct syntax errors with clarity, build vocabulary with purpose, and set expectations that stretch students without discouraging them.

Teachers do not need to speak every language in their classrooms but developing language awareness, understanding how different language structures shape literacy, can greatly enhance the learning experience for English Learners. Making the effort to notice differences, highlight connections, and acknowledge students’ linguistic backgrounds sends a powerful message. Even when teachers cannot speak the same language, showing interest fosters trust, builds stronger relationships, and helps students feel included and respected.

When educators pair this awareness with Science of Reading practices, they set high expectations, scaffold learning effectively, and ensure that all learners, including English Learners, grow as readers.

Full Citations:

• Snow, C. E. (2016). The science of reading and its educational implications. Routledge.
• August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2017). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Routledge.
• Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2012). Direct and indirect roles of morphological awareness in the English reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking language minority learners. Reading and Writing, 25(4), 869–890.
• Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 22–37.