Multilingual Learners and Access to English Learning

English Learning Library / Multilingual Learners and Access to English Learning

Choose a starting point

• Separate the idea from the English needed to express it
• Use home languages as part of learning
• Try an idea-to-English bridge
• Make the task easier to enter without removing its purpose
• Review support and build participation

Separate the idea from the English needed to express it

Ask what the task requires: unfamiliar words, a complex sentence, background knowledge or a particular kind of explanation. Offer another way to show understanding, such as a drawing, a spoken explanation or a discussion in a familiar language where appropriate support is available. This can provide useful information about the barrier. It does not establish a diagnosis or an English proficiency level. Avoid treating accent, quietness or a short English answer as a measure of reasoning ability.

Use home languages as part of learning

Invite learners to collect an idea in a familiar language before discussing how to express it in English. Compare the meanings and uses of words rather than assuming every term has an exact equivalent. A bilingual dictionary can help, but the selected meaning still needs checking in the sentence. Families can continue telling stories, discussing books and exploring ideas in the languages they use comfortably while making space for purposeful English practice.

Try an idea-to-English bridge

Show this original task: ‘Two friends must carry water to a garden. One container has a lid; the other does not. Which would you choose for a bumpy journey, and why?’ Let the learner point, draw or explain the choice first. Then introduce lid, spill and bumpy with objects or gestures if needed. Offer the frame: ‘I would choose ___ because ___.’

A possible response is: ‘I would choose the container with a lid because less water might spill on the bumpy journey.’ Accept another choice if the learner supplies a defensible reason. Next, remove the frame and ask them to explain which container suits watering plants and why. Notice the idea, the words needed and the support used separately. The purpose is to make learning visible, not to assign a score.

Make the task easier to enter without removing its purpose

Break long instructions into steps and explain unfamiliar task words. Use clear spacing, readable text and examples that do not depend on unexplained cultural knowledge. Where appropriate, provide a spoken version or allow oral rehearsal before writing. If the goal is independent decoding, recognise that reading the whole passage aloud changes what the activity checks. Choose support deliberately and tell the learner which part they are practising.

Review support and build participation

Keep a few examples of what the learner can do with and without prompts. Revisit useful words in new contexts and gradually reduce a frame when the learner can manage the explanation. Give time to prepare before discussion and value contributions for meaning as well as language. Work with the school on appropriate educational support when difficulties persist. Use the reading, vocabulary and speaking routes for the next language goal; school year alone does not describe every learner's English starting point.

Read the detailed SETC guides

• English Language Control | Grammar, Vocabulary and Accuracy Under Examination Pressure — A global examination-performance guide to grammar and vocabulary: move from recognition to retrieval, contextual choice, collocation, sentence control, editing and reliable use under pressure.
• English Reading Performance | Evidence, Inference and Answer Scope Under Test Conditions — A global guide to reading-comprehension performance: build meaning, locate evidence, control inference, match answer scope and stay accurate when texts and questions are unfamiliar.
• English Speaking Performance | Think, Develop and Respond in Real Time — A global guide to English speaking exam performance: answer the exact question, develop ideas, interact naturally, control pronunciation and recover when language or thinking stalls.
• English Listening Performance | Hear Meaning, Track Evidence and Recover Under Test Conditions — A global guide to English listening exam performance: decode the stream, track paraphrase and speaker meaning, manage notes, recover after missed information and convert listening into reliable answers.

Choose your stage

• Primary English | Build Reading, Language and Writing Control Before Exam Pressure Arrives
• Secondary English | Reading, Writing and Examination Performance
• Advanced English / General Paper | Read, Reason, Argue and Write at Pre-University Level

School labels help you find the right setting. Choose the learning task by what you can currently do independently; a stage label is not an assessment of ability.

Connect the next skill

• English Vocabulary in Use | Choose Words That Do the Job
• English Reading and Comprehension | Understand, Support and Explain
• English Speaking and Oral Communication | Make Ideas Understandable
• English Listening and Viewing | Follow Meaning Across Sound and Screen
• Early English and School Readiness | Talk, Read, Notice and Write

Explore further

• The Bell Foundation: Resource Library — Explore external resources and guidance for learners using English as an additional language.
• British Council TeachingEnglish: Teaching resources — Find language teaching activities, including multilingual classroom approaches.

Return to the English Learning Library · I Am Lost in English | How to Find the Right Starting Point Before You Study More · Three-Student English Tutorials | Visibility, Feedback and Independent Performance

For practice with language variation and academic communication, use the extended English tutorials on accent, intelligibility, code-switching and language choices.

Connect this collection: Use How English Works to connect existing language knowledge with English. Use levels and curricula to distinguish English proficiency from school year and wider knowledge.