University Report: Analyzing Native Language Diversity in Classrooms

This report delves into the analysis of native language diversity within educational contexts, emphasizing the significance of multi-literacy in multilingual classrooms. It explores various strategies to promote linguistic diversity, including the implementation of multi-literacy projects, translanguaging techniques, and the integration of community resources. The report highlights the crucial roles played by families and elders in supporting students' linguistic and cultural development. It also examines cultural community programs that foster linguistic diversity and learning. The author provides practical approaches for educators, such as questioning, assessment methods, and collaborative group activities. The report stresses the importance of utilizing students' experiences and cultures as catalysts for enhancing multi-literacy and creating inclusive learning environments. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need for educators to collaborate with families and communities to design effective activities that celebrate and support linguistic diversity in the classroom.

Running head: ANALYZING NATIVE LANGUAGE DIVERSITY
ANALYZING NATIVE LANGUAGE DIVERSITY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Plan for creating a multiliterate learning community
Literacy includes more than a set of conversation to be learned either by the help of print
or by the assistance of technological format. Multi-literacies view both the cultural and linguistic
diversities in the new globalized world, with a new varieties of test forms from multiple
communicative technologies (Abney & Krulatz, 2015). The main aim of multi-literacies is to
encapsulate a wider view of literacies by taking in to account the effect of increased
communication channels and prominence of cultural and linguistic diversity in schools.
My placement school is a MULTILINGUISTIC school, where there are many students
who have a mother tongue different from the main language. May children loss the zeal to study
or become distant from their own root or culture for practicing the main language in the class. In
order to promote education and motivate all the students in learning, multi-literacy can be
introduced.
A multi-literate community can involve setting areas with colorful bins, creating a well-
equipped library consisting of books having similar information but in other language in order to
help the students to comprehend the actual meaning of the books. Students can be provided with
printed information like signs, newspapers, recipes and menus in different language (Chumak-
Horbatsch, 2019). The students as well as the parents can also be encouraged to bring
newspapers, magazines and newspaper bottles and other objects containing prints for giving
students a real life experiences in the their own language. These changes might seem to be small,
but they can have a huge impact on the students. In case the classroom teachers are mono-
lingual, they can foster multi-literacy in the home language of the child. In such case teachers
can investigate about the language of the students, and look for home or school communities

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who will provided assistance to foster the child’s language within the classroom. Schools and the
communities can form partnership in the formation of a multilingual individuals who are aware
of their native languages and literacy can be considered as a good resource for the school. Multi-
literacy projects can be conducted by a member of the community in native language. The
projects can include weekly individual literacy meetings, weekly journals, translation projects, or
letters to the extended family members in the home country (Schall-Leckrone et al., 2016).
Multi-literate people can be invited in the classroom, so that they can teach about the relevant
class themes in other different languages. It should be remembered that teachers needs some
ideas about the linguistic level of the students. For instance, if a child can read independently, a
child can be challenged to read some books of his/her native language (Schall-Leckrone et al.,
2016). A community member can read the book with the child can be more effective. One of
challenges is that very few numbers of teachers actually use the native language of the student as
a resource for enhancing the multicultural curriculum. Monolingual teachers should start learning
some common words like “Good job! “ Or how are you?” and “see you tomorrow” having a
huge impact on the students to understand the importance of the native language. It has been
mentioned by Boche, (2014) , that students should hear people using the native language in the
classroom. Teachers can use resources like collection of audiotapes or videotapes of parents
reading stories in other languages, a brother reading a magazine or a book to his siblings or
motivational speech of a native speaker. Students should be encouraged to practice their own
language, for example, by encouraging then to create a family language tree, that could show
which of the classes has the most language diversities. Students should witness authentic use of
their native languages that are available in the learning community (Boche, 2014). Some of the
signs can be written in different language like Principal’s office, or exit or Welcome. It is

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necessary to use the experience and culture of the students to experience as a catalysts for the
development of multi-literacy. Students should be encouraged to share about important or
significant events of their own culture. Children can translate the words by explaining their
meaning to the other students.
Activities can be set up, where students from different language and ethnicities will share
unique stories, be it a bed time story or any traditional myth that have been communicated orally
from one generations to the other (Chitty, 2012). Apart from this, a special day can observed in
the classroom, where children can be encouraged to come in attires representing their own
culture or traditions. Again educators can develop video recordings of conversations, greetings,
or songs in the native language of the student (Chumak-Horbatsch, 2019). Children can be asked
write down particular keywords in their native language, write down some sentences in the
native language. Translanguaging can be introduced in a classroom, which means switching
between the languages that a student understands for maximizing the potential of
communication. Translanguaging within a classroom can involve translating within the
languages, comparison and being playful with other linguistics, mixing expressions and words
from various languages and using home language in one part of the activity and the school
language in another part (Daniel et al., 2016).
A description of the role families and elders play in linguistics
Family plays an important role in providing support to their children within a school
environment. Educators can communicate with the families to understand their language and
culture, their cultural expectations, any kind of cultural bias, gender differences and
intergenerational disparities, the social status of the families and more (Coady, 2019).

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Experiences of elderly people can also be utilized to have an in-depth understanding of the
cultural traditions. Elderly people serves as a reservoir of knowledge, when it comes to
traditional stories and beliefs. Activities or celebration of special days like “grandparents day”
can serve as important opportunities to interact with them. Parents can also be invited to
participate in certain activities along with the child. Schools are often benefitted from the funds
of knowledge obtained from the families (Coady, 2019). Family members also play a great role
to encourage students to go through books in their native language.
A description of cultural community programs that support linguistic diversity and
learning
The community plays a key role to engage culturally diverse learners. These students can
bring funds of knowledge to their learning community. Provisions should be made for Language
and `diversity programs for the divers leaners. The educators needs to depend on their creative
skills in working with children for infusing cultural and linguistic diversity their educational
programs (Morita-Mullaney, Li & Renn, 2019). Some of the specific teaching approaches that
can be used by the educators in special programs are questioning, assessment, group work and
pair work, setting up of different tasks for different groups that will help the students to initiate
from where they are and to move forward. Cultural programs can set up where children will be
encouraged to represent the essence of their culture. Setting up of open ended tasks will provide
all the students the chance to succeed. Providing students with the choice of tasks will help the
students to feel empowered.

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Hence, It can be said that use of native language in the classroom provides a wonderful
learning opportunity. The educator can collaborate with the families and the community to
design effective activities for introducing multi-literacy in a classroom.

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References
Abney, S., & Krulatz, A. (2015). Fostering multilingual competence in the EFL classroom.
Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodology, 3(2).
Boche, B. (2014). Multiliteracies in the Classroom: Emerging Conceptions of First-Year
Teachers. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 10(1), 114-135.
Chitty, L. J. (2012). Multiliteracies in the classroom: An explanatory sequential mixed methods
approach to teachers' and students' perspectives toward integration of technology.
Chumak-Horbatsch, R. (2019). Using linguistically appropriate practice: A guide for teaching in
multilingual classrooms. Multilingual Matters.
Coady, M. R. (2019). Connecting school and the multilingual home: Theory and practice for
rural educators. Multilingual Matters.
Daffurn, N. (2019). Foundations of multiliteracies: Reading, writing and talking in the 21st
century (2018) and Elaborating multiliteracies through multimodal texts: Changing
classroom practices and developing teaching pedagogies (2019). Literacy Learning: The
Middle Years, 27(3), 58-62.
Daniel, S. M., Jiménez, R. T., Pray, L., & Pacheco, M. B. (2019). Scaffolding to make
translanguaging a classroom norm. TESOL Journal, 10(1), e00361.
De Jong, E. (2014). Preparing mainstream teachers for multilingual classrooms. Association of
Mexican American Educators Journal, 7(2).
Morita-Mullaney, T., Li, H., & Renn, J. (2019). Multiliteracies in Rural Schools. The Rural
Educator, 40(3).

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Schall-Leckrone, L., Magee, L. B., Monteiro, A. L., Monteiro, I. C., Oliver, H. J., Padilla, P., &
Peterson, C. (2019). Pedagogical Language Knowledge In Practice: Interconnections
From Linguistically-Diverse Classrooms To Multilingual Communities.