5 Essentials for Supporting Your ELL Students (That Also Benefit Every Learner)

As educators, we wear many hats, and one of the most important of those hats is to be a language guide.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how best to support the English Language Learners (ELLs) in your classroom, you’re not alone. In fact, many teachers we work with share that they feel confident when it comes to decoding, phonics, or comprehension, but when they consider how to support multilingual learners, they feel overwhelmed or uncertain.

What counts as best practice? How do I balance language acquisition with literacy instruction? And how can I do this effectively without doubling my planning time?

In today’s post, we’re going to dig into five essential strategies for supporting ELLs, strategies that are not only effective for your multilingual students, but will actually strengthen instruction for every student in your class.

But first, a note about terminology. Whether you say ELL (English Language Learner), EL (English Learner), or emerging bilingual/multilingual student, we’re talking about learners who are in the process of acquiring English as a new language. They are building English proficiency and learning to read English,two cognitively demanding processes happening at once.

Let’s unpack the five essentials that can help.

It’s also important to clarify that the same body of research that underpins the Science of Reading applies to English Learners. The foundational elements of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension remain effective for all learners. What changes is how we support access to those components through oral language scaffolds, cultural relevance, and first-language connections.

Essential 1: Leverage Students’ Native Language (L1)

What is one of the most powerful tools you can use with multilingual students? Their first language.

This is sometimes referred to as L1 in research, and it should never be seen as a barrier to learning. Quite the opposite: a student’s home language is a foundation on which new concepts and English vocabulary can be built.

Think of it this way: if you’re teaching the concept of a "community helper," and your student already understands the idea of a mail carrier in their home language, you’re just giving them a new label in English,not an entirely new concept. That makes comprehension faster and more accurate.

Try This: Use a translation app to label key visuals or vocabulary in both the student’s native language and English. It’s a small addition to your lesson that can make a huge difference.

Even allowing students to think or respond in their home language, whether out loud with a peer, recorded on a device, or internally, can offer the processing space they need to deepen understanding. It’s validating and intellectually supportive.

If you teach in a classroom where only one student speaks a particular language, offer options like recording answers verbally in their first language before transitioning to English. Every opportunity to make their thinking visible (or audible!) counts.

Essential 2: Be Intentional About Building Background Knowledge

This one may sound familiar, and for good reason. Building background knowledge is a core pillar of effective literacy instruction for all learners, but it’s especially crucial for ELL students.

Why?

Because ELLs are doing double duty: learning a new language and trying to connect that language to concepts that may or may not be familiar. While we should never assume a multilingual student lacks knowledge just because their first language isn’t English, we do need to ensure that any gaps in culturally-specific knowledge are intentionally filled.

Here is an example: Before reading a book about a kid who is sending a letter to someone special, engage students in a background-building exercise about how mail is delivered. In some countries, mailboxes may not exist or function the same way as they do in the U.S., and access to formal postal systems can vary widely. By connecting to students’ lived experiences first,“What does it look like when you get a message from someone at home?”,you create an anchor for the new learning.

Background knowledge is the soil where comprehension grows. And for ELLs, the richer the soil, the stronger the roots.

Essential 3: Front-Load Vocabulary,Across All Tiers

Vocabulary is the bridge between oral language and reading comprehension, and for ELLs, it's essential to teach words across all three tiers,not just Tier 2.

Quick refresher:

• Tier 1: Everyday words (e.g., door, family, moon)
• Tier 2: High-utility academic words (e.g., comfort, gather, assist)
• Tier 3: Domain-specific words (e.g., photosynthesis, volcano)
  
  

While you may not normally pause to teach Tier 1 words, remember that ELL students may not recognize the English word, even if they know the concept in their home language. For example, they may know what a “pig” is but not associate it with the English label.

A Quick Shift: When introducing a decodable text, preview a handful of key Tier 1 and Tier 2 words, using visuals and gestures. For Tier 1, all they need is the connection. For Tier 2, build depth with examples, definitions, and student-friendly explanations.

Again, this doesn’t have to be time-consuming. A quick vocabulary preview can significantly reduce cognitive load and make reading more successful.

Essential 4: Tie Meaning Into Phonemic Awareness & Phonics

Let’s be honest: phonemic awareness activities are fast and focused. You don’t have 10 minutes to unpack every word you use during blending or segmentation drills.

But here’s a simple upgrade: add a brief definition or synonym to support word meaning.

Why? Because orthographic mapping,the process of storing words for quick retrieval,relies on sound, spelling, and meaning. If your ELL students don’t know what the word means, the mapping process is incomplete.

Example: You ask students to segment the word kin. After they isolate the sounds /k/ /i/ /n/, you add: “Kin is another word for family.” Then move on. Simple, helpful, and efficient.

It’s a small habit that adds up to big gains in language comprehension and vocabulary development.

Essential 5: Engage All Four Modalities, Every Day

The four modalities of language are:

• Speaking
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
  
  

Effective literacy lessons for ELL students should intentionally incorporate all four. While that may sound daunting, many activities already lend themselves to it.

Take a read-aloud:

• Students listen as you read
• You pause for them to discuss or respond orally (speaking)
• They may follow along in a shared text (reading)
• You ask them to write or draw a reflection (writing)
  
  

Productive language skills (speaking and writing) are especially critical,and often the most difficult for ELLs. That’s why we need to give students safe, structured, and frequent chances to practice. It may be as simple as sentence stems, partner retells, or short journal responses. The more they use the language, the more confident and fluent they become.

Every modality strengthens the others. The key is to keep them in balance.

What This Means for Instruction

Supporting multilingual learners doesn’t require an entirely new set of strategies,it requires intentional planning, a little flexibility, and a commitment to high expectations paired with high support.

Whether you're just getting started or looking to deepen your practice, try this:

Pause and Reflect
What’s one change you can make this week to better support the ELL students in your classroom?

• Maybe it’s previewing Tier 1 words before a read-aloud.
• Maybe it’s adding meaning to your phonics drills.
• Maybe it’s simply encouraging a student to record their thinking in their home language.
  
  

Every small shift adds up.

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