What are effective strategies for supporting students with language barriers?

Start by changing your thinking around languages as assets, not barriers. People who speak multiple languages have skills that should be built upon, not be thought of as having a deficit.

In my experience the best way to support students is to listen. After you listen to what they are saying, paraphrase what you thought you heard and listen for anything you missed. It’s important to provide reflective and direct feedback to the students to help boost their confidence.

Language is one of the most important parts of any culture. It is the way by which people communicate with one another, build relationships, and create a sense of community. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today, and each is unique in a number of ways.

From my experience of teaching international students (with language barriers) for a number of years, applying the scaffolding technique proves to be helpful and fruitful. This involves, introducing simple/basic English words, supplemented with analogies and tangible examples which students can relate to. You then take it a notch up from ‘basic’ to intermediate/higher level English words slowly being introduced, building on from those very foundations set at the beginning, enabling the students to learn, increase and advance their vocabulary applied towards their studies, whilst also enhancing their language and communication skills.

Creating a Supportive and Inclusive Environment. Fostering a classroom culture that values diversity, encourages risk-taking without fear of making mistakes, and supports peer learning can significantly impact language learners' success.

The future of online education will lie in hyper-personalization of learning, where platforms will adapt to each individual. The accessibility of systems is still lacking in various aspects, leading to inequality in learning opportunities. Educational strategies are still based on average behaviors, but with the advent of AI systems, hyper-personalization will be possible, and different formats (videos, texts, audios) will be delivered in appropriate proportions to each individual's profile.

I have had some students from Russia, who were extremely brilliant however, had language barriers. Those devices were sparingly used and I used to encourage them to use their own dictionary for more than a term or two and asked them to join language courses at the British council. I saw them progress faster than other students and they excelled in their Cambridge exams. In addition to these, I also asked them to use the devices later on when BYOD started. I believe if we give them support and care, such language barriers could be sorted out much more easily than we could imagine. Educators have to be patient to use differentiated activities for these students to make them interested and contribute positively.

Use of simplified explanations, abundant visual aids, animations/short videos WITH scripts, and engaging quizzes that help the students pronounce the same words, practice the spell, and check their overall understanding of the concept. In addition, a mini glossary with a focus on the subject will be remarkably helpful. Avoiding complicated words and less common terms is highly recommended.

In my experience, nurturing healthy environments for more opportunities of social interactions with fellow learners and native speakers play an important role. Diverse teaching techniques and clear explanation of assessment techniques may have a huge impact on learning and performance. Providing video recordings that learners can watch in their own time and more importantly at their own pace.

Social integration for students with language barriers involves creating inclusive classroom environments where everyone feels valued and included. This is usually facilitated by experienced teachers who could facilitate collaboration and teamwork among students, encouraging communication through various means, such as group activities, pair work, and inclusive discussions. Teachers could also provide opportunities for cultural exchange and celebrating diversity that help students with language barriers build connections and feel more integrated into the classroom community.

Promote both academic and social integration as the third step in supporting students facing language barriers. This involves facilitating opportunities for students to engage with peers, faculty, and staff who share diverse backgrounds and interests. Initiatives like orientation programs, cultural events, study groups, and extracurricular activities can foster relationship-building, networking, and mutual learning. Additionally, educators can offer guidance and connect students with various campus resources, including academic advising, counseling, and career services.

Creating a welcoming environment can be the key factor in students' success in their studies. When institutions accept a diverse student body, they must also provide the necessary support. By offering the right support and services, institutions can enhance students' likelihood of success and increase retention rates.

In my experience supporting students with language barriers, facilitating their integration into the academic and social fabric of higher education has been key. Here's how I've approached it: Organizing Interactive Events: I've initiated and organized orientation programs and cultural events, which serve as platforms for these students to meet and bond with others who share their experiences or interests, as well as with those from different backgrounds. Creating Study and Interest Groups: Setting up study groups and interest-based clubs has been effective in providing a sense of belonging and community among students. These groups encourage learning and interaction in a more relaxed, informal setting.

Know your students, learn from them, from their culture, language and traditions. Help them to use their stories to be visible at school. Let them shine by incorporating them with dances, singing or playing an instrument during school events (Showcase/ Latino night, etc). Newcomers has so much to say, that not necessary need to be expressed with oral language!

Nowadays many MOOCS are available at various online platforms like SWAYAM-NPTEL, Coursera, EdX, Unacademy, Udacity, Udemy, Khan Academy etc. Students could be made aware of that and the follow-up of the course completion may be helpful. Involving students in reading activity is also helpful.

Language barriers can create a disconnect in the leaning process— it can contribute to a feeling of anxiety, difficulty in adjusting to pace of the class discussions and at times a social disconnect too. Therefore, it is important for teachers to facilitate a more conducive learning environment in a mixed classroom. Apart from using simple english for communication in classroom, teachers can utilise tool of repetition more skill fully, multimodal communication and more frequent feedbacks. Teachers can start a Buddy system to encourage peer connect and learning.

The number one way we can support language barriers is by first empowering students by positioning these barriers as a totally normal and temporary challenges. The idea is to de-stigmatise the barriers and reframe them as a normal starting point - a surmountable challenge that the hero in them can definitely conquer. From there on everything one can do to help them with those barriers will be accepted with relative ease. Once we’ve empowered them, a variety of techniques can be used to help them. For example: 1. Gentle error correction, 2. exposing them to a host of good language samples to immerse in, 3. helping them notice good language though meaningful tasks and 4. providing enough practice for them to improve in every class

Empowering students grappling with language barriers entails igniting a fervent passion for self learning, a veritable cornerstone in overcoming linguistic hurdles. Developing an appetite for reading not only enhances lexicons but also serves as a conduit to linguistic mastery. By ardently practicing and refining language skills, students traverse the path towards linguistic fluency, epitomizing the axiom that perfection is born from unwavering dedication and diligence.Motivate, Read, and Practice! Because it is that important.

Fostering self-directed learning skills is essential for students facing language barriers. Empowering them to drive their own learning process equips them with invaluable tools for academic success. By cultivating effective learning strategies like goal-setting, task planning, time management, progress tracking, and result evaluation, educators empower students to navigate language challenges more effectively. Additionally, encouraging students to actively seek supplementary learning avenues, such as online courses, extracurricular activities, and community engagement, not only enriches their educational experience but also enhances their language proficiency and overall academic growth.

Ask them to record video and talk about specific issues or topics... That's a very effective way... Also encourage them to talk and break down the iceberg of shyness

Implement regular assessments to monitor students' progress in language development. Adjust support strategies based on ongoing assessments to ensure continuous improvement.

I think, it is important to give attention to those students, present our passionate to help and support them. Rewards and motivation are also crucial to encourage any activity even it was simple.

Celebrate the outcome, motivate them to work hard and give them the recognition which could result in driving them to perform better and improve each day.

First, we need to identify the type of language barier /s like differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Like wise, disparities in access to education and resources may contribute to language barriers. There are many other factors too. Depending on the factor /factors, we need to design strategies - Use simple language, avoid jorgan. Provide written instructions and visuals to supplement verbal information. Also engage students in hands on, interactive activities. Establish open communication channels to monitor students understanding. Depending on the stage of learning, the subsequent steps need to be implemented. To encourage the students, their achievements need to celebrated through awarding certificates and medals.

Language is linked to identity, and so language instruction is also linked to intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competency. This is why interpersonal collaboration is of central importance for the process of negotiating not only the technical aspects of a language, but the semantics, which go far beyond what machines can teach.

Parental involvement plays a significant role in supporting language learning. Engaging parents or guardians in the learning process and providing them with resources and strategies to support language development at home can further reinforce classroom instruction and enhance students' overall language proficiency.

As a Community-based Participatory scholar, it is important to go to the people, listen, honor, and seek to understand their values, culture, norms, strengths, and ways of living in the world! People are the experts in their lives. Let us support what is working for them.

Consulting with ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers or language specialists will help with additional support and expertise. As an English language teaching professional, I have collaborated with other educators to design targeted interventions and accommodations for students with language barriers.

Instructors must be aware of the importance of supporting students with language barriers. One effective tool in addressing this challenge is artificial intelligence. By audio recording their lectures, instructors can leverage generative AI technologies to extract and present the critical takeaways. These summarized handouts can then be shared with students, who, if necessary, can utilize translation services to understand the content better. This approach not only aids in overcoming language barriers but also enhances accessibility and comprehension for all students.

In my observation, having a rich vocabulary is essential to overcome language barriers. Else, language-challenged students cannot articulate their ideas and responses. One thing I found helpful was a weekly activity I call - WFTW (Words-for-the-week) wherein I share 10 words (from a carefully curated set of 150 words) at a time and ask the students to get their meaning - both generic as well as in the business context (since I teach at a B-School) - and then construct a sentence using that word to reflect managerial/corporate use of the word. And then in the classroom, I seek volunteers to explain their WFTW (5 words each). If required, I pitch-in. By the end of a 15-week semester, they've added 150 words to their vocabulary! Hurray!

In our university from Romania, we have many foreign students who study to get their bachelor’s degree ?n Economics. First, we offer basiq Romanian language courses, that they can study for a year before starting university courses. If they are familiar with our language, they can enroll directly in the first year of study, and teachers usually are trying to support them in understanding the materials and disscusions, creating an inclusive teaching environment, encouraging collaboration between all students and proposing a variety of exercises. Foreign students also have acces to a tutor they can ask for help, there are some organized meetings with foreign students that they can attend and share experiences.

In my experience, students don't have language barriers: They are learning a new language and going through the very normal processes that come with language acquisition. Changing the language we associate with students learning a language, from "language barrier" to language learner, for example, would help students not feel deficient.

My experience is more related to the applicant journey, both as international applicant and an admissions staff/director. A major way to show support, and even improve your international recruitment results, is to improve the international applicant journey. A basic, sometimes costly, but certainly not impossible action is to translate application instructions and customize the application based on citizenship. In my new role in EdTech at DreamApply, I learned that this makes great difference in recruiting international students, because not only do we ease the process for students, but it saves time for the admissions officers too.

Implementing these strategies requires commitment and flexibility from educators, schools, and communities to create an inclusive and supportive educational environment for students with language barriers