10/1/2026
Implementing the Science of Reading for Multilingual Learners
10 Questions District Leaders Are Asking, Answered by Dr. José Viana
For years, educators debated whether the science of reading applied to multilingual learners. Today, strong evidence has largely settled the argument for district leaders and educators. Science of reading instruction benefits all students.
They’re now asking a harder question in curriculum meetings: How do we successfully deliver science of reading instruction to our multilingual learners?
Dr. José Viana, senior education advisor at Lexia® and the former assistant deputy secretary and director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition, is particularly familiar with this question. “Early on, I spent much of my time making the case that multilingual learners belong in the science of reading conversation,” he said. “Today, it’s much more about leading implementation.”
We first gathered these questions and answers from a previous webinar with The Reading League’s Kari Kurto and Dr. Viana. Now, we’ve expanded the guidance to help educators evaluate and implement effective literacy practices for multilingual learners in their districts, schools, and classrooms.
Putting the science of reading into practice
Here are some of the most pressing implementation concerns and what Dr. Viana says:
1. Our leaders are still building their own knowledge of science of reading instruction. How can they spot practices that may not be serving multilingual learners?
The best way to support leaders is to acknowledge their growing expertise and provide the tools they need to build greater awareness. Put these resources in front of your curriculum team:
This guide helps educators identify curricular practices that don’t align with the science of reading. The companion Curriculum Navigation Reports are widely used across the United States.
Representatives from The Reading League (TRL) and the National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL) co-authored this document. It aligns reading researchers and experts in multilingual learner education around effective language and literacy instruction. TRL publishes it in English and Spanish.
Experts in multilingual learner education co-wrote this paper, which covers literacy instruction, screening and assessment, and foundational skills.
Teachers and coaches will find research summaries here, along with recorded sessions from TRL Summits.
2. What questions should district leaders ask to check whether their instructional practices align with the science of reading?
Every educator, from classroom teachers to district administrators, deserves to understand what effective instruction includes. Start with TRL’s Defining Guide and the Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines.
The Guidelines help find “red flags,” meaning practices that don’t align with the science of reading. The guidelines cover word recognition, language comprehension, reading comprehension, writing, and assessment.
The 4th edition adds items written specifically for educating multilingual learners, covering:
Transfer from a student’s home language, including sounds that language doesn’t use
English Language Development (ELD) instruction that keeps vocabulary growing
Asset-based contrastive analysis between home and school language
Assessment in a student’s home language
If multiple red flags are found, the overall program is likely misaligned, and the team should keep searching for an effective curriculum rather than supplementing it.
3. Where does oral language development fit in science of reading instruction?
“Skilled reading requires more than getting the words off the page. For multilingual learners, we have to intentionally develop the language that allows them to make meaning from those words.”
Dr. Viana describes oral language as developing alongside word recognition and language comprehension from the start. As students learn to decode, they also build the vocabulary, syntax, background knowledge, and academic language they’ll need for grade-level text.
A fourth grade student could decode “photosynthesis” correctly and still not be able to tell you what the word means in a paragraph. That student needs vocabulary and background knowledge taught during the same lessons where they practice decoding, plus structured conversations where they use new words out loud. Now, district leaders look for programs that develop these skills together, and Dr. Viana sees that as one of the most important shifts in recent years.
4. How often should we be looking at student data?
“Great instruction requires great information,” Dr. Viana said.
When district leaders wait until spring state testing, they won’t learn until May that a student spent the year working at the wrong level.
A teacher with access to embedded progress monitoring gains new insights into individual student learning and can regroup students when needed. As you evaluate programs, ask how quickly a teacher receives usable learning data about a specific student, and ask what that teacher can do with it.
5. Should we strive for English proficiency or for biliteracy?
In the past, many district conversations focused solely on one question: How do we reach English proficiency?
Dr. Viana asks leaders to be curious and explore the ways students can use their home language to support biliteracy.
A student who reads well in Spanish already has phonemic awareness, print concepts, and comprehension strategies. That student won’t always make the connection to English. A teacher turns those linguistic and literacy assets into support for English literacy by helping the student connect the two languages. The teacher might point out that familia and family look alike and mean the same thing, or show the student how a comprehension strategy they already use in Spanish works on an English text, too.
Multilingual learners speak a home language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and sound system. They can use family and community knowledge as a vital connector between their home language and English acquisition.
Dr. Viana emphasizes the importance of helping students leave school bilingual, biliterate, and prepared for work and life in a multilingual country.
Instructional strategies for language development
Today, teachers know multilingual learners deserve culturally affirming, proven instructional approaches. Equity in literacy instruction happens when we provide science of reading instruction to all students.
What that looks like in practice:
6. Some research-backed methods seem built for English speakers. Does a sound wall work for Spanish speakers?
Yes. A sound wall shows students how the mouth forms each English phoneme, which matters most for the sounds that are new for Spanish speakers. Set a Spanish sound wall and an English one side by side so students can see where the two languages differ.
Think about positive framing as you compare. A multilingual learner shouldn’t walk away feeling their pronunciation is wrong, but that the language sounds differ.
The Reading League and Bilinguistics built a contrastive analysis resource that compares the consonant phonemes of six languages with English consonant phonemes. Teachers can use it to anticipate which sounds a particular student will find unfamiliar.
7. Can you share three research-based strategies for multilingual learners?
Many instructional strategies support students as they learn an additional language. A few of the most relevant include:
Teaching foundational decoding skills explicitly and systematically.
Giving students English Language Development (ELD) instruction designed for multilingual learners.
Holding high expectations while building knowledge in both the home language and the language of instruction so skills transfer in both directions.
8. Where does AI fit into any of this?
AI can supply personalized language scaffolds and adaptive practice. It can also provide real-time instructional recommendations. A teacher will still use their expertise to decide what to do with it all. Dr. Viana asks district leaders to hold any technology to a single test: Does this tool make a teacher more effective in front of students?
As you review programs, you can ask two more questions:
Will this reduce teachers’ administrative workload and free them up to focus on instruction?
Will a classroom teacher receive strategies they can apply immediately?
Classroom tools and resources
Educators are looking for proven tools that help multilingual students get the instructional support they need.
The most pertinent questions administrators asked about classroom resources:
9. How does Lexia English’s focus on oral language and grammar advance multilingual students’ language and literacy skills?
Lexia® English Language Development™ builds oral language alongside literacy. Students get intentional opportunities to develop and practice the oral language, vocabulary, grammar, and academic language that support comprehension.
Lexia English is an Adaptive Blended Learning speaking and listening program for students in grades K–6. The program pairs language learning with subject knowledge, and its speech recognition technology gives students immediate, targeted feedback as they talk.
Newcomers and long-term multilingual learners both work with content matched to their proficiency level. The curriculum aligns 100% with WIDA, TX ELPS, and ELPA21 standards and 94% with CA ELD standards, and Lexia English meets ESSA’s Moderate Evidence criteria.
Researchers treat oral language skills as a predictor of both listening and reading comprehension, which is why Lexia English puts speaking, listening, and grammar at the center of its lessons.
Across the country, students given access to Lexia English tended to score higher on English language proficiency assessments.
10. How do we help teachers read the data in a program like Lexia English? What should they look for?
The myLexia® educator platform monitors student performance and language proficiency in real time and turns it into actionable reports. Based on student performance, myLexia recommends lessons for teacher-facilitated, peer-to-peer speaking and listening practice.
Lexia English reports include:
Placement reports
Program usage
Student skills and performance scores, including the Detailed Skill Report
Class instructional planning
Proficiency status and band (WIDA, CA ELD, TX ELPS, ELPA21, and NY ESL)
School and district overview
Teachers and administrators can view this data at the class, student, and grade levels, along with small-group recommendations drawn from students’ online performance.
These reports answer the questions teachers ask before they plan a week:
What content level are my students working at?
How much time are my students spending in the program each week?
Which instructional resources would help these students?
How should I prioritize my instructional time?
Which students should I pair or group together for conversational practice?
A teacher can compare a student’s performance across speaking, listening, and grammar activities, spot patterns, and adjust small groups that week.
Moving Forward
Dr. Viana argued for years that multilingual learners belonged in the science of reading conversation. He now helps district leaders fit Structured Literacy, oral language, embedded assessment, and biliteracy together, and he finds leaders far more receptive to that work than they were five years ago.
Those leaders are planning for students who join them speaking one language and finish school biliterate, with the skills and confidence to explore every future opportunity. Become one of those leaders bringing equitable, multilingual education to life.
Next Steps:
Deepen your knowledge of Structured Literacy instruction for multilingual learners through these resources:
The full library of member publications about literacy for multilingual learners.
See how the program builds speaking, listening, and grammar skills for students in grades K–6.
A closer look at how the science of reading supports multilingual students.
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