ABSTRACT
Effective implementation of research-based instructional practices for learners who speak two or more languages requires that we understand who our bilingual learners are, and that we differentiate amongst practices found to be effective for these students. Historically, pedagogies designed for bilingual learners were predicated upon the idea that it was advantageous to develop one language in isolation of another. Additionally, research practices found to be effective with one population were assumed to be effective with all populations. As we will outline below, such practices rely upon faulty premises that should be reshaped into more robust and appropriate learning paradigms for students who speak two or more languages. Current research indicates that we are better able to describe the population of learners who speak two or more languages than we are to design pedagogies and programs to teach them.
