Linguistic diversity among our multilingual students in grades pre-K–12 has been steadily increasing over the last 15 years, and with changing classroom dynamics, we need strong, intentional instruction to meet their unique needs. Yet, all too often, novice and experienced teachers may teach as if they are working with students who come from monolingual, English-speaking American backgrounds, despite today’s classrooms being far more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before. To truly support every learner, start from an asset-based approach—recognizing and valuing the rich linguistic and cultural resources multilingual students bring to the classroom. How can educators create a support system that empowers multilingual learners to master language and content simultaneously with just the right supports? Scaffolding!
Although teachers feel they are meeting the needs of their students through various forms of differentiation, we know instruction needs to be more structured and intentionally planned to meet the unique needs of our multilingual students. Nevertheless, many well-intentioned strategies may fall short if they do not address the academic challenges multilingual learners face on a daily basis. Because multilingual learners require targeted scaffolding that goes beyond one size-fits-all approaches, integrating supports across the nine dimensions of scaffolding (see Figure 1)—including instructional, linguistic, multimodal, multisensory, graphic, digital, social–emotional, interactive, and environmental (Honigsfeld and Dove, 2022)—may do the trick. Let’s explore scaffolding through each dimension.
Figure 1: Nine dimensions of scaffolding
Dimension 1: Instructional Scaffolding
Instructional scaffolds provide intentional, temporary supports that help students access and engage with academic content, regardless of their language proficiency or prior knowledge. Teachers create lessons that include embedded support strategies like dividing tasks into manageable parts, providing explicit directions, demonstrating techniques, and incorporating visual supports to help all students—particularly multilingual learners—engage successfully in learning. As students develop comprehension and confidence, this assistance may remain in place or be slowly withdrawn to promote increased autonomy and self-reliance. For multilingual students, instructional scaffolds are essential bridges between their existing skills and the demands of grade-level academics.
These supports help learners connect new material to what they already know, build both language and content knowledge, and develop the confidence to take academic risks. Recognizing and valuing students’ diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, instructional scaffolding supports and fosters a sense of belonging and empowerment in the classroom.
Dimension 2: Linguistic Scaffolding
Linguistic scaffolding is the intentional supports teachers use to help students develop their language abilities across speaking, listening, reading, writing, and interacting. These supports are designed to make academic content more accessible and to provide students with meaningful chances to use and expand their language skills. Strategies might include offering sentence starters, modeling the use of academic vocabulary, clarifying complex terms, and encouraging students to draw on their home languages as a resource for making sense of new and difficult material. By weaving these practices into daily instruction, teachers create an environment where all students, especially multilingual learners, feel confident using language to communicate and learn.
Linguistic scaffolds are essential tools for bridging the gap for multilingual learners as they develop and strengthen their current language skills and work to meet the demands of academic learning. These supports help students connect new ideas to their prior knowledge and language experiences, making it easier to understand and use academic English across various subject areas. By embedding linguistic scaffolds into lessons, teachers enable multilingual learners to participate more fully, build their confidence, and grow both their language and content knowledge simultaneously.
Dimension 3: Multimodal Scaffolding
Multimodal scaffolding invites students to learn and express their understanding through a variety of communication forms. This approach recognizes that students comprehend and share ideas in different ways. Some multilingual learners prefer to speak or write, while others might excel at drawing, acting, or using technology. Multimodal scaffolds can include creating diagrams, making videos, acting out scenarios, or using music and movement. By providing options that tap into expressive (speaking, writing, visual creation) and interpretive (listening, reading, viewing) skills, teachers ensure that every learner can engage with content in ways that align with their strengths and preferences.
Using various forms of instructional support creates different routes for students to grasp concepts and express their learning, which particularly benefits those who speak multiple languages by helping them engage with content and show what they know.
Offering diverse communication methods proves especially helpful for students who are still building their English language skills. Incorporating visuals, audio (or elements of), projects (hands-on), and movement, teachers make classroom activities more accessible and engaging.
These scaffolds support language development and help multilingual learners build confidence, participate more actively, and feel included in the classroom community.
Dimension 4: Multisensory Scaffolding
Multisensory scaffolding is a teaching method that incorporates a variety of sensory experiences, such as seeing, hearing, touching, and moving, to make learning more engaging and memorable. This approach recognizes that students absorb and retain information better when multiple senses are involved. For example, teachers may incorporate pictures or charts to explain new words, manipulative objects to investigate mathematical concepts, or songs and physical activities to strengthen understanding of scientific or historical topics. By weaving together different sensory experiences, teachers help students grasp difficult concepts, making them more tangible and easier to understand— an especially supportive approach for multilingual learners.
Instructional approaches that utilize various senses create expanded opportunities for multilingual students to engage with both vocabulary and subject matter. When teachers incorporate visual, auditory, hands-on, and physical components, they establish multiple avenues for learners to process new concepts. Multisensory strategies not only promote educational progress but allow students to build individual relationships with the material, making it more meaningful and memorable.
Dimension 5: Graphic Scaffolding
Graphic scaffolding involves using visual tools—like charts, diagrams, timelines, and graphic organizers—to help students organize and make sense of complex information. These visuals break down big ideas into smaller, more manageable pieces, making it easier for students to see relationships and connections. Anchor charts created during lessons can be helpful references, supporting students as they review material or work on their own. Graphic scaffolds not only aid in understanding but give students ways to express their thinking and ideas visually. Ultimately, these tools help bridge what students already know with more advanced concepts, supporting deeper comprehension and learning.
Graphic scaffolds are especially valuable for multilingual students because they offer flexible and accessible ways to process new and challenging content while building English skills. Visual representations make abstract ideas more concrete and provide multiple entry points for participation, regardless of a student’s language proficiency. Graphic scaffolds help multilingual learners gain confidence, engage more fully, and clearly demonstrate what they know by supporting understanding, expression, and memory.
Dimension 6: Digital Scaffolding
Digital scaffolding harnesses technology to support and enrich student learning. Integrating resources such as interactive presentations, e-books, language apps, digital whiteboards, translation resources, and artificial intelligence, teachers can create engaging and personalized learning experiences. These digital resources offer a variety of ways for students to interact with content, catering to different learning preferences and academic needs. Technology can provide immediate feedback, facilitate collaboration, and make lessons accessible to students at different stages of language and literacy development.
Digital scaffolds are valuable at any point in a student’s language-learning journey and across all grade levels. For multilingual learners, technology offers multimodal and multilingual experiences that help them access content, practice language skills, and participate in real-time learning. When students develop familiarity with these tools, they gain independence and confidence, preparing them to succeed in today’s digital and interconnected world.
Dimension 7: Scaffolding Social–Emotional Learning
Social–emotional scaffolding centers on creating a classroom atmosphere where students feel emotionally secure, valued, and included. This method focuses on establishing routines that support students’ emotional health and interpersonal development. Techniques might involve building a sense of classroom belonging, offering consistent feedback, implementing daily wellness conversations, helping students set personal goals, and creating transparent behavioral guidelines. These supports encourage self-reflection, emotional regulation, and positive relationships, which are especially important for multilingual learners adjusting to new environments.
A strong social and emotional foundation helps multilingual learners feel safe to express themselves and take academic risks. These scaffolds give students opportunities to share their perspectives, reflect on their experiences, and build meaningful connections with others. By fostering a sense of belonging and promoting autonomy, social–emotional scaffolding empowers multilingual learners to develop confidence and resilience, both in and out of the classroom.
Dimension 8: Interactive Scaffolding
Interactive scaffolding centers on developing chances for students to rehearse language and academic abilities through purposeful exchanges with classmates and instructors. This support system may include organized dialogues, group projects, peer assistance programs, mutual teaching methods, or small-team conversations. Educators can offer guidance through conversation starters or inquiry prompts to direct student exchanges and modify assistance as required during instruction. These experiences motivate students to actively employ language in practical situations and to respond to the changing requirements of their learning community.
For multilingual students, interactive scaffolding is essential for building communication and collaboration skills. Participating in genuine conversations and collaborative activities allows multilingual learners to develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities through practical application. These interactions not only enhance language acquisition but also build self assurance, create classroom unity, and equip students to apply their communication abilities in real-world settings.
Dimension 9: Environmental Scaffolding
Environmental scaffolding is how we design the physical and cultural environment to support student achievement and collaboration to build conceptual knowledge and language proficiency. This type of scaffolding includes creating inviting spaces with flexible seating arrangements for individual, small-group, and whole-class work. Inclusive environments are print-rich, safe, and comfortable and set high expectations for all students. To more intentionally make these environments warm and inviting for our multilingual learners, it is important to include cultural reflections, such as displaying student work and word walls in students’ home languages, so that every learner feels represented and part of the community.
A well-designed classroom environment helps multilingual learners feel safe, included, and ready to learn. When students see their cultures and languages reflected in the space, they are more likely to participate and connect with their peers. Such environments encourage collaboration, support language development, and help students develop a sense of ownership and self-awareness within the learning community.
Putting It All Together
The nine dimensions of scaffolding provide a well-rounded toolkit for teachers aiming to meet the varied needs of multilingual learners and all students. We invite you to reflect on your current scaffolding practices as they relate to each of the nine dimensions (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Reflections of the nine dimensions of scaffolding
| Dimension of Scaffolding | Self-Reflection |
|---|---|
| Instructional | How do you plan for and integrate instructional scaffolds throughout your lessons to maximize student access and engagement? |
| Linguistic | How do you encourage students to use language and build literacy in different classroom situations? |
| Multimodal | How can you expand the ways students demonstrate their learning beyond traditional writing and speaking? What creative options could you offer to help all learners, particularly those developing English skills, showcase their understanding through their individual strengths? |
| Multisensory | Which multisensory strategies could you add or enhance in your classroom to better meet the diverse needs of your multilingual students? |
| Graphic | How can you use graphic scaffolding in your lessons to help multilingual learners better understand and communicate complex ideas? |
| Digital | How might you thoughtfully weave digital tools into your teaching to better engage and support multilingual learners? |
| Social Emotional Learning | What routines or activities do you use to nurture your multilingual students’ social emotional growth? |
| Interactive | How do you select and modify interactive scaffolds to match the needs of your multilingual learners during different activities? |
| Environmental | As you examine your classroom environment, how effectively does the physical space welcome and support all learners? What specific changes could you make to seating arrangements, visual displays, and cultural representations to ensure every student—especially those from diverse linguistic backgrounds—sees themselves reflected and valued in the learning community? |
To begin incorporating these dimensions, try simple strategies such as modeling a new process (instructional), introducing important vocabulary before a lesson (linguistic), using both images and sound (multimodal), adding tactile activities (multisensory), offering graphic organizers (graphic), leveraging educational technology (digital), encouraging peer collaboration (interactive), starting class with a check-in (social–emotional), or arranging the classroom to support different learning preferences (environmental). When considering your teaching methods, consider asking, “Which new support strategy can I try implementing this week?” Continuously reflecting on and modifying these techniques will help you develop a more welcoming and vibrant learning environment. Adopting well-rounded instructional support creates meaningful change—it promotes fairness, increases student participation, and enhances educational success for every learner.
References
Dove, M. G., Honigsfeld, A., and McDermott Goldman, C. (2025). Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners. Corwin.
Honigsfeld, A., and Dove, M. G. (2022). Co-Planning: Five Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners. Corwin.
Dr. Carrie McDermott Goldman, associate professor at Molloy University, brings 20+ years of teaching experience. She has co authored grants and earned awards for online course design, and she evaluates courses for Quality Matters. A published author, speaker, and professional developer, she champions equity and innovation in multilingual learner education and teacher preparation.
Maria G. Dove, Ed.D., is a professor at Molloy University in Rockville Centre, NY, specializing in multilingual learner teacher education. With over 30 years of experience teaching K–12 and adult multilingual learners, she frequently publishes, co-authors best-selling professional books, and collaborates with schools to advance multilingual education.
Andrea Honigsfeld is a professor at Molloy University, NY, where she teaches graduate courses related to cultural and linguistic diversity. She is an author/consultant and sought-after international speaker whose work focuses on teacher collaboration in support of multilingual learners. She is the co-author/co-editor of over 30 books, twelve of them bestsellers.