Native language and adapted grade-level texts
This support gives emergent bilingual students access to grade-level content through two complementary scaffolds: texts in the student's home or first language (L1) and linguistically adapted versions of the same grade-level English texts (shorter sentences, controlled vocabulary, glossed and defined terms, and added visuals) that keep the same key concepts and standards. The home-language text draws on the literacy and conceptual knowledge the student already holds, so new learning attaches to an existing foundation rather than starting from zero. The adapted English text lowers the linguistic load of the reading while holding the same grade-level ideas and cognitive demand. Both are temporary scaffolds, gradually faded as the student's English proficiency grows, so they bridge toward the unadapted grade-level text rather than replacing it.
When to use it
Use this support whenever the language demand of a grade-level text would block a student from engaging with content they are cognitively ready to learn, which is most acute at the earliest levels of English proficiency. The L1 text is appropriate when a student is literate in the home language and that literacy can carry the concept; the adapted English text is appropriate when the goal is to keep the student in the same grade-level standard as peers rather than lowering rigor. It is especially valuable in content areas such as science, social studies, and math word problems, where dense academic English, not the concept itself, is the barrier. It also fits the front-loading or pre-reading phase of a lesson, independent reading, and take-home support that involves multilingual families. It is faded, not removed abruptly, as English comprehension and reading fluency increase.
How to implement it
- 1Identify the grade-level standard and the essential concepts the text must deliver, then protect that rigor as the non-negotiable while you adjust only the language load.
- 2Determine the student's home language and home-language literacy level (from the home language survey, prior schooling records, and a quick informal read-aloud) so you know whether an L1 text is a viable bridge for this learner.
- 3Source or build the L1 version: use district dual-language sets, publisher home-language editions, vetted bilingual sites, or have the student read a reputable L1 source on the same topic before or alongside the English text. Verify any translation for accuracy rather than relying on raw machine output.
- 4Create the adapted English version by chunking long sentences, swapping low-frequency words for high-frequency synonyms while keeping the key academic terms, adding a margin glossary with cognates flagged, inserting clear headings and visuals, and highlighting the main idea, all while keeping the same concepts and grade-level standard.
- 5Sequence the texts intentionally: have students preview the concept in the home language, then read the adapted English version, then work toward the unadapted grade-level text as the goal, so the scaffold builds a bridge into the English text rather than a permanent substitute.
- 6Connect the languages explicitly through cognate charts, bilingual word walls, and brief planned moments of translanguaging where students discuss the text using their full linguistic repertoire, then produce in the language the task requires.
- 7Plan and document the fade: track when the student no longer needs the L1 text or the heaviest adaptations, step the supports down level by level, and note the change so the scaffold is removed as proficiency grows rather than becoming permanent.
Why it works for emergent bilingual students
This support treats the student's home language and prior schooling as an asset and an active learning resource, not a gap to be replaced. It rests on Cummins's common underlying proficiency and linguistic interdependence: concepts, literacy strategies, and academic knowledge developed in the first language transfer to and support learning in the second, so reading about photosynthesis or fractions in the home language gives the student a conceptual foundation to build on when learning the same content in English (Cummins, 1979). The adapted English text reflects Krashen's comprehensible input by keeping grade-level meaning accessible just beyond the student's current English level (Krashen, 1982), and it embodies the SIOP practice of adapting content and using supplementary and native-language materials and clarification to make content comprehensible while holding grade-level expectations (Echevarría et al., 2017). Framing the supports as temporary scaffolds that are faded as proficiency grows honors high expectations and avoids the long-term tracking that low-rigor materials can cause; research syntheses indicate that home-language support advances, rather than delays, English learners' achievement and literacy (Goldenberg, 2008). The design also creates planned space for translanguaging, where students use their whole linguistic repertoire to make sense of academic text (García & Wei, 2014).
Across proficiency levels
Pre-Production
At the earliest, pre-production stage of English (the silent or receptive period, which precedes the Beginning level in the Texas ELPS proficiency descriptors), students rely most heavily on the home language. Provide the full text or a parallel summary in L1, paired with strongly adapted, visual-rich English text where labels, captions, and a few high-frequency words carry the meaning. Students may read and respond in the home language while building receptive English vocabulary; the L1 text does most of the conceptual work.
Beginning
At the Beginning level of English proficiency, continue robust L1 access for new or abstract concepts, but increase the share of adapted English: short, chunked sentences, embedded definitions, a margin glossary with cognates, and visuals in every section. Use the L1 text for pre-reading or to check comprehension; expect students to read the adapted English text and respond with sentence frames.
Intermediate
At the Intermediate level, shift the center of gravity to adapted English grade-level text, using the home language selectively for the densest passages, key abstract terms, or to clear up confusion. Reduce the amount of adaptation (fewer glossed words, longer sentence chunks) and introduce side-by-side reading of an adapted and an unadapted paragraph so students stretch toward the original.
High Intermediate / Advanced
At the Advanced and Advanced High levels of English proficiency, fade the L1 text to an optional reference and move toward the unadapted grade-level English text with light, targeted supports (a short glossary of low-frequency academic terms, a graphic organizer). Adaptation is the exception rather than the rule, and the home language stays available as a metacognitive resource for the most complex concepts, with the explicit goal of independent access to grade-level English text.
Examples
- •A newcomer from Honduras in a 7th-grade science class reads a Spanish-language article on the water cycle the night before the lesson, then works through an adapted English version with chunked sentences, a cognate-flagged glossary (evaporación/evaporation), and a labeled diagram, so he learns the same standard as peers.
- •For a 5th-grade social studies unit on the American Revolution, the teacher provides the textbook section in Spanish for home reading plus an adapted English handout that keeps every key event and term but shortens sentences and adds a timeline and margin definitions.
- •In 9th-grade biology, a Beginning-level student gets a side-by-side page: the original grade-level paragraph on cell structure on the right and a simplified, glossed version with a labeled cell diagram on the left, and is asked to find the same key terms in both.
- •A 3rd-grade teacher gives a math word-problem set in both English and the students' home languages so that the language of the problem, not the math, is the variable, and emergent bilinguals can show they can reason through the operation.
- •An Intermediate student reads an adapted version of a grade-level article first, then attempts one unadapted paragraph with a cognate chart, as the teacher gradually withdraws the home-language summary that was used in prior units.
Research basis
Concepts, literacy, and academic knowledge developed in a student's first language transfer to and support second-language learning through a common underlying proficiency, which is the rationale for using native-language texts as a bridge to English content.
Cummins, J. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49(2), 222-251. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543049002222 [link]
Language is acquired when learners receive comprehensible input slightly beyond their current level (i+1), which is the principle behind adapting grade-level English texts so meaning stays accessible without lowering the concept.
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Sheltered instruction calls for adapting content and using supplementary and native-language materials and clarification to make grade-level content comprehensible while maintaining high expectations for emergent bilingual students.
Echevarría, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.
Translanguaging recognizes that bilingual students draw on a single, integrated linguistic repertoire, so allowing students to read and reason about academic content in their home language is a legitimate, asset-based pedagogical practice.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765 [link]
Research syntheses, including findings from five separate meta-analyses, indicate that teaching and use of the home language supports English learners' reading achievement and literacy, so native-language scaffolds are an evidence-based practice rather than a delay to English learning.
Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does—and does not—say. American Educator, 32(2), 8-23, 42-44. [link]
Texas requires content-area instruction to be linguistically accommodated (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with each emergent bilingual student's level of English language proficiency, establishing the policy basis for native-language supports and adapted grade-level materials. The new ELPS, adopted in 2024 and implemented in classrooms beginning 2026-2027, carry this requirement (with Kindergarten-Grade 3 at 19 TAC § 120.20).
English Language Proficiency Standards, Grades 4-12, Adopted 2024, 19 Tex. Admin. Code § 120.21 (2024).
Sources reviewed by an independent second-language-acquisition specialist and an adversarial citation audit.
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