Side by side materials*
Side-by-side (dual-language) materials present the same content in English and the student's home language at the same time, either in parallel columns on one page, on facing pages, or as a paired English text plus a home-language glossary, summary, or audio. The goal is to let emergent bilingual (EB) students draw on the academic knowledge and literacy they already hold in their home language while they build the corresponding English. It is a temporary linguistic scaffold offered alongside English instruction, not a replacement for it, and the amount of home-language support is gradually reduced as students gain English proficiency.
When to use it
Use side-by-side materials when content is cognitively demanding relative to a student's current English proficiency, especially for newcomers and students at earlier proficiency levels, and during the introduction of new or abstract academic concepts, key vocabulary, multi-step directions, and high-stakes texts (primary sources, word problems, lab procedures). They work best when the student has age-appropriate literacy in the home language so the home-language text is genuinely accessible; for students with limited home-language literacy, lean on home-language audio, visuals, and oral support rather than dense L1 print. They are also valuable for previewing a lesson, for home-school connection, and any time the language demand, rather than the concept itself, is the barrier. As a designated linguistic accommodation in Texas, confirm alignment with the student's documented English language proficiency level and the program model (bilingual or ESL).
How to implement it
- 1Identify the lesson's essential content, key academic vocabulary, and the specific texts or directions that carry the heaviest language load; scaffold those, not every word.
- 2Source or build the home-language version: use published dual-language texts, district-approved translated materials, vetted bilingual glossaries, or carefully verified translations. Have a bilingual educator or the published home-language edition of the textbook confirm accuracy, because machine translation can distort academic and discipline-specific meaning.
- 3Format for genuine side-by-side access: parallel two-column handouts, facing pages, or a home-language summary or glossary clipped to the English text, so students can move between languages within the same task.
- 4Explicitly teach students how to use the materials, including how to read across the two columns, flag cognates (e.g., observation / observación), and use the home language to clarify meaning rather than to avoid English.
- 5Pair the materials with a same-language or bilingual partner and short translanguaging moments, where students discuss in the home language and then produce the target output in English.
- 6Plan the fade: keep full side-by-side text for new concepts, then shift to home-language glossaries or summaries only, then to English with cognate or visual support as proficiency grows.
- 7Keep the English text at grade level so the home-language version supports comprehension of rigorous, grade-appropriate content rather than serving as a simplified or lower-level substitute.
Why it works for emergent bilingual students
Side-by-side materials operationalize Cummins's interdependence hypothesis and the related notion of a common underlying proficiency: concepts and academic skills developed in the home language transfer to English, so a student reading the home-language text is not "behind" but is mobilizing existing knowledge while acquiring new labels (Cummins, 1979). By keeping input comprehensible, they let students access grade-level content during the early stages of English development instead of waiting until their English "catches up" (Krashen, 1982). Framed through translanguaging, the student's full linguistic repertoire becomes a single resource for meaning-making rather than two separate, competing systems, which positions the home language as intellectual capital and supports identity and engagement (García & Wei, 2014). This is an additive, asset-based scaffold: it leverages what students already bring, and it is deliberately reduced as English develops (García & Kleifgen, 2018).
Across proficiency levels
Pre-Production
Heaviest support. Provide full dual-language text with the home language often as the primary access point, paired with visuals, labeled diagrams, and home-language audio for directions and key passages. Students may respond in the home language, by pointing, or nonverbally; the English column anchors emerging vocabulary. Cognates and labels are highlighted across both languages.
Beginning
Substantial support. Continue full side-by-side text for new or abstract content, but invite short English responses (words, phrases, sentence stems) after students use the home-language column to comprehend. Bilingual glossaries and cognate charts accompany the English text; the home language is used to confirm understanding before producing English.
Intermediate
Moderate, selective support. Shift from full parallel text to home-language summaries, glossaries, and key-term lists attached to grade-level English text. Students read primarily in English and consult the home language to clarify dense passages, abstract vocabulary, or complex directions. Encourage translanguaging in discussion, with written and oral output in English.
High Intermediate / Advanced
Light and fading. High Intermediate students typically need only targeted home-language support for highly technical or unfamiliar vocabulary, increasingly replaced by cognate awareness, English glossaries, and visuals. Advanced students generally work in grade-level English-only materials, with the home language available as an optional, self-selected resource for the most demanding tasks. The scaffold is essentially removed while students retain the choice to draw on their full linguistic repertoire.
Examples
- •A 5th-grade science teacher gives a two-column handout on the water cycle: English text and diagram on the left, the Spanish version on the right, with cognates (evaporation / evaporación, condensation / condensación) boxed in both columns; students label the diagram in English after reading.
- •For a U.S. history primary source, a newcomer at the Pre-Production level receives the document with a facing-page home-language summary and audio, then demonstrates understanding by sequencing event cards before writing in English.
- •A math teacher attaches a bilingual glossary of word-problem terms (sum / suma, difference / diferencia, per / por) to the English worksheet so an Intermediate student decodes the language demand while solving in English.
- •During a novel study, a grade-level English text is paired with a home-language chapter summary; an Intermediate student reads in English, consults the summary only for confusing passages, then discusses themes with a bilingual partner and writes the response in English.
- •A High Intermediate student researching a biology topic is offered, but not required to use, a home-language reference for unfamiliar technical terms, while completing the lab report in grade-level English.
Research basis
Academic concepts and literacy skills developed in a student's home language transfer to the second language; Cummins's linguistic interdependence hypothesis (and the related common underlying proficiency) is the theoretical justification for providing content in the home language alongside English.
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]
Second language acquisition depends on comprehensible input (messages the learner can understand), so home-language scaffolds that make grade-level content understandable support acquisition during early English development rather than delaying access to content.
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Translanguaging pedagogy treats a bilingual student's home and target languages as one integrated linguistic repertoire, so materials and tasks that let students move between languages support deeper content understanding and identity rather than interfering with English development.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765 [link]
Building instruction on students' home languages and existing literacy practices is an asset-based, equity-oriented practice for emergent bilinguals; ignoring their bilingualism perpetuates inequity.
García, O., & Kleifgen, J. A. (2018). Educating emergent bilinguals: Policies, programs, and practices for English learners (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.
The SIOP Model identifies clarifying key concepts in students' first language (for example, through home-language texts, bilingual partners, and glossaries) as a recommended sheltered-instruction strategy for making grade-level content comprehensible.
Echevarría, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.
Cognates and home-language supports such as bilingual glossaries are research-based bridges that let students use first-language knowledge to access English text and content across subject areas.
Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Cognates. WETA Public Broadcasting. Retrieved June 16, 2026, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/ell-strategies/cognates [link]
Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, the revised Texas English Language Proficiency Standards expand from four to five proficiency levels (Pre-Production, Beginning, Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced), and linguistic accommodations should be matched to a student's documented proficiency level.
Texas Education Agency. (2024). English language proficiency standards (19 Tex. Admin. Code ch. 120, subch. B, §§ 120.20–120.21). Texas Education Agency.
Sources reviewed by an independent second-language-acquisition specialist and an adversarial citation audit.
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