Supporting Dual Language Learners in California Classrooms: Research-Backed Strategies That Work

California is home to more dual language learners (DLLs) than any other state in the country. Recent estimates place roughly 60 percent of children under the age of five in California as growing up with a language other than English at home. If you're working in early childhood education here, you are almost certainly teaching DLL children, whether your program identifies itself as bilingual or not.

That reality carries both a responsibility and an opportunity. The research on young DLLs is clear: their home language is a strength, their bilingualism is cognitively beneficial, and the early childhood years are a remarkable window for language learning. But turning that research into everyday classroom practice takes intention. Here are the strategies that work, drawn from the evidence and from what we teach at Theoria Technical College.

Start with the Right Mindset

Before any specific strategy, there's a foundational shift every teacher of DLLs needs to make. Home languages are not obstacles. They are assets.

A child who arrives at your program speaking Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hmong, or any other language is not "behind." They are developing a skill, bilingualism, that the research links to cognitive flexibility, executive function, and long-term academic and economic outcomes. Our job isn't to replace the home language with English. It's to support both.

This mindset shapes everything that follows. If you see the home language as a problem, your interventions will subtly push children away from it, and from the family relationships it carries. If you see it as an asset, your interventions will build on it.

Strategy 1: Learn About Each Child's Language Context

Every DLL child is unique. Before you can support them well, you need to know:

• What language(s) are spoken at home, by whom, and how much?

• How long has the child been exposed to English?

• What is the family's goal for their child's language development?

• What early language experiences has the child had (books, songs, extended family conversation)?

This information usually comes from a thoughtful family intake conversation. It's not a checklist. It's a relationship-building moment that also gives you what you need to teach well.

Strategy 2: Affirm the Home Language in Your Environment

Children notice when their language and culture are visible in their classroom. They also notice when they're invisible. Concrete ways to affirm home languages:

• Label key areas of the classroom in the languages represented in your class

• Include books in home languages, even if no adult in the classroom reads them fluently

• Sing songs and play music in multiple languages

• Invite family members to share songs, stories, or cultural traditions

• Display photos that reflect the diversity of your families

These aren't decorations. They're signals to children that who they are belongs here.

Strategy 3: Use Consistent, Predictable Language Routines

DLL children thrive with predictability. Consider building into your day:

• A consistent morning greeting and goodbye routine with accompanying gestures

• Simple, repeated phrases for transitions ("time to clean up," "let's line up")

• Songs that mark the same moments each day

• Visual schedules children can see and point to

When words come with reliable context and repetition, children can attach meaning quickly. This is especially powerful for children still building their English comprehension.

Strategy 4: Make Input Comprehensible

Linguist Stephen Krashen popularized the idea that language acquisition depends on "comprehensible input." In practice, this means:

• Pair words with gestures, objects, facial expressions, and actions

• Slow your speech slightly, but don't speak in fragmented "teacher talk"

• Use simpler sentence structures when a child is newer to English, without talking down to them

• Repeat key vocabulary throughout the day in varied contexts

A child doesn't need to understand every word you say. They need enough context to understand most of what you mean, then the language wraps around that meaning over time.

Strategy 5: Respect the Silent Period

Many young DLL children go through a silent period when they're first exposed to a new language. They listen, they observe, they build receptive understanding, but they don't yet produce much speech in the new language.

This is developmentally appropriate. It is not a delay. It is not a behavior concern. It is the brain doing the work of building comprehension before production.

What to do: Keep talking to them. Keep involving them. Keep offering warm, responsive interactions. Do not force production. Invite it, model it, celebrate it when it happens, but don't require it.

Strategy 6: Build Partnerships with Families

Families are the single most important resource for supporting a DLL child's language development. Your job is to reinforce that, not replace it. Specific practices:

• Encourage families to continue using their home language richly at home, including reading, singing, and extended conversation

• Never tell families they should "only speak English" to help their child. The research contradicts this, and it damages family relationships.

• Share strategies families can use at home that support all language development: asking open-ended questions, narrating during daily routines, sharing stories

• Communicate with families in their preferred language whenever possible, using translation resources when needed

A family who feels their language is respected will partner with you deeply. A family who feels their language is being erased will not.

Strategy 7: Support Biliteracy Where You Can

If your program has teachers or assistants who speak the home language, use that resource intentionally. Small group time in a child's home language builds vocabulary, supports content learning, and affirms identity. Even brief one-on-one moments in a child's home language can be powerful.

If your program doesn't have speakers of a particular home language, partner with families and community members who do. Record families reading favorite books. Invite grandparents to share stories. Build a lending library of home-language books.

California's Dual Language Learner Roadmap offers specific guidance for programs wanting to move further toward intentional bilingual practice, whatever starting point you're working from.

Strategy 8: Observe and Assess Fairly

Assessing DLL children requires care. A child who is building English may underperform on an English-language assessment, but that says nothing about their actual cognitive development. Best practices:

• Use the DRDP (Desired Results Developmental Profile) according to its guidance for DLL children, which includes assessing in the child's stronger language when possible

• Document development across both languages, not just English

• Include family observations in your overall picture of the child

• Never use a language assessment alone to draw conclusions about cognition or development

What This Looks Like at Theoria

Our students don't study DLL support as an elective. It's woven throughout the program because it's how ECE in California actually works. Specifically, our students:

• Engage deeply with the California DLL Roadmap and related policy guidance

• Practice designing classrooms, materials, and routines that reflect multiple languages

• Develop family engagement strategies that treat home languages as assets

• Learn to distinguish language development patterns from signs of possible delay

• Build observation and documentation practices that honor children's full linguistic lives

Because DLL support is embedded throughout our curriculum, our graduates are ready on day one to serve the children they'll actually encounter in California classrooms.

A Final Thought

The research on dual language learners is some of the most encouraging in all of early childhood. When children are supported as bilingual and bicultural beings, they thrive. The brain is ready. The research is clear. What's needed is teachers who are prepared.

If that's a calling that resonates with you, we'd love to help you develop the knowledge and skill to answer it well.

Interested in deepening your DLL practice? Whether you're a current teacher looking for professional development or a prospective student exploring your path, Theoria can help. Reach out to our admissions team or explore our course offerings to learn more. info@theoriatechnical.com

Key California resources: the California Department of Education's Dual Language Learner resources, the DLL Roadmap, and the California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 (Language and Literacy).