Affirming identity in multilingual classrooms

English language learners' cultural knowledge and home language skills are important resources in enabling academic engagement. English language learners tend to engage academically to the extent that instruction affirms their identities and enables them to invest their identities in learning. One effective approach to identity affirmation is the identity text, in which a student creates an expressive written, oral, dramatic, or artistic product. Encouraging students to write dual language books in the classroom is another way to show that schools value both the student's culture and home language. Acknowledging and actively promoting students' linguistic and cultural capital creates a pedagogy of respect and encourages English language learners to engage in literacy.