Technology Supports for Multilingual Students at Risk for Learning Disabilities
Dr. Jamie Day
About Dr. Jamie Day
Dr. Jamie Day is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of Missouri and the endowed Dr. Lydia Walker Faculty Fellow in Reading Education and Literacy.
Her research revolves around strategies to attract, prepare, and retain effective personnel for all multilingual students with disabilities. This includes researching special education teacher preparation and technology-based literacy interventions for multilingual students at-risk for learning disabilities. Dr. Day holds a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification in English as a New Language. She was a K-12 English Learner lead teacher in Virginia and has taught multilingual students with and without disabilities for over 10 years.
The problem highlighted in this brief
This interview highlights how to support multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities. Dr. Day notes that K-12 multilingual students often struggle with academic language, especially speaking and writing, even after receiving English language services for years. To help, she incorporates technology-based interventions into her teacher preparation program, using tools like Pear Deck to enhance language skills through opportunities to respond. Dr. Day stresses the importance of providing teachers with the time and support to use these strategies effectively, combining insights from special education and bilingual education. Her work shows how technology can tailor instruction and improve academic and linguistic outcomes for these K-12 students.
Why does this topic matter to teacher preparation?
Teacher preparation plays a significant role in enhancing educational outcomes, particularly for diverse student populations. Research indicates that well-prepared educators positively influence student achievement, especially for multilingual learners and those at risk for learning disabilities (Jozwik et al., 2020). For instance, training in technology-based literacy interventions has improved student engagement and comprehension (Alqahtani, 2020). Data reveals that teachers equipped with effective strategies are more likely to implement evidence-based practices, fostering classrooms for all learners and ultimately contributing to better academic performance (Wilcox et al., 2021).
About This Brief
This brief explores how technology can effectively support multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities. Dr. Day emphasizes that teacher preparation programs should include specific, actionable strategies to effectively support K-12 multilingual students facing learning challenges and prepare future teachers to hold an asset-based perspective. By focusing on culturally responsive teaching and technology-based interventions, we can better equip future educators to meet diverse student needs — both academic and linguistic.
Research and Practice Context
Technology Supports for Multilingual Students at Risk for Learning Disabilities
This research focuses on integrating technology in special education, particularly for multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities. Dr. Jamie Day emphasizes the need for teacher preparation programs to adopt practical strategies that address these students' unique challenges. For instance, she advocates incorporating culturally responsive teaching and technology-based interventions, significantly enhancing literacy outcomes (Eppard et al., 2021).
Research supports Dr. Day’s perspective, highlighting that targeted interventions can improve engagement and learning for students with disabilities. Additionally, Zhang and colleagues (2020) explained that technology facilitates personalized learning experiences, enabling educators to meet the diverse needs of their students better. By focusing on these strategies, teacher preparation programs can equip future educators with the tools necessary to foster a learning environment for all learners.
The following are key insights shared by Dr. Day on this research. The interview focused on six questions regarding teacher preparation and recommendations for educators to implement these strategies effectively.
Conversation with Jamie
Q1: What are the issues that you are trying to address through your research and work with technology-based strategies for multilingual students with or at risk for learning disabilities?
Dr. Day’s research focuses on supporting multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities, often termed “intermediate” English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools. These students may have conversational fluency but struggle with academic language, mainly speaking and writing (Oh & Mancilla-Martinez, 2024). Research indicates that many students do not achieve the proficiency needed to exit EL services even after several years (Mancilla-Martinez et al., 2020). Dr. Day aims to develop technology-based literacy interventions that provide systematic support for enhancing these students’ academic language skills and provide culturally responsive teacher training surrounding an asset-based perspective of multilingual students.
DAY: “So you can see the student received a great, perfect score for listening reading. But speaking and writing is really holding them back from exiting [English Learner] services, and as a result, a lot of my research shows that teachers want to support these students who have been receiving supports for a long time. They want to bring them up for special education eligibility.”
Q2: How are technology-based strategies going to address those issues?
Dr. Day leverages technology to provide multilingual teacher candidates with opportunities to practice responding in all four language domains - speaking, listening, reading, and writing (August, 2018). By modeling the use of linguistic scaffolds like sentence starters, she is equipping them with strategies to support the academic language development of their future multilingual students, particularly in speaking and writing, which are often challenges for this population.
DAY: “I use Pear Deck a lot to give my students multiple opportunities to respond in different domains… either in writing polls, using sentence starters for some conversations, so modeling that best practice to provide those linguistic scaffolds in the hope that they not only continue implementing this in their current teacher prep program, but then using these skills when they're out in the field..”
Q3: How would a teacher preparation program fit technology-based strategies in their current practice?
Dr. Day outlines essential strategies for integrating technology-based approaches in teacher preparation programs. First, she suggests providing concrete examples of research-based technology interventions, such as WeGOand CAPS, for teacher candidates to learn and practice. Alongside these practical tools, she recommends explaining the rationale behind these strategies, helping candidates understand the supporting evidence and theory. Additionally, she emphasizes the need for hands-on implementation, combining research explanations with opportunities for candidates to apply technology strategies in real-world contexts (Richards-Tutor et al., 2016). This blend of examples, rationale, and practical application is essential for preparing teachers to effectively use technology-based literacy interventions with multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities. Such scaffolding ensures teachers feel equipped and confident to implement these strategies in their classrooms.
DAY: “There are a lot of great online resources and to continue giving them examples that they can immediately implement in the field, but then also explain the rationale and the why how to do it. So I think having that explanation, but then also practical technology strategies that they can implement, I think that's really key.”
Q4: What would you recommend for a teacher preparation program who is just starting with technology-based strategies for multilingual students with or at risk for learning disabilities?
Dr. Day emphasizes the need for teacher preparation programs to provide time for educators to learn about and plan for technology-based interventions (Kerimbayev et al., 2023), address concerns about cognitive overload (Rotar, 2022), and offer continuous support for effective implementation (Sprague et al., 2023). Acknowledging that teachers often face stress and time constraints while wanting to help their students, these strategies can better equip them to integrate technology to enhance student and teacher outcomes.
DAY: “…allowing teachers the time and space to use these research based technology interventions… ”
Q5: Where do you think the research is headed regarding technology-based strategies for multilingual learners with or at risk for learning disabilities?
Dr. Day explains that future research may focus on developing technology-based interventions that enhance multilingual students’ oral language comprehension skills. The aim is to understand how strengthening these foundational skills can positively influence reading and writing outcomes. She also highlights the promise of emerging technologies, such as generative AI, in providing linguistic scaffolds and personalized support. While Dr. Day raises some ethical concerns, she notes that this area is gaining traction and presents significant research opportunities. She shares that the emphasis will be on creating practical, evidence-based interventions that teachers can effectively implement to address the unique needs of these students.
DAY: “We know that multilingual students and all of our students really benefit from that oral language comprehension piece. So examining and using technologies to either differentiate or give our students individualized instruction, but making sure that those linguistic supports are their language.”
Q6: What else should teacher preparation programs consider moving forward?
Supporting teachers with the time and space to deliver technology-based interventions with fidelity is necessary to enhance student and teacher outcomes. By prioritizing dedicated planning periods and ongoing professional development, Dr. Day suggests we can empower educators to effectively integrate these strategies into their classrooms (Germuth, 2018). This approach alleviates the stress of adopting new technologies and fosters a collaborative environment where teachers can share best practices and seek assistance (Dunfee et al., 2024). As teachers become more confident and skilled in using these interventions, we can expect to see significant improvements in student learning outcomes (Dogan et al., 2021).
Dr. Day cautions against the overreliance on Google Translate when communicating with families of multilingual students. She explains that while Google Translate may seem convenient, it often contains many errors that can confuse and frustrate families. Instead, Dr. Day recommends using trained interpreters or certified translators whenever possible, as they can provide more accurate and nuanced translations. If Google Translate is the only option available, she suggests including an English version alongside the translated text so families can seek help from trusted sources to decipher the content. Dr. Day emphasizes the need to be cautious when using machine translation tools like Google Translate, as they may need to adequately meet the linguistic needs of multilingual students and their families.
Dr. Day’s research focuses on supporting multilingual students at risk for learning disabilities, particularly “intermediate” English learners who may struggle with academic language despite having conversational fluency. She integrates technology-based literacy interventions to address these challenges, emphasizing the need for feasible, evidence-based strategies to minimize teachers’ cognitive overload. In her preparation program, Dr. Day models best practices from special education and bilingual education, providing concrete examples of effective technology tools while ensuring teachers have the time and support to implement these strategies successfully. Looking ahead, her research explores how technology can enhance oral language comprehension for multilingual learners, ultimately improving their reading and writing outcomes. Dr. Day’s work underscores the importance of a comprehensive, collaborative approach to equipping teachers to meet the unique needs of these students.
Resources and References
In the interview, Dr. Day provided resources and technology tools for teacher preparation programs starting with technology-based supports for multilingual students with or at risk for learning disabilities.
Colorin Colorado is a bilingual site for teachers and families of multilingual students. The website provides free multimedia materials such as classroom videos, toolkits, research-based articles, multilingual tip sheets, newsletters, featured books and authors, and social media. Colorin Colorado provides information about topics such as reading together at home, creating a welcoming classroom environment, and helping multilingual students meet the Common Core State Standards. The website is offered in English and Spanish -- and provides basic family content in thirteen languages, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and Hmong.
Magic School AI offers a suite of innovative tools designed specifically for multilingual learners and educators working with students at risk for disabilities. These resources facilitate personalized learning experiences, enhance language acquisition, and provide targeted support to help teachers effectively address the diverse needs of their students.
University of Florida Literacy Institute
The UFLI Foundations program provides a comprehensive set of resources designed to support teachers in delivering effective literacy instruction to multilingual learners and students at risk for disabilities. By offering structured lesson plans, decodable texts, and interactive tools, UFLI Foundations empowers educators to address the unique needs of these students, ensuring they develop essential reading skills in a supportive environment.
References
Alqahtani, S. S. (2020). Technology-based interventions for children with reading difficulties: a literature review from 2010 to 2020. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(6), 3495-3525.
August, D. (2018, September 25). Educating English Language Learners. American Federation of Teachers. https://www.aft.org/ae/fall2018/august
Dogan, S., Dogan, N. A., & Celik, I. (2021). Teachers’ skills to integrate technology in education: Two path models explaining instructional and application software use. Education and Information Technologies, 26, 1311-1332.
Dunfee, M., Bush, H., Leger, K. A., Hilbert, T. J., Brancato, C., & Haynes, E. N. (2024). Impact of Implementing New Technology Into K-12 Classrooms on Teacher Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic. TechTrends, 1-12.
Eppard, J., Kaviani, A., Bowles, M., & Johnson, J. (2021). EdTech Culturation: Integrating a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy into Educational Technology. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 19(6), 516-530.
Germuth, A. A. (2018). Professional Development That Changes Teaching and Improves Learning. Journal of Interdisciplinary Teacher Leadership, 2(1), 77-90.
Jozwik, S., Cuenca-Carlino, Y., & Gardiner-Walsh, S. (2020). Special education teachers’ preparedness for teaching emergent bilingual students with disabilities. Multiple Voices: Disability, Race and Language Intersections in Special Education, 20(2), 38-53. https://doi.org/10.56829/2158-396X-20.2.38
Kerimbayev, N., Umirzakova, Z., Shadiev, R., & Jotsov, V. (2023). A student-centered approach using modern technologies in distance learning: a systematic review of the literature. Smart Learning Environments, 10(1), 61.
Mancilla-Martinez, J., Hwang, J. K., Oh, M. H., & McClain, J. B. (2020). Early elementary grade dual language learners from Spanish-speaking homes struggling with English reading comprehension: The dormant role of language skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 880.
Oh, M. H., & Mancilla-Martinez, J. (2024). Waived English Learners: The Understudied Intersection of English Learner and Special Education Status. Exceptional Children, 90(3), 217-234.
Richards-Tutor, C., Aceves, T., & Reese, L. (2016). Innovation Configuration Evidence-Based Practices for English Learners. https://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/EBP-for-english-learners.pdf
Rotar, O. (2022). Online student support: A framework for embedding support interventions into the online learning cycle. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 17(1), 2.
Sprague, D. R., Zumpano, N. M., Richardson, J. W., Williamson, J., & Gray, L. (2023). Technology infusion and the development of practice: The quest to create digitally able teachers. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 23(1), 199-227.
Wilcox, G., Fernandez Conde, C., & Kowbel, A. (2021). Using evidence-based practice and data-based decision making in inclusive education. Education Sciences, 11(3), 129.
Zhang, L., Basham, J. D., & Yang, S. (2020). Understanding the implementation of personalized learning: A research synthesis. Educational research review, 31, 100339.
Suggested Citation
Goldman, S.R. & the CIDDL Team. (2024). Technology Supports for Multilingual Students at Risk for Learning Disabilities. The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.