Are Our Systems Designed Only For Native Speakers?

by Amanda Archbald

For many multilingual pupils, school is not only about learning new ideas. It is about learning those ideas through a language that is still developing.

In many international schools, English is the language of instruction. Classrooms operate in English, resources are written in English, and assessments are conducted in English.

Over time, this can lead to an assumption that quietly shapes how teaching happens. Because the school operates in English, pupils are often expected to function as though English is already their strongest language.

For multilingual learners, however, this assumption creates a very different classroom experience.

Many pupils are learning complex academic concepts through a language that is still developing. While they may be able to communicate socially with ease, the language required to access subjects such as science, history or mathematics is far more demanding.

Research consistently shows that academic language takes many years to develop. Yet classroom systems often operate as though this language is already in place.

When this happens, multilingual learners are expected to keep pace with content delivered through a language they are still mastering.

When language barriers are mistaken for ability

One of the most common challenges in these environments is how pupil errors are interpreted.

Teachers may notice grammatical mistakes, unusual sentence structures or spelling patterns that appear careless. In many cases, these are not random errors. They are predictable patterns that emerge when a learner is navigating more than one language system.

Word order, verb tense, articles and spelling conventions vary across languages. When pupils draw on structures from their first language while writing in English, this is known as language transfer. It is a normal part of multilingual development.

Without an understanding of how languages interact, these patterns can easily be misread as lack of effort or low ability. Pupils who are working through the cognitive complexity of learning in another language may instead be labelled as careless or disengaged.

Over time, these interpretations can shape expectations of what multilingual learners are capable of achieving.

When support is seen as someone else’s responsibility

Another common system challenge appears in how schools organise support for multilingual learners.

In many schools, support is associated primarily with a specialist department. Pupils may receive withdrawal sessions or short periods of targeted support from inclusion teams or language specialists.

While these interventions can be valuable, they represent only a small portion of a pupil’s school day. The majority of learning takes place in subject classrooms.

If language barriers remain unaddressed within those lessons, pupils continue to encounter the same challenges regardless of the additional support they receive.

Multilingual development cannot sit solely within one department. It requires a shared understanding across the school of how language shapes learning.

When systems are built on assumptions

Perhaps the most significant challenge arises when schools assume that multilingual learners are those new to English.

In reality, many pupils in international schools have been studying in English-medium environments for years. They may speak multiple languages fluently and demonstrate strong reasoning skills. What they are still developing is the specialised academic language required for success across the curriculum.

When schools assume that immersion alone will develop this language, important systems are often missing.

Effective multilingual provision requires structures that allow schools to understand and respond to language development across the whole community. This includes clear identification processes, meaningful interpretation of language-related data, and subject teachers who are equipped with practical strategies to support language within their lessons.

Without these structures, schools may unintentionally design systems that work well for native speakers while leaving multilingual learners navigating barriers that remain largely invisible.

Rethinking the question

When multilingual learners struggle, it is easy to focus on what pupils appear to lack. Vocabulary may be limited, writing may take longer, and understanding may not always be immediately visible.

Yet a different question may be more useful.

If large numbers of pupils are learning through a language that is still developing, should we be asking what the pupils lack, or what the system assumes?

In linguistically diverse schools, the success of multilingual learners rarely depends on effort alone. It depends on whether the system recognises the role language plays in learning and designs teaching accordingly.

Sometimes the most important shift a school can make is recognising that the difficulty was never the learner. It was the system they were asked to learn within.