Affirming, Not Assimilating

Multilingual learners enter English-medium international schools with rich linguistic and cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and established identities. Yet, intentionally or unintentionally, many school systems operate in ways that signal that success requires students to minimise or leave behind parts of who they are in order to fit into the dominant language and culture of the school.

This process is referred to as assimilation.

Assimilation occurs when multilingual learners feel pressure to replace their home languages, cultural practices, communication styles, or aspects of their identity in order to be viewed as capable, successful, or accepted. While rarely explicit, these messages can be communicated through curriculum choices, language policies, classroom interactions, assessment practices, and everyday assumptions about what a successful learner should sound like, know, or do.
Many schools seek to support multilingual learners through fragmented compensatory structures such as withdrawal programmes, separate language classes, or additional interventions. While these supports are often well-intentioned and may play an important role in language development, they can unintentionally contribute to the perception that multilingual learners are different from, or less capable than, their peers. When support systems operate primarily outside the mainstream classroom, students may come to view themselves, or be viewed by others, as learners who require fixing before they can fully participate; hence, the questions such as “When can I ‘escape’ ESOL/EAL/ESL?”

The LEAVES Framework does not reject specialist support. Rather, it advocates for a shift from deficit-oriented and compensatory models towards inclusive, language-aware ecosystems in which multilingual learners remain active members of the learning community. EAL specialists are viewed as essential partners in curriculum design, language needs analysis, professional learning, collaborative planning and co-teaching rather than providers of isolated support. The goal is not to separate multilingual learners from learning, but to strengthen the capacity of the entire school ecosystem to support their success.

LEAVES is built on the belief that multilingual learners do not need to assimilate in order to succeed. Rather than viewing students' languages and cultures as barriers to overcome, LEAVES positions them as assets that enrich learning communities and contribute to deeper understanding.

Affirmation means providing support without creating separation, stigma, or lowered expectations. Multilingual learners benefit most when specialist expertise and inclusive classroom practice work together within a shared ecosystem of responsibility. It means recognising, valuing, and intentionally incorporating students' linguistic and cultural identities into school life - creating environments where multilingual learners feel safe, seen, heard, respected, and capable. It means understanding that language proficiency is not a measure of intelligence, potential, or cognitive ability. It means acknowledging that multilingual learners are often learning both language and content simultaneously.

Affirmation requires schools to move beyond practices that unintentionally other multilingual learners. Instead of asking students to adapt to systems that were not designed with them in mind, schools are encouraged to examine how their structures, policies, pedagogies, and cultures can evolve to ensure that multilingual learners experience belonging, participation, and success as valued members of the community from the very beginning.

When schools move from assimilation to affirmation:

Home languages are viewed as resources rather than obstacles.
Accents are recognised as part of linguistic identity rather than problems to be corrected.
Multilingualism is celebrated as an asset.
Student voice is intentionally sought and valued.
Language differences are understood through an inclusive lens.
Rigorous learning remains accessible through strategic support rather than lowered expectations.
Belonging becomes a foundation for participation, confidence, and achievement.

Research in Second Language Acquisition consistently demonstrates that learners acquire language more successfully when affective barriers such as anxiety, fear of mistakes, and feelings of exclusion are reduced. When students feel affirmed in who they are, they are more willing to participate, take risks, engage with peers, and use language in meaningful ways.

For this reason, affirmation is not an addition to learning; it is a condition that supports learning.

The LEAVES Framework therefore seeks to help schools create ecosystems where multilingual learners are not expected to leave parts of themselves at the classroom door. Instead, schools become places where students can maintain their linguistic and cultural roots while developing new languages, new knowledge, and new opportunities for growth.

The goal is not assimilation.

The goal is affirmation.

Because multilingual learners should not have to become someone else in order to belong.