Paraprofessionals play a vital role in supporting Emergent Bilingual (EB) students. Beyond driving language acquisition and academic content mastery, paraprofessionals serve as essential guides helping students and their families navigate unfamiliar school systems, campus procedures, and daily classroom routines. In this article, we focus on three key aspects for paraprofessionals working with Emergent Bilingual students:
- Understanding language acquisition.
- The four different types of EB students.
- The linguistic, academic, and school supports paraprofessionals can provide EB students.
Understanding Language Acquisition
Language acquisition is a dynamic, fluid process. No two EB students progress at the exact same pace. Factors like native language literacy, prior academic background, age, and motivation all influence learning.
Recognizing each student’s current proficiency level allows teachers and paraprofessionals to deliver properly targeted support. The Texas Adopted English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) utilize five distinct proficiency levels:
- Pre-production
- Beginning
- Intermediate
- High Intermediate
- Advanced
English language acquisition progresses through these five distinct stages, shifting from non-verbal receptive processing to independent academic fluency.
| Proficiency Level | Support Required | Expressive Output | Comprehension & Interaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-production | High scaffolding and continuous linguistic support | Mostly non-verbal responses | Receptive language development during the early “silent period.” |
| Beginning | High scaffolding and continuous linguistic support | Single words to 2–3 word phrases; relies on present tense verbs and repetition | Speech emergence during formal and informal daily interactions. |
| Intermediate | Moderate scaffolding; visual support for figurative or abstract concepts | Short phrases, simple sentences, and brief questions | Clear literal comprehension; developing understanding of humor and cultural references. |
| High-Intermediate | Minimal scaffolding and light linguistic support | Varied sentence structures; comfortable sharing opinions and asking for clarification | Strong literal comprehension paired with growing abstract comprehension. |
| Advanced | Little to no linguistic support | Domain-specific vocabulary with increasingly complex and accurate grammar | Independent engagement in all formal and informal classroom discourse. |
The Four Profiles of Emergent Bilinguals
Texas’s Content-Based Language Instruction (CBLI) framework identifies four EB student profiles, each requiring individual instructional approaches.
4 Profiles of EB Students
Newcomer EBs: Students newly arrived in the U.S. who possess varying educational backgrounds—ranging from advanced grade-level knowledge to limited formal schooling (Students with Interrupted Formal Education, SIFE). Beyond school, they and their families need explicit orientation on campus organization, policies, schedules, lunch forms, transportation, and school events.
Long-Term EBs (LTEBs or LTELs): Students who are conversationally fluent but have hit an academic plateau, often due to a lack of targeted academic instruction or prolonged reliance on low-level scaffolds. They require rich academic texts and structured content conversations to deepen conceptual understanding.
Gifted and Talented (GT) EBs: Students showing high academic abilities, strong native-language literacy, and rapid language acquistion. They demonstrate advanced creativity, leadership, and cross-cultural intuition, often thriving when given opportunities to make cross-linguistic connections or bridge vocabulary gaps for peers.
Dually Identified EBs: Students who qualify for both language and special education services. They face multiple challenges across both languages and require collaborative support that incorporates both disability-related and linguistic accommodations.
Key Actionable Supports for Paraprofessionals
Paraprofessionals can dramatically accelerate student growth by applying targeted classroom strategies.
Paraprofessionals Targeted Classroom Strategies
Leverage Cognates to Build Cross-Linguistic Connections: Up to 40% of English words—nearly 70% of academic math and science terms—have Spanish cognates. Highlighting these structural overlaps helps students connect new English terms directly to existing native language knowledge.
Incorporate Recasting and Rehearsing: Gently bridge the transition from a student’s native language to English by using strategic verbal scaffolding. When a student responds in their primary language or uses informal phrasing, recast their response by repeating the idea back to them using correct, academic English (e.g., “Ah, so you observed that the water evaporated!”). Then, give the student an opportunity to rehearse the new phrase in a low-stakes setting by having them repeat the recast sentence to you before sharing it aloud to the whole class.
Integrate Purposeful Visuals: Visual anchors like labeled diagrams, graphic organizers, and photo cards convey complex concepts without linguistic ambiguity. Using visual schedules and multi-step picture directions also fosters student independence and confidence.
Provide Sentence Frames & Starters: EBs at intermediate levels of proficiency often know what they want to express but lack the syntactic structure to state it. Scaffolding responses with frames (e.g., “Based on the data, I predict…”) helps students internalize formal academic language patterns.
Guide Small-Group Instruction: Working in small groups allows paraprofessionals to check for understanding, re-explain complex directions, and give students a safe space to practice oral language skills before whole-class sharing.
Assist with System Navigation: Paraprofessionals help newcomer students locate classrooms, navigate lunchroom applications, understand homework expectations, and access school resources smoothly.
Conclusion
Supporting Emergent Bilinguals is a team effort. Teachers and paraprofessionals can build powerful classroom partnerships.
For questions about EB students or multilingual programs, contact the Multilingual Team at ESC Region 13. Subscribe to the multilingual newsletter and stay up-to-date on current information impacting your programs, dates, and news. You can also visit our webpage for professional development opportunities, resources, products, and more.
Read additional articles on the ESC Region 13 blog sharing practical ways to co-plan, communicate effectively, and maximize student success together.
Note: This article was published in September 2026. AI was used to support the writing; however, all information was verified by humans.
Ana Segulin
Ana Segulin is the Coordinator of Multilingual Support, Title III and Migrant Education at ESC Region 13.
I really liked the distinction between the four profiles of Emergent Bilingual students. We tend to think that learning a new language is the main challenge, but there’s clearly much more going on depending on each student’s background and experience.
I also liked that the article goes from explaining those differences to very practical ways of supporting students in the classroom. Really interesting and useful read!