Since the advent of using ink and parchment to write texts, people have been using annotations to interact with them. It’s an ancient learning strategy that is easy to take for granted, yet in this blog we will explore how annotating texts can be a powerful tool for supporting multilingual learners in a variety of ways.
Annotating a text could look like circling a new word, writing a translation next to an unknown phrase, or highlighting a section of text as a reminder to come back to it later. However, before we look at some specific annotation techniques in more detail, it is useful to consider the different purposes that annotation serves for users of a text.
We can identify four broad uses for annotation, outlined in the table below:
| Purpose | Examples |
| Identifying | Finding and underlining answers to questions about the text.
Highlighting certain types of vocabulary or language structures. |
| Building meaning | Translating words or phrases, paraphrasing, linking to other ideas, adding images or audio-visual features to support understanding. |
| Interrogating | Asking questions to be answered later – this could include asking about a concept or idea that is confusing or asking why the writer chose to use certain language. This could also involve adding opinions about the effectiveness of the text. |
| Prompting/
reminding |
Using annotation as a prompt or cue to do something else. For example, bookmarking a section to return to later, highlighting a word to look up, a term to research, or a reference to explore. |
These examples highlight the rich and productive range of outcomes that annotation techniques can achieve. For multilingual learners in particular annotating texts can help:
- Provide meaningful interaction with a text. Interaction is more effective than passive exposure in developing language.
- Model and make visible effective reading strategies by externalising what may in the future become purely mental processes, e.g. noticing and underlining unfamiliar vocabulary.
- Make texts seem more accessible, reducing stress and cognitive overload, which will facilitate learning.
- Bring in home languages to enhance learning by allowing learners to better understand and more fully express ideas as well as making visible connections between their own language and English.
- Support review, revision, and retention of content – particularly important for learners at secondary level taking high-stakes exams.
- Develop independent study skills.
Helping our multilingual learners to understand the different ways that annotation can be used is critical in building their confidence and independence when working with texts.
Examples of annotation activities to use in multilingual classrooms
Using visuals
For new to English learners, using labelled visuals (flashcard, word mats, diagrams) to find and underline corresponding words in a text can be the first step in teaching them basic text scanning skills, even if they aren’t yet able to read or process the full text. This might
be particularly useful for learners who have no literacy in their home language or who are unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet.
New to English learners who have some literacy in their home language can scan for key words from a list of labelled visuals provided and write translations next to the words in the text to reinforce understanding. You can build up word banks for particular topics that include both English and translated versions from the languages in your group – to show that all languages are valued and that knowledge is valid however it is expressed.
Identifying answers to questions
Asking learners to find answers to questions within a text can help learners develop their ability to extract meaning from longer chunks of language, so is more appropriate for learners at early acquisition or developing competence stages. Tasks like matching sentence halves taken from the text, identifying the information supporting/contradicting true or false statements, or exploring cause and effect by searching the text for effects that correspond to a list of causes require learners to work with and identify longer chunks of language.
Identifying genre features
As older learners become more independent, annotation can be used to raise awareness of different genre features. For example, a group of learners analysing a magazine or website aimed at teenagers could be asked to work in groups to identify examples of informal language such as contractions, colloquialisms, or idioms.
With learners at earlier stages of acquisition you could ask them to focus only on the contractions and pronouns as these are more easily identifiable. The same type of task could be used to raise awareness of formal or academic language in the context of a model essay or university application letter, for example.
Multi-modal annotation tasks
Annotation does not have to be purely a reading or writing activity. For example, multilingual learners studying poems or plays could use a text reader or recording to help identify literary techniques that rely on sound such as rhyme, alliteration or onomatopoeia. Learners could even use a phone to film a video performance of a poem or play and annotate it with translations or highlight pronunciations to practise later.
Developing independent learning
Annotation activities can be teacher-guided and prescriptive, or more learner-led and responsive. Both approaches can be appropriate, but an over-reliance on prescriptive annotation tasks is unlikely to lead to independent use of annotation by learners. To move towards a more responsive approach, multilingual learners can be supported to create their own glossaries by developing their own annotation system to highlight and record words and phrases they want to remember for different subject areas or topics. They can create their own colour codes or symbol keys in ways that are meaningful for them and address their own needs and study preferences.
For multilingual learners who are working with longer, more sophisticated texts, for example at GCSE, A-level, or IB Diploma level, training them to make effective annotations in the form of questions to be researched or followed up with a teacher later can support deeper understanding and independent learning. This can be scaffolded by providing prompts to help them formulate useful questions, such as the examples below.
- What’s the difference between X and Y?
- What is meant by…?
- Why does it say… instead of…?
- Does this mean XXX in my language?
- Can you explain this in a different way?
Teachers can support the responsive use of annotation by providing templates that allow space to write legibly in the margins. They can also provide rubrics and prompts that show exactly what learners should be looking for, such as this example adapted from this excellent blog by Andrea Castellano.
| Annotation – things to look for | |
| Key language and ideas
What is the author saying? |
Craft and structure
How is the author saying it? |
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The importance of home languages
Although a lot of the techniques outlined here don’t rely on using home languages, in many cases, especially for learners at the early stages of
learning English, utilising home languages when annotating texts will strengthen learners’ ability to access and work with English texts. Normalising the presence and visibility of other languages in the classroom will be vital if multilingual learners are to feel comfortable using their other languages when engaging with texts.
Annotating texts can be a messy, imprecise, and experimental process – but so is learning a new language! By embracing this idea and learning what annotation techniques work best for multilingual learners in your context, teachers can support multilingual learners to work more effectively with texts, regardless of their proficiency in English.