Multilingual learners, or students who are actively developing English language proficiency at school in addition to other (home) languages they speak, are a quickly growing school-age population in most Anglophone immigrant-receiving countries (Author, 2020, 2021). Although a substantive scholarship has focused on enhancing education for multilingual learners, most research examines micro-level instructional and/or evaluation practices, especially English language teaching and learning practices (see Heritage et al., 2020; Walqui & Bunch, 2019; Wright, 2010; Ramirez et al., 2017). In comparison, much less literature has focused on enhancing school leadership for multilingual education (see Callahan et al., 2021).
Research has demonstrated the significant role of educational leaders in creating and sustaining diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environments for underrepresented students (e.g., see Mackey et al., 2021). In particular, a growing, influential body of research has advocated for the implementation of culturally responsive school leadership for teachers and students of diverse backgrounds (e.g., see Khalifa, 2018, 2020). However, relatively less is known about how this social justice oriented leadership model can prepare school leaders and educators to work with multilingual learners. To address this gap, this study conducted a systematic literature review on effective school leadership practices that promote cultural diversity and inclusive learning environments for multilingual learners.
To collect and review the relevant research literature as the data for this study, I adopt the research review principles proposed by Boote and Beile's (2005). They demonstrate that a high-quality review should be foundational for all research work, and they examine the quality of reviews from the five categories (adopted from Hart's criteria, 1999): coverage, synthesis, methodology, significance, and rhetoric. With these evaluation rubrics, they conclude that "the best literature reviews were thorough, critical examinations of the state of the field that set the stage for the authors' substantive research projects" (p. 9).
Based on the systematic review of the empirical studies, this study discusses the findings and implications of research-based, practice-oriented culturally sustaining school leadership approaches to working with multilingual learners. First, instructional leaders of multilingual education need to maintain critical and reflexive practices in both enhancing students' linguistic and academic development and sustaining students' diverse cultural backgrounds (Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2017). Second, school leaders should consistently supervise language education programs and teachers to embrace culturally sustaining practices in classrooms and schools, embrace and advocate for cultural diversity in curricula design and instruction, and address the needs of multilingual learners of diverse backgrounds (Colleagues & Author, 2020). Third, promoting culturally inclusive school environments can proactively advocate for multilingual learners' habitus and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1977) and sustain students' diverse cultures through language teaching and learning activities (Harman & Burke, 2020). Finally, schools should emphasize the connections with the multilingual learners' community, which can help educators better understand multilingual learners' as well as their families' linguistic and cultural contexts, embrace their multilingual and multicultural backgrounds, and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the learning environments.
