This research synthesizes findings from empirical studies on how digital technologies (DTs) are used with immigrant plurilingual language learners in educational settings. Its explores contexts, methods, and outcomes of technology use for facilitating language learning and plurilingual teaching practices, as well as to assess how much current research integrates plurilingual approaches.
Abstract:
With massive migratory flows observed around the world, schools are experiencing an unprecedented increase in the enrolment of children who speak multiple languages. Educators are called upon to facilitate immigrant plurilingual students’ inclusion and development of functional competencies in the target language(s), often using digital technologies (DTs) to promote language learning and plurilingual teaching practices. The results highlight that DTs are used in heterogeneous contexts to support the development of immigrant plurilingual students’ overall language proficiency, (multi)literacies, engagement, as well as identity development. However, teachers and learners may require additional support to use DTs and plurilingual practices to their full potential. These concerns point to the need for ongoing professional learning and contextualised supports for educators at the intersection of these areas.
What do you need to know?
This research addresses the increasing need to support immigrant students who speak multiple languages due to global migration. Plurilingual learners face challenges adapting to new languages and educational cultures, affected by factors such as access to technology, prior educational experience, and the social and political context of schools. DTs are posited as tools to foster inclusion, language acquisition, and identity formation, but their effectiveness depends on teacher readiness, policy flexibility, and meaningful integration into classroom practices. The synthesis is unique for its focus on digital tools in supporting not only language proficiency but also multiliteracy, engagement, and identity for immigrant children.
What did the researchers find?
Key findings show that:
DTs are used across various spaces (primary, secondary, community centers, language classrooms) with various technologies (computers, tablets, apps, social media, etc.) for diverse activities (writing, reading, storytelling, phonological training).
Positive outcomes include improved vocabulary, writing, reading, oral proficiency, multiliteracy, engagement, and better self-confidence or identity investment.
DTs facilitate translanguaging, code-switching, and creative, multimodal literacy activities (e.g., digital storytelling) that help affirm students’ multilingual/multicultural identities.
Effective use of DTs depends on active, communicative tasks, and peer support rather than rote, worksheet-based learning.
Both students and teachers often lack confidence or preparation in using DTs or implementing plurilingual pedagogies, requiring professional development.
"Digital technologies encouraged students to code-switch, translanguage, and engage their multilingual peers in discussion as they planned, wrote narratives, and shared digital stories".
There is a discrepancy between educational and non-educational uses of digital tech among immigrant students, aligned with findings for non-immigrant peers.
What are some particularly interesting themes as well as outlier findings that came out of the research?
While DTs can foster social inclusion, confidence, linguistic growth, and identity, their use is most influential when focused on creative, collaborative, and personally relevant tasks.
Outlier: Not all DT-based interventions lead to greater gains than analogue methods, but digital groups do not perform worse either.
Peer learning and digital storytelling were especially powerful for engagement and identity-building, but some students still considered their home languages less valuable than the dominant school language—highlighting ongoing sociopolitical tensions.
Teachers' comfort and institutional support for plurilingual, technology-integrated methods are often lacking, and the term "plurilingualism" itself remains sparse in Anglophone research, despite the concept's prominence in some international literature.
How can you use this research?
For Educators and Schools:
Use a variety of DTs to create multilingual, multimodal, and collaborative language learning environments.
Focus on creative and communicative tasks rather than digital worksheets.
Value and incorporate heritage languages as resources for learning the majority language.
Seek ongoing professional development for integrating digital and plurilingual approaches.
For Policymakers and Administrators:
Support flexible curricular and policy frameworks that allow teachers to legitimize students’ linguistic repertoires.
Invest in professional learning and contextualized supports for teachers working with immigrant plurilingual students.
For Researchers:
Explore day-to-day, regular use of DTs in plurilingual language education—not just interventions or experiments.
Develop more studies in Anglophone contexts explicitly grounded in "plurilingual" frameworks.
Recommendations also highlight expanding research into teacher training and professional development for technology-integrated plurilingual practices.
What did the researchers do?
Employed a qualitative meta-synthesis/scoping review across several academic databases in English and French, including ERIC, APA PsycInfo, LLBA, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar, supplemented by French-specific databases.
Screened 1,172 abstracts, reviewed 135 full articles, and selected a final corpus of 22 empirical studies published since 2000.
Studies represented diverse educational settings (primary, secondary, community programs) and various participant backgrounds, with activities and technologies varying widely to reflect the heterogeneous realities of immigrant plurilingual learners.
The review team consisted of bilingual researchers, using standard templates for consistent data analysis, including demographics, conceptual frameworks, and research outcomes.
This research synthesizes findings from empirical studies on how digital technologies (DTs) are used with immigrant plurilingual language learners in educational settings. Its explores contexts, methods, and outcomes of technology use for facilitating language learning and plurilingual teaching practices, as well as to assess how much current research integrates plurilingual approaches.
