Last fall, Dr. Antoinette Barffour, associate professor of French and linguistics at Missouri State University, spent her sabbatical exploring bilingual education across West Africa.

In this part of the world, more than 1,200 languages are spoken but most students receive instruction in an official colonial language like English, French and Portuguese.

Through classroom observations and discussions with teachers, students and education officials, Barffour’s research highlights how teachers adapt bilingual instruction to meet students’ needs and what those lessons can teach us here in the U.S. about supporting multilingual learners.

She shares insights from her research.

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