Learners vary in their facility with different forms of representation—both linguistic and non-linguistic. Vocabulary that may sharpen and clarify concepts for one learner may be difficult to understand for another. An equals sign (=) might help some learners understand that the two sides of the equation need to be balanced, but might cause confusion to a student who does not understand what it means. A graph that illustrates the relationship between two variables may be informative to one learner and inaccessible or puzzling to another. A picture or image that carries meaning for some learners may carry very different meanings for learners from differing cultural or familial backgrounds. As a result, inequalities arise when information is presented to all learners through a single form of representation. An important instructional strategy is to ensure that multiple representations are available not only for accessibility, but for clarity, comprehensibility, and creating a shared understanding for all learners.

Prompt: How might we offer, honor, and value multiple representations of language and symbols?