The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a demanding read for multilingual learners. Richler's prose is full of idiom, slang, and ironic understatement, and its Montreal setting includes cultural references that may be unfamiliar. Yet English language learners often have rich perspectives to bring, especially regarding immigration and ambition. Fair grading means evaluating their thinking without letting language errors overshadow strong ideas.

Start by separating content from language in your rubric. Criteria such as thesis, evidence, and analysis should be scored on the quality of the ideas, while grammar and mechanics belong in a distinct category with limited weight. This separation allows a student who makes a perceptive point about Duddy's relationship with his grandfather to receive credit, even if the sentences contain errors.

Provide scaffolding before writing begins. Pre-teach difficult vocabulary and idioms from key chapters, offer a glossary of cultural references, and share sentence frames for literary analysis. Frames such as "Richler shows that Duddy believes... when he..." give learners a structure for expressing complex ideas without requiring them to invent academic phrasing from scratch.

Feedback that supports language growth

Correcting every error overwhelms learners and rarely leads to improvement. Instead, choose two or three patterns that interfere most with meaning, such as verb tense consistency or article usage, and address those. Providing a brief explanation and a corrected example for each pattern gives students something concrete to apply in later assignments.

• Credit the quality of ideas separately from language accuracy
• Focus corrections on two or three recurring patterns
• Provide model sentences students can adapt
• Allow revision after feedback to apply new language skills
• Celebrate specific strengths in analysis and insight

Recognizing strengths students may bring

Many multilingual students have personal or family experience with migration, language barriers, and economic precarity, which can inform insightful readings of Duddy's world. A student may notice details about family pressure or the drive to prove oneself that native-speaking classmates overlook. Inviting these perspectives, while ensuring they are connected to textual evidence, enriches both the essay and classroom discussion.

Be careful, however, not to assume or require students to speak for any culture. Offer the option to draw on personal connections without making it mandatory, and always ask for textual support. This respects students' privacy and keeps the analysis anchored in the novel.

Assessment accommodations

Reasonable accommodations can make assessment fairer. Extended time, use of a bilingual dictionary, or permission to draft ideas in a first language before translating can all help students demonstrate understanding. Check your school's policies and the students' language support plans to determine what is appropriate and consistent.

Allow multiple drafts when possible. Revision gives language learners the chance to apply feedback and see tangible improvement, which builds confidence. Grade the final version while acknowledging growth from earlier drafts, so that effort and progress are visible in the evaluation.

Using technology thoughtfully

AI-assisted feedback tools can support multilingual learners by providing quick, rubric-aligned responses that students can review privately and at their own pace. Seeing a clear explanation of how an argument could be strengthened, without the pressure of a public critique, can encourage experimentation. Teachers should still review feedback to ensure it is appropriate and sensitive to language level.

Make sure that tools judge ideas by the rubric rather than penalizing nonstandard English too heavily. Test the tool on sample ELL essays before relying on it, and adjust criteria if language errors skew scoring. The aim is to use technology to broaden access, not to introduce new barriers.