Digital Formative Assessment Tools in Multilingual Elementary Classrooms: A Narrative Review and Extended Conceptual Framework

<p>Multilingual learners are one of the fastest-growing student populations in K-12 schools internationally, yet classroom-based assessment remains predominantly designed around monolingual norms. Digital formative assessment tools offer a potential route to more equitable, real-time feedback, but existing frameworks for digital formative assessment have been developed primarily for higher education and do not explicitly address language of assessment as a variable. This narrative review synthesises six sources on multilingual assessment ecology, an existing higher-education digital formative assessment framework, a tested multilingual-capable assessment tool, translanguaging-informed formative assessment in K-12 STEM classrooms, a methodological review of technology-assisted reading instruction for English language learners, and documented general barriers to digital formative assessment adoption. Based on this synthesis, the review proposes extending the existing framework with a fourth dimension — language accessibility — specifically for multilingual elementary contexts, offered as a conceptual contribution for future empirical testing.Keywords: digital formative assessment, multilingual learners, elementary education, teacher adoption, English language education, narrative review</p>