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Effective Reading Instruction for English Language Learners
By Merri Gutierrez
As an educator, you are probably already aware of the increasing number of English language learners in classrooms across the United States. In the last 10 years, total school enrollment K-12 has increased about 11.5% nationally. For English language learners, the increase during the same time period is about 85% across the US.
You probably have these students in your classrooms. But who are these English language learners? They can be recent arrivals from any number of countries or they might have been in US schools their entire school career. They might have been well educated in their home language or have spotty or no formal schooling where they came from. Across the US, about 83% are Spanish speaking, 3% speak Chinese or Cantonese, 2.9% Hmong, 2.2% Haitian Creole; over 300 languages have been identified in our schools.
Top language percentages tell us one thing, but if you live in St. Louis, your main concern is the increase of Serbo-Croatians, in Detroit you deal with speakers of Arabic. Many districts have resources in place for dealing with other language learners because they have been in the district for many years, but to some districts it is a very new issue. Georgia for instance, has seen in increase of 214% in their ELL population in the past three years. Whoever and wherever these second language learners are, the one thing they all share is the need to learn English well in order to succeed in US schools.
How districts address these diverse language needs varies according to resources and the communities they serve. Some districts have chosen to provide instruction in the students' primary language that the children understand. Many types of bilingual programs exist. These all provide instruction in the student's primary language to varying degrees. They all also provide instruction in English as a Second Language, thus the “bi” in bilingual. Some bilingual programs are developmental and continue the use of both languages for instruction throughout a student's educational career. Some transition students into an all-English curriculum over the course of a number of years. A growing number of dual language programs provide instruction in both languages for all students, with each population learning the other language. Some districts provide ESL or ESOL classes when numbers of students are small, languages are many, teachers of the language are scarce, or legislation forces the decision.
Some teachers who have had second language learners in their classrooms have certification in second language methods and some are new to dealing with this issue. Some might speak the languages of their students but most do not. Speaking the language is not necessary for second language teachers but many feel it can be a definite plus. However, because of the great numbers of languages spoken, it is highly unlikely that a teacher will speak all the languages they come across. Whatever the teacher's level of preparation, certain modifications to instruction must take place for these students to be successful. Training for teachers is critical, and so is support through effective and proven materials.
As students grow in their acquisition of English, learning the language informally and conversationally can be enough to get by -- as any of us who have traveled to a foreign country can attest. But to be successful in school, students must learn to read and to read well. This is where a structured instructional program such as Scholastic's Read 180 can play a substantial role in the academic success of second language learners. Even though the program was not initially written for English language learners, it has proven to be very significant in the progress students make as they become readers.
Read 180 offers many features that make using it valuable for second language learners.
- Given the cultural differences and academic vocabulary gaps among English language learners, development of background knowledge is especially important. Second language teachers often use pictures, objects, demonstrations, graphic organizers and whatever they can to help build background knowledge. All of the pre-reading activities in Read 180 help build comprehension through anchor videos in the content area of the reading passage to build mental models and visual images. Translations of the video content are provided for students whose primary language is Spanish.
- Vocabulary development is supported in Read 180 through the systematic introduction of context relevant vocabulary in the videos along with definitions in the reading passages. Spelling and decoding tips help students practice new words and improve pronunciation and writing.
- Many Engligh language learners reach a level of communicative competence but still have great difficulty reading well. Dedicated attention to fluency is addressed in Read 180 by providing practice in rapid word discrimination and repeated readings of connected text. Text-captioning allows students to read along with examples of fluent text. Listening to the modeled readings of the audiobooks allows students to hear accurate pronunciation and phrasing of text as well as the intonation and rhythm of the language.
Those are just a few of the features that make Read 180 work for second language learners. However, I think most important is the feeling of accomplishment that is bred by actually achieving and being able to feel they are “getting it.” Nothing breeds success like success -- and once these kids get it, the results are sustained and long-term.
Merri Gutierrez is the National Director of Biliteracy for Scholastic Inc. She has been a bilingual and ESL teacher and supervisor in San Antonio and Houston, Texas and has received awards for her advocacy in Texas and California and from the National Association for Bilingual Education for her promotion of bilingual education nationally. |