Developing Literacy in English-language Learners: Key Issues and Promising Practices

Diane AugustDavid Francis

Claude GoldenbergTimothy Shanahan

Focus of Talk Importance of Addressing English-language

learner issues Five Essential Components of Literacy

Three frames of referenceIssues for ELLSEffective practiceAssessment

Three-tiers of instruction Oral language development

Preface From 1990 to 2000, the number of immigrant

children in the US increased dramatically. In 2000-2001, an estimated 4.6 million English-

language learners were enrolled in public schools, representing approximately 9.6% of the total school enrollment, pre-kindergarten through Grade 12.

English-language learners lag significantly behind their English-proficient peers in reading.

There are serious consequences for adults who are limited-English proficient

Five Components of Literacy The same five components as those identified by

the National Reading Panel and required by Reading First are important determinants of literacy achievement for ELLs

However, there are adjustments to instruction that are necessary to help ELLs achieve to high standards

In addition, ELLs need oral language development appropriate for second language learners

Nature of the Research Evidence for ELLs Whereas research on the development of literacy

in English-only speakers is quite extensive, research for ELLs is much more limited in quantity (1/25) is mostly descriptive in nature and less focused on

testing the effectiveness of instructional approaches and interventions

Additional research is needed both to replicate established findings and to sort out if there are other special routines or emphases that are needed for teaching specific types of ELL students

Three Frames of Reference in the Development of Literacy for ELLs

Language of instruction Need for multiple models

Socio-cultural factors Pedagogical and curricular

considerations Child academic achievement and language

proficiency levels call for differentiated instruction

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Issues for ELLs Specific sounds and sound placement in words differ

for different languages Phonological tasks with unknown words are more

difficult For ELLs, unfamiliar phonemes and graphemes make

decoding and spelling difficult For literate ELLs, English graphemes have different

sounds in L1 Limited English proficiency prevents children from

using word meaning to figure out how to read a word

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Research and Instruction Findings are consistent with the very solid L1

research findings: both phonemic awareness and phonics instruction confer clear benefits on children’s reading development.

There is no evidence that phonemic awareness and phonics instruction in English needs to be delayed until a certain threshold of English oral language proficiency is attained. Important to keep in mind issues raised in previous slide

Helping students hear English sounds that don’t exist or are not salient in their home language is beneficial.

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Assessment Same tasks (for example, blending) can be used

to assess phonological awareness for both groups However, items need to be carefully considered

Important that students understand the instructions

Pronunciation differences should not be counted as incorrect

It is important to assess speed of word recognition as well as accuracy

Fluency: Issues for ELLs Fluency embraces both word

recognition and comprehension ELLs often have less opportunity to

read aloud in English with feedback

Fluency: Research and Instruction Too few studies of teaching oral reading

fluency with ELLs to draw firm conclusions Fluency is an important factor in

comprehension and comprehension training influences fluency

Fluency training similarly benefits ELLs and English-speaking students Existing studies have used good English models

and paired ELLs with proficient English readers

Fluency: Assessment We don’t know to what extent the

benchmarks used for English-speaking students are appropriate benchmarks for ELLs

However, studies indicate, with appropriate intervention, ELLs can meet benchmarks for English speakers.

Vocabulary: Issues ELLS arrive at school with a much more limited

English vocabulary than English-speaking students There are many basic words that English-speaking

students know that ELLs do not ELLs may lack labels in English for concepts

they know and have labels for in their first language

ELLs and English speakers may have different concepts for the same label.

Vocabulary: Issues (cont.) There is some English vocabulary that may be

especially important in comprehending connected text—cohesion markers for example—that necessitates explicit instruction

ELLs literate in a first language that has many cognates with English have an important resource

Words with multiple meanings can be a source of confusion

Vocabulary: Research and Instruction

Must attend to vocabulary from the earliest grades

Some incidental learning improves vocabulary Structured incidental learning

Intentional learning improves vocabulary Very few empirical studies in either area

Vocabulary: Assessment Currently there is no identified corpus

of words whose particular meanings children need to know at different ages

Therefore we suggest the assessment of vocabulary should be curriculum based

It is important to assess depth of word meaning

Comprehension: Issues for ELLs

Limited word recognition skills and fluency impede comprehension

Limited vocabulary impedes comprehension Structural differences between languages can

mislead ELLs Text structures vary across cultures and this

may influence comprehension Culture influences, but does not completely

determine, background knowledge

Comprehension: Research and Instruction

Effective practices for English-language learners build on effective practices for English-only students

Modifications that take into consideration the strengths and needs of ELLs are important

Very few empirical studies focus on comprehension and ELLs

Comprehension: Assessment Most comprehension assessments don’t

isolate the reasons for comprehension failures (decoding, vocabulary, background knowledge, inferential ability)

As such they do not provide guidance for instruction

Three Tiers of Instruction The three tier model of delivering

instruction is beneficial for ELLs as it is for English-speaking students.

As for English-speaking students, it is important to constantly monitor the progress of ELLs and to provide additional support in targeted areas.

Language Proficiency It is important to build language

proficiency in ELLs This can’t be separated from the 90 minute

reading block Additional time is probably necessary and

embedding this instruction in content enhances both content knowledge and language