Effective Literacy Strategies for English Language Learners

ELL stands for English Language Learners and are often students from countries which do not speak English that come to school to learn not only the regular content that a school teaches but also the English language. One of the many issues teachers face in helping students learn the content in class is the challenge of integrating the students’ native language along with the content of the lesson. Studies have shown that “3 years of exposure to English is not long enough for all individual ELLs to catch up to their monolingual peers for all subdomains of language” (Paradis, 2016). To properly teach ELL students both content for subjects as well as the English language teachers need to help integrate English and the students’ native language

English language learners tend to fall behind their peers due to the inability to read or understand the language. There are various students who identify themselves as English learners and almost 10% of public school students in the United States participate in school- based programs for ELs (Amendum, Bratsch-Hines, and Vernon-Feagans 2017). Many students still tend to lack and struggle in reading and language development. To help English learner’s different types of interventions are being developed that focus on the needs of the students. Through various strategies like the Core Intervention Model and the Targeted Reading Intervention help struggling students perform at a standard level with their peers.

“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that illustrate concepts that will allow English Learners to become fluent in English. The purpose of this article is to discuss four accessible teaching practices that will allow English Learners in U.S. classroom to become academically successful and attain fluency in English. To clarify, the authors use access, climate, expectations, and language instruction as the practices that will eliminate education inequality and enable students to be able to fully participate in rigorous course work without excluding English Learners. Ultimately this provides an approachable school reform, creates additive integration of multicultural perspective and approach and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.

English learners are currently the fastest developing student population in schools today. This makes it extremely important to provide these students with the programs and services they deserve. Providing a strong education for ELL students is what I personally believe to be an asset in America’s future. Today there are many challenges I believe teachers and students face when it comes to instruction and assessments.

Teaching reading to English Language Leaners requires some strategies and preparations on the part of teachers, which includes the preparation of the lesson plan. However, an effective lesson plan teaching reading to English Second Language (ESL) students or English Foreign Language (EFL) students requires having a structure (Teaching Reading to ESL Students to Teaching ESL to Adult, NY). The good news though about teaching reading to English Language Learners (ELLs) according to Colorin Colorado (2008) is that teachers need not to learn an entirely new method. Teachers can and should use what they already know to be effective, which she described as a research-based reading

It is essential to understand English language learners’ needs because ELL students face the combined challenge of learning all the academic content as other students, while also learning the language of instruction. With the rapid growth in the size of the ELL student population in the U.S., teachers who are effective recognizes ELL students unique academic needs, unique background experience, culture, language, personality, interests and attitudes toward learning for the purpose to adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students’ needs.

There can be several different reasons why an English Language Learner can have troubles comprehending the English language. Poverty can play a huge role when in explaining why many English language learners have the troubles in mastering the English language. The State testing has varied throughout the years, along with the degrees of assessments and progress. Teachers also need constructive feedback to properly assess their own progress. The increase prescription of ADHD medication can also be a factor. Programs like SLADI in effect that pulls ELL’s from mainstream classrooms to focus on advanced grammatical structures of the English language; all in which, have been unsuccessful in aiding the student to acquire mastery within the English language domains of reading and writing. Comparing a personal experience I had dealt with wasted school year time, regarding an ELL student, involves a teacher being out of touch with her student and giving inappropriate leveled work. All of these issues work hand in hand. The ultimate goal is to teach literacy and to reach proficiency within the English language.

“The partnerships between Latino immigrant families, teachers, community members, and university faculty towards the education of ELLs (p 188)” was the focus of the conducted research of the by Iddings, Combs, and Moll (2014). Within this text, the authors felt that if schools formed partnerships with parents of ELL students, the students would be more successful.

In recent decades, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in the diverse population, especially with English-language learners in the education system. English-language learners are students who are unable to communicate fluently or learn effectively in English. These students come from a non-English speaking home or background and require specialized instruction in the English language and their academic courses. Educators use a number of terms when referring to English-language learners, limited English proficient (LEP) students, non-native English speakers, language-minority students, and either bilingual students or emerging bilingual students (York, 2008). As

The students that make up the school are mostly Latino, African American, West Indian and white. Language is the medium through which students gain access to the curriculum. (Tamara Lucas). For example, Maria was placed in a dual language classroom, since arriving from Mexico and when she entered middle school that was taken away. The teacher in her English class needs to realize it takes second language learners longer to develop fluency in academic English than in conversational English. (Tamara Lucas). Ms. O’reilly should take this inconsideration when it comes to the strategies used in the classroom. Social interaction will help Maria’s language development and a method that can be useful to promote social interaction is the use of group work. Using group work will allow Maria to not only expand her English skills but also learn from the other students. Tamara Lucas states; “Scaffolding learning for ELLs requires teachers to consider the relationship between students’ linguistic abilities and the tasks through which they are expected to learn”. Ms. O’reilly has set the goal of having all the students to be on the same level at the end of the school year, this might not be a realistic goal since each child comes from different backgrounds and learn at different speeds. Different scaffolding strategies should be use to accommodate the ELLs in her classroom. Group work, sharing about ones culture, knowing the child’s mother tongue and creating a comfortable environment where the students can raise their hand or ask questions without feeling dumb or like an

The large school district in this study is located in the suburbs of New York City. The problem is ELL students are underachieving in reading and writing on state assessments when compared to non-ELLs in this district (NYSED, 2014b). Based on New York State’s Blueprint for English Language Learners Success (NYSED, 2014a), school districts have to ensure that all teachers can teach ELL students, and address diverse learning needs, such as cultural, linguistics, and socio-economic status, including students with disabilities. In addition, this problem impacts classroom teachers who may be highly qualified to teach content areas but may lack training in addressing the diverse learning needs of ELL students, which might include bridging cultural and language barriers (NCTE, 2008). Teachers need to be prepared to address the problem of underachievement for ELL students.

The mere reference to the label given to students acquiring the English language potentially sparks debate amongst educators, policy makers and researchers. The federal government refers to these students as Limited English Proficient (LEP) students. This identification references the deficiencies the student may have rather than to identify the diversity and gifts that the student may possess. Such labels set premature limitations of the student and predisposes the student to limited rigor in instruction. Educators and researchers reference the same subgroup of students as ELLs, establishing the understanding that with sufficient support, increased rigor and cultural understanding, students will succeed.

Relating to Gee’s definition of a primary Discourse, he states that the environment in which a child first acclimates to holds heavy influence in how that child proceeds to live out their life. Essentially, based on his findings, he offers the idea that once a primary Discourse is established, it’s extremely difficult to branch out in acquiring the secondary Discourses that are main-stream within public school systems. He essentially offers the idea acquisition of skills that conflict primary discourse values is nearly impossible through learning in a classroom, thus making the role of a teacher to be somewhat null. In contrast to Gee’s article, while respecting his theoretical definition and research on Discourse, Lisa Delpit’s article titled

Researchers use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods to conduct a study. Each methodology contains advantages and disadvantages; therefore, researchers need to decide on an appropriate methodology for the study (McLeod, 2008). The article “Effects of the Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) reading fluency program with Latino English Language Learners: A preliminary Evaluation” (Begeny, Ross, Greene, Mitchell, & Whitehouse, 2012) and the article “Mainstream first-grade teachers’ understanding of strategies for accommodating the needs of English language learners” (Hite & Evans, 2006) both focus on ELLs instructional strategies but utilize different research methods.

Guild (2001) says “We… are products of external influences, especially within our immediate family, extended community, and culture.” This is important, as an educator, to keep in mind when teaching ELL students. This is important to keep in mind when teaching children from other cultures, also. The information I gained from reading and watching the learning resources in weeks two and three were very valuable in observing the student I chose to observe.