Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Bilingual Education
Bilingual Education and Latino Civil Rights
by Susan Baker and Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University
Baker, S. and Hakuta, K. (1997). Bilingual education and Latino civil rights. Cambridge, MA: Civil Rights Project Harvard University.
Topics Covered:
About ELLs;
Access, Equity, and Adequacy;
Bilingual Education;
Multicultural Education / Diversity / Culturally-Responsive Inst;
Tags:
Bilingual Instruction;
Bilingualism / Biliteracy;
Latino ELL Students;
Target Population: Preschool, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Research Questions the Report Poses: Descriptive report, no research question
Summary: The article examines the history of civil rights for language minority children and assumptions behind attacks on bilingual education. After an introduction to numbers of ELL and immigrant students in the U.S. and California, the authors describe a brief history of congressional and judiciary decisions to institute and eliminate bilingual education. They cite major research findings from bilingual and English immersion programs.
Policy Recommendations:
- English language learners should be assessed and supported in more ways than just in English language development.
- Research should be sensitive to local goals, resources, and populations.
Closing the Gap: Addressing the Vocabulary Needs of English-Language Learners in Bilingual and Mainstream Classrooms
Carlo, M.S., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, C.E., Dressler, C., Lippman, D.N., Lively, T.J., & White, C.E. (2004). Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 39, 188-215.
Topics Covered:
About ELLs;
Access, Equity, and Adequacy;
Best Teaching Practices / Professional Development;
Bilingual Education;
Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction;
Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction;
Upper Elementary (4-6);
Tags:
Bilingual Instruction;
Instructional Programs;
Intervention;
Reading;
Vocabulary;
Summary: Gaps in reading performance between Anglo and Latino children are associated with gaps in vocabulary knowledge. An intervention was designed to enhance fifth graders' academic vocabulary. The meanings of academically useful words were taught together with strategies for using information from context, from morphology, from knowledge about multiple meanings, and from cognates to infer word meaning. Among the principles underlying the intervention were that new words should be encountered in meaningful text, that native Spanish speakers should have access to the text's meaning through Spanish, that words should be encountered in varying contexts, and that word knowledge involves spelling, pronunciation, morphology, and syntax as well as depth of meaning.
Fifth graders in the intervention group showed greater growth than the comparison group on knowledge of the words taught, on depth of vocabulary knowledge, on understanding multiple meanings, and on reading comprehension. The intervention effects were as large for the English-language learners (ELLs) as for the English-only speakers (EOs), though the ELLs scored lower on all pre- and posttest measures. The results show the feasibility of improving comprehension outcomes for students in mixed ELL-EO classes, by teaching word analysis and vocabulary learning strategies.
The Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners (ELLs)
NCTE ELL Task Force. (2006). NCTE Position Paper on the Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners. National Council of Teachers of English: Urbana, IL.
Topics Covered:
Best Teaching Practices / Professional Development;
Bilingual Education;
Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction;
Tags:
Bilingual Instruction;
Bilingualism / Biliteracy;
Comprehension;
Content Areas: Math;
Content Areas: Science;
Content Areas: Social Studies;
Curriculum;
Differentiated Instruction;
Fluency;
Instructional Programs;
Language of Instruction;
Reading;
Struggling Readers;
Vocabulary;
Writing;
Summary:
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has pulled together information from a broad range of research on how to support English language learners in the classroom. It takes into account the variety of skill levels and background knowledge of ELL students and suggests best practices for teaching language, reading, writing, and content.
Urgent but Overlooked: The Literacy Crisis Among Adolescent English Language Learners
by Alliance for Excellent Education
(February 2007). Urgent but overlooked: The literacy crisis among adolescent English Language Learners. Retrieved April 11, 2008, from Alliance For Excellent Education Web site: http://www.all4ed.org/files/UrgentOver.pdf
Topics Covered:
About ELLs;
Assessment and Accommodations;
Bilingual Education;
Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction;
Tags:
American Indian ELL Students;
Asian ELL Students;
Bilingual Instruction;
Comprehension;
Differentiated Instruction;
Fluency;
Instructional Programs;
Intervention;
Language of Instruction;
Language Proficiency;
Latino ELL Students;
Other ELL Students (Middle Eastern, African, European, etc.);
Reading;
Transfer of Literacy Skills;
Target Population: Pre-K, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Research Questions the Report Poses: What factors prevent ELL students from receiving effective literacy instruction?
Summary: ELL students represent the fastest growing segment of the student population and yet with respect to reading and literacy rates they are among the country's lowest performing students. This article looks at the crisis of low literacy rates among ELL students, what research is currently being done, the findings of that research, addresses key policy questions needing to be addressed by policymakers as well as a brief look into the types of support needed in order to provide ELL students with effective literacy instruction.
Findings:
- ELLs comprise 10.5 percent of the nation's pre-K-12 school enrollment, up from 5 percent in 1990
- ELLs continually score lower on the reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress
- As the population of ELL students increases so does the demand from teachers for better methods of instruction
- The literacy needs of ELLs are both identical and distinct to their English-proficient peers
- Local, state, and federal policymakers need to address effect of the growing ELL student population's effect on demographic trends, educational challenges, school performance, etc.
- Improvements must be made on the types of support available to teachers working with ELL students, with special recognition that there are no one size fits all approaches to effective literacy instruction
- It should be the goal of the nation to educate all students
Policy Recommendations:
N/A
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
N/A
I am half American & half Costa-Rican. I teach in an inner-city school with many bilingual (Spanish) students. I really enjoy your newsletter! I print out a lot of the articles/suggestions for the parents. Thank you!
~ Julieann H.
