University of Kwazulu-Natal

Esl Reading 101 A Research Based Guide For Teaching Reading To

Bonisiwe Shabane
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esl reading 101 a research based guide for teaching reading to

Learning to read is a complicated task. Learning to read in a new language is even more daunting. According to a report from The National Center for Education Statistics: As linguistic diversity increases in our classrooms, the need for effective ESL reading programs becomes more crucial. The recent emphasis on the Science of Reading has prompted many educators to wonder if these same strategies work for English learners. In this blog, we’ll explore evidence-based tips for newcomer ESL reading instruction as well as strategies for developing each of the five pillars of literacy.

In 2002, the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children was tasked with reviewing the research on best practices for teaching ELL students to read. In this article, Kristina Robertson highlights ELL instructional strategies based on key reading components and skills. In addition, educators will learn more about the role of students' home language and oral language. This article is part of our guide on Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners. Image credit: Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages Learning to read is a complicated process.

If you teach English language learners (ELLs), however, there are a number of ways you can support their literacy and language development through targeted instruction. This article highlights ELL instructional strategies based on the five components of reading as outlined in Teaching Children to Read by the National Reading Panel (2000). This report is a study of research-based best practices in reading instruction and it focuses on the following five instructional areas: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, Comprehension. In addition, the article includes information related to two additional important areas of instruction for ELLs, oral language and the role of the home language. Each of these topics is explored below, and each section includes: In this article, a seasoned ELL teacher synthesizes her own classroom experience and the findings of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth to make recommendations for effective literacy instruction of ELL...

As a classroom teacher, I was largely ignorant of, and definitely suspicious of, research. I believed that researchers could make their studies come out any way they wanted them to, and that a good teacher who reflected on her own teaching knew much more about how to be... Later, as a university professor, I learned how important good research can be, and how difficult it is to do really good experimental research in a field such as education, where it is impossible... For that reason, I was pleased in 1997 when Congress funded the National Reading Panel (NRP) to evaluate research about teaching children to read. The panel’s charge was to review existing studies, choose those that were well designed and well implemented, and synthesize their findings. The results were published in 2000 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000), and became the basis of the Reading First grant program included in the No Child Left Behind legislation of...

Although there was initially a good deal of controversy about the findings of the report, all U.S. elementary school teachers were soon very aware of the five “essential elements” of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). Teachers of English language learners (ELLs), however, were left to wonder if and how the findings of the NRP applied to their students. How do you teach phonemic awareness and phonics in English to students who can’t yet hear and distinguish the sounds? How do you teach fluency to students whose control of the structures of the English language is still limited? How do you teach them grade-level vocabulary when their vocabulary knowledge starts so far behind that of their English-speaking peers?

How do you teach reading comprehension in English when they don’t yet comprehend the English language? Now there appears to be help. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority and Youth to survey, select, and synthesize research on teaching language-minority students to read and write. Their report was published recently (August & Shanahan, 2006). Corresponding author.

dikimedu@snu.ac.kr Received 2020 Aug 31; Revised 2021 Apr 16; Accepted 2021 Sep 8; Collection date 2021 Sep. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) has been growing worldwide. ELLs are at risk for reading disabilities due to dual difficulties with linguistic and cultural factors. This raises the need for finding practical and efficient reading interventions for ELLs to improve their literacy development and English reading skills.

The purpose of this study is to examine the evidence-based reading interventions for English Language Learners to identify the components that create the most effective and efficient interventions. This article reviewed literature published between January 2008 and March 2018 that examined the effectiveness of reading interventions for ELLs. We analyzed the effect sizes of reading intervention programs for ELLs and explored the variables that affect reading interventions using a multilevel meta-analysis. We examined moderator variables such as student-related variables (grades, exceptionality, SES), measurement-related variables (standardization, reliability), intervention-related variables (contents of interventions, intervention types), and implementation-related variables (instructor, group size). The results showed medium effect sizes for interventions targeting basic reading skills for ELLs. Medium-size group interventions and strategy-embedded interventions were more important for ELLs who were at risk for reading disabilities.

These findings suggested that we should consider the reading problems of ELLs and apply the Tier 2 approach for ELLs with reading problems. Keywords: English language learners, Evidenced-based intervention, Meta-analysis, Reading A research-backed strategy can help teach how to decode new words and comprehend them in context. Topics: Literacy, Curriculum and Instruction, English Learners The Simple View of Reading theory says that there are two primary areas of reading instruction required for proficient reading: knowing what words the letters create (word recognition) and knowing what the written text... All students need to develop word recognition and language comprehension skills to be successful readers.

Philip Gough and William Tunmer designed this evidence-​based framework in 1986 to better specify the essential components of successful reading. Now supported by decades of research, and with very little adjustment, it can be applied to instruction with young English learners (ELs)—students whose native language is not English. Word recognition begins with, and depends on, a fine-grained perception of sounds in oral language, or “phonological awareness.” In its purest form, phonological awareness is not about the visual nature of reading text. It is about the oral nature of hearing language and the ability to identify discrete sounds in spoken words. Did you know that about 10% of U.S. public school students speak English as a second language?

By 2025, we expect this number to rise to 25%. As our classrooms grow more diverse, teachers must find new ways on how to teach reading skills to ESL learners. This guide will give you the tools and methods to teach reading to ESL kids. We’ll look at the key parts of ESL reading instruction. This includes how to improve phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. We’ll also talk about the role of oral skills, the benefits of using students’ native languages, and how to customize language support for ELLs.

More and more students in U.S. schools are learning English as a second language. Teachers must now handle a wide range of languages and reading levels. Data shows that 64% of teachers have at least one student who is learning English. This shows how important it is to have good ESL reading programs. Teaching reading to English learners is similar to teaching native speakers.

But it needs special support because of the unique challenges ESL students face. The main parts of ESL reading instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and understanding texts. By focusing on these main areas, ESL reading instruction can help students with different languages and reading levels. This way, ESL students can succeed in school and beyond. Teaching ESL students how to read English texts can be difficult for many teachers, especially new ones who haven’t yet learned all the helpful strategies for doing so. When starting out as a teacher myself, one such strategy that proved to be a gamechanger for me was guided reading, which I continue to use in my everyday teaching practices.

If you’re just now learning about this highly effective teaching strategy, here’s how it works and how you can apply it in the classroom. Guided reading is a strategy that you can use to teach your students how to read in English more effectively. Rather than simply explaining parts of a text or story to students to help them understand it better, you can teach them different cognitive approaches that they can then use to enhance their reading... This normally involves some level of basic support in the beginning, known as teacher-scaffolding, where you’ll use some subtle techniques of your own to help students apply their newly learned reading strategies to what... To implement guided reading in a lesson, you can follow these recommended steps, which are the exact steps I use whenever taking a guided reading approach: You should start your lesson with a basic warm-up that’s typically anywhere between five to ten minutes in duration, depending on your time constraints.

You’ll begin by introducing the topic that you’d like your students to learn about. When teaching foundational reading skills to English Learners, there are a few key points that educators need to remember. Research shows that ELs, like their peers, do best with explicit instruction in key components of literacy instruction, including phonological awareness and phonics. However, this instruction may need adjustments, including: Before beginning instruction, determine if students have any early literacy skills in their primary language, including knowing the alphabet, letter names, or letter sounds. If so, this knowledge is a resource teachers can tap into.

For example, if a student has learned to read in their primary language, they can apply the skill of matching a symbol with a sound in a new language. Students who have not learned to read in their primary language may have difficulty putting together new letters, new sounds, and new vocabulary words all at once. Dr. Claude Goldenberg goes into detail in the article Helping English Learners with Letter Sounds. You can and should use what you already know to be effective, research-based reading instruction to English language learners (ELLs). However, ELLs will need additional support in learning how to read, and the strategies here will help you to provide assistance in your everyday teaching, particularly for newcomers (students who have recently arrived in...

Note: This article was adapted from excerpts of the ESL/Bilingual Resource Guide for Mainstream Teachers (opens in a new window), published by the Portland, OR Public School District. Teaching reading to English language learners (ELLs) may seem daunting, but the good news is that you don’t have to learn an entirely new method. You can and should use what you already know to be effective, research-based reading instruction. However, ELLs will need additional support in learning how to read. The strategies below will help you to provide this much-needed assistance in the context of your everyday teaching, particularly for newcomers (students who have recently arrived in the U.S.). For more information, take a look at Colorín Colorado’s section on Teaching Reading (opens in a new window).

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