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Experience SupportEd’s virtual Multilingual Learner Symposium on June 4, 2026 to gain strategies and insights for all educators and admin.

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Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

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Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

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Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

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Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

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Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print or as an eBook.

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Educating English Learners: A Review of the Latest Research - D. August

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Educating English Learners: A Review of the Latest Research - D. August

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It's October in the Rio Grande Valley; the summer heat has receded and the school year is in full swing. Rolando Diaz teaches sixth-grade science at Del Valle Middle School. His class is a mix of English language learners (ELLs) with varying levels of English proficiency. He also has a few newcomer students, mostly from Mexico and Central America. Although all the students are Latino, they have varying degrees of Spanish proficiency.

Today, Mr. Diaz is teaching a lesson on ecology. To prepare for it, he has added several scaffolds to the district-mandated science curriculum. He presents slides to guide the lesson, providing students with visual support for what they hear him say.

Students also have a workbook that corresponds to the slides. For each slide, students engage in an activity that helps them process information. In this case, it is "partner talk" requiring them to describe a variety of habitats in terms of food, shelter, and temperature. They also use a bilingual glossary with pictures and English and Spanish definitions for the lesson's target vocabulary words. The glossary asks students to answer a question about each word and draw a picture or provide an example. For instance, for "ecosystem," they describe one near their house.

Mr. Diaz begins the lesson by introducing the content and language objectives for the day. Next, he explains several general and domain-specific words using the slides.

He quickly gives each definition in English, asks a student to read the definition in Spanish, presents an example for each definition, and asks students to discuss each word's meaning. A few weeks ago, he taught a mini-lesson on recognizing English-Spanish cognates, so they discuss whether "habitat" and "ecosystem" are also cognates.

Students then form groups to explore the schoolyard habitat. In each group, students are assigned various roles-mapmaker, bug collector, vegetation inspector, soil sampler, or data collector-and they complete a corresponding chart. For example, the vegetation inspector measures and records the height of the tallest vegetation and works with the mapmaker to record the location.

At the end of the lesson, students listen and follow along as Mr. Diaz reads the section of the grade-level text that discusses features of the ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park. After each section of text, students answer questions orally about the text, illustrations, and other visual displays. Mr. Diaz provides sentence starters and sentence frames to scaffold responses for his students with lower levels of English proficiency.* He intentionally pairs newcomers with bilingual peers so they can converse in Spanish before writing in English.

A longtime teacher, Mr. Diaz has effectively planned and carried out instruction on a specific science topic. He has ensured that students with varying degrees of English proficiency can access the academic content, strengthen their literacy skills, and engage with and learn from their peers.

I've worked with Mr. Diaz and many others like him to incorporate these best practices into their teaching. His teaching reflects the latest research on educating ELLs. In this article, I discuss this research, which includes seven principles from a recent consensus report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. ¹ The report, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures, examines what the research tells us about learning English from early childhood through high school, identifies effective practices for educators, and recommends steps policymakers can take to support high-quality educational outcomes for children and youth who are learning English.

These principles and practices build on findings from previous reviews on the same topic, ² as well as U.S. Department of Education best-evidence syntheses. ³ While dual language programming for ELLs is effective for developing English proficiency and content-area knowledge in English-with the extra benefit of maintaining and developing students' first language, validating their culture, and providing opportunities to enhance cross-cultural understanding4-this article focuses on instruction delivered in English, an important component of dual language programs. (For more on dual language programs and early childhood education, see " Encouraging the Development and Achievement of Dual Language Learners in Early Childhood.")

1. Provide Access to Grade-Level Course Content

For ELLs, exposure to grade-level course content provides crucial access to the language required for academic achievement and for becoming fully proficient in English. ⁵ This exposure helps students develop the concepts and skills needed to master grade-level coursework as they move up through the grades. Grade-level coursework, in turn, helps ensure students perceive the materials as worth working on, engaging, and meaningful. ⁶

In the reviewed studies that focus on the elementary grade levels, a variety of authentic materials were used to support learning. For example, in an English language arts intervention, newspaper articles, diaries, and historical and fictional accounts were used to teach students about immigration across different time periods. ⁷ In an intervention for young children, the read-aloud books and videos focused on habitats. ⁸ A middle-grades science intervention used the same texts and experiments used with gifted and talented students. ⁹

It is important to keep in mind that many skills and types of knowledge transfer from students' first language to their second, and that ELLs may have already acquired core content in their first language. ¹⁰ For example, students who have learned math concepts and skills in their first language do not need to relearn the concepts and skills, but do need to learn the English academic language associated with them. ELLs whose first language shares cognates with English do not need to learn meanings for cognates whose meanings they know in their first language-only English labels for these cognates.

Because grade-level materials in English are challenging for ELLs, instruction using these materials must be coupled with methods that support ELLs. The following principles elaborate on this theme.

2. Build on Effective Practices Used with English-Proficient Students

Many of the practices that have proved effective for ELLs are adapted from practices that have proved effective for English-proficient students. For example, in the area of literacy interventions, it is helpful to teach ELLs the same skills as their English-proficient peers-the skills of hearing the individual English sounds or phonemes within words (i.e., phonemic awareness); using the letters and spelling patterns within words to decode the pronunciation (i.e., phonics); reading text aloud with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression (i.e., oral reading fluency); using strategies to learn new words; thinking about what they are reading (i.e., reading comprehension); and writing with the organization, development, substance, and style appropriate to the task and audience. ¹¹

Effective practices for middle-grades students similarly build on practices that have been effective with English-proficient students. For example, in science, the 5-E approach-Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate-has been used to guide successful interventions for ELLs. ¹² Approaches deemed effective for building vocabulary in English-proficient students have also been used in successful interventions for ELLs. ¹³ Examples include teaching vocabulary in the context of rich and varied language experiences, teaching individual words, teaching word-learning strategies, promoting word consciousness, and using words in writing. ¹⁴ In social studies, approaches include reading and writing about informational passages that provide multiple perspectives on historical events. ¹⁵

That said, not all practices deemed effective for English-proficient learners are effective for ELLs. For example, one study16 found that the use of literacy practices that included only higher-level questioning and discussion about the meaning of text had a strong relationship to improved reading comprehension for English-proficient students, but had little discernible benefit for ELLs. The study also found differences with respect to teacher-student interactions. "Telling"-defined as the teacher providing students with information, rather than engaging them in the creation of information through coaching, recitation, or other forms of interaction-had a statistically significant positive effect on ELLs' reading comprehension, but a negative effect on the comprehension of English-proficient students. The researcher posits that in the first case, the literacy practices (e.g., higher-level questioning and discussion) may have been at too high a level for ELLs to benefit without the appropriate supports. In the case of "telling," the researcher suggests that ELLs benefited because they were provided with more support for engaging with core content in English-a level of support that was not necessary for English-proficient students.

3. Provide Supports to Help ELLs Master Core Content and Skills

ELLs also benefit from visual and verbal supports. ¹⁷ For students in the elementary grades, visual supports include the strategic use of pictures, short videos, and graphic organizers to represent complex vocabulary and concepts. ¹⁸ Verbal supports include student glossaries; words glossed in context by the teacher; and whole-class, small-group, and partner discussions that focus in part on clarifying key ideas. ¹⁹ In the middle grades, visual supports include graphic organizers such as diagrams, tables, and concept maps for science, and illustrations and multimedia for language arts. Verbal supports include bilingual glossaries, as well as sentence and paragraph frames. In several studies, students were taught strategies to support learning; ²⁰ in one such study, students learned strategies to help them write. ²¹

For ELLs who are newcomers, especially those in the upper grades, core content provided in their home language will support them in developing their knowledge and skills while they are acquiring proficiency in English.

4. Develop ELLs' Academic Language

Academic language is defined as language used in school, in written communications, in public presentations, and in formal settings. ²² Academic proficiency is "knowing and being able to use general and academic vocabulary, specialized or complex grammatical structures, and multifarious language functions and discourse structures-all for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge and skills, interacting about a topic, and imparting information to others." ²³

It is important to note that academic language differs across content areas. In science, for example, the challenges of mastering academic language apply to vocabulary (e.g., learning everyday words with science meanings, general academic vocabulary, and discipline-specific vocabulary); syntax (e.g., passive voice, compound and complex sentences, and the nominalization of verbs, adverbs, and adjectives); and discourse (e.g., learning to attend to precise meanings in science text and talk). Students must also learn to master the nonlinguistic forms of language prevalent in content areas like science and math (e.g., diagrams, graphs, charts, maps, and equations). ²⁴

One series of experimental studies developed academic language in the context of teaching mainly science content. ²⁵ The studies used the types of visual and verbal supports previously described to help students make sense of content, develop general academic and domain-specific vocabulary, engage in opportunities to talk in pairs and small groups, and practice writing to extend their learning. These studies are well reviewed in two U.S. Department of Education practice guides for educators. ²⁶

With regard to vocabulary instruction, recent research indicates embedded instruction is a promising technique for developing ELLs' vocabulary when that vocabulary is not conceptually complex. ²⁷ In embedded instruction, students are given access to word meanings through on-the-spot child-friendly definitions of the target words (and, in some cases, examples and gestures). The research also indicates that instructional condition interacts with word type, with conceptually complex words much harder for students to acquire and thus needing more instructional support. ²⁸ (For more on helping students with their oral language development, see " Meaningful Classroom Talk.")

5. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Learning Opportunities

One of the key principles of instruction in a second language is enabling students to interact via speaking, listening, reading, and writing with peers in their second language. ²⁹ Speaking is important to generate feedback, encourage syntactic processing, and challenge students to engage at higher proficiency levels. As a result, it is no surprise that in many of the studies cited thus far, peer-to-peer learning was an important component of the intervention. In fact, in some studies, it was the focus.

For example, in one study implemented in the elementary grades, peer-to-peer learning was used to develop first-graders' literacy skills in a dual language program. ³⁰ Using the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) program, the peer-to-peer learning classrooms provided a structured routine in which the teacher modeled the language activities of the day; students practiced the activities in pairs for 15 minutes while the teacher supervised; and students then turned to story sharing, a partner reading activity that lasted for another 15 minutes. Teachers paired high-performing readers with low-performing readers and then taught the students to use the PALS procedures. During each segment of the session, the high-performing students performed the role of coach first, and the low-performing students followed. On average, PALS students demonstrated significantly greater growth than control students in phoneme segmentation, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency.

In the middle grades, many of the interventions that had positive outcomes for ELLs also provided opportunities for collaborative peer learning. ³¹ An important feature of these studies is that peer talk, in pairs or small groups, focused on course content.

In planning for peer-to-peer interactions for adolescents, teachers need to consider students' growing awareness of their social status in peer groups in school and their community. ³² For ELLs, this includes how they are perceived by peers proficient in English. ³³

6. Capitalize on Students' Home Language, Knowledge, and Cultural Assets

Studies on cross-language transfer ³⁴ indicate significant relationships between performance in ELLs' first and second languages in word reading, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading strategies. Findings from evaluation studies comparing bilingual programs with mostly English-only programs indicate that, over time, ELLs instructed bilingually either perform on par with or outperform ELLs instructed only in English, ³⁵ providing indirect evidence of positive transfer.

Experimental studies ³⁶ conducted with elementary school children suggest that instructional routines that draw on students' home language, knowledge, and cultural assets support literacy development in English. Examples of the instructional routines include previewing and reviewing material in children's first language, storybook reading in students' first language, ³⁷ providing opportunities for students to engage in conversational exchanges during instruction that permits some interpretation to take place in their first language, ³⁸ providing first-language definitions for the targeted vocabulary, ³⁹ providing instruction in word-learning strategies that help ELLs uncover the meanings of cognates when encountered in English texts, ⁴⁰ and introducing key concepts by connecting them with children's prior knowledge or experiences at home and in their community. ⁴¹

As was the case for studies conducted with children in grades K-5, middle-grades studies that showed positive effects capitalized on ELLs' assets. While none of the studies were implemented in bilingual settings, the interventions included bilingual glossaries, background materials in students' home languages, teacher explanations in students' home languages, partner work in students' home languages, and instruction to help ELLs take advantage of their home-language knowledge and skills. ⁴²

7. Screen for Language and Literacy Challenges, Monitor Progress, and Support ELLs Who Are Struggling

Historically, ELLs have been both overidentified and underidentified as having a disability. ⁴³ Both cases-identifying students as having a disability when they do not in fact have one (i.e., overidentification) and failing to identify students for special education services that they need (i.e., underidentification)-are problematic. Measures used to assess ELLs for reading and language challenges must distinguish language development from disability.

Most intervention research has focused on ELLs with reading difficulties. Findings from numerous studies cited in previous reviews of promising and effective instructional practices for ELLs ⁴⁴ suggest that districts should establish procedures and provide training for schools to screen ELLs for reading challenges, consider collecting progress monitoring data more than three times a year for ELLs at risk, and use data from screening and progress monitoring assessments to make decisions about necessary instructional supports.

The studies also suggest the types of reading skills that should be assessed at different grade spans to determine whether ELLs are in need of additional instructional support. For kindergarten and first grade, skills include phonological awareness, familiarity with the alphabet and alphabetic principle, the ability to read single words, and knowledge of basic phonics rules. For children at the end of first grade and in the next few grades, skills include the ability to read connected texts accurately and fluently. For students in grades 2-5, oral reading fluency should also be assessed. However, these grade spans are predicated on ELLs beginning their schooling in kindergarten and must be adjusted for students entering U.S. schools in later grades and who may have already acquired these skills in their first language.

The studies provide two other recommendations: first, districts with performance benchmarks should use the same standards for ELLs and English-proficient students in the early grades, but should make adjustments in instruction when ELL progress is not sufficient; and second, teachers should be trained to use formative data to guide instruction. ⁴⁵ With regard to formative data, one study suggests that students' writing samples should be used on an ongoing basis to determine areas for improvement. ⁴⁶ Students' writing samples are excellent sources for formative assessment because they shed light on language challenges common to all children, as well as challenges and opportunities related to primary language influence on English. ⁴⁷

Almost all studies related to screening, monitoring, and intervening are studies of ELLs in elementary grades. ⁴⁸ Recommendations based on these studies include implementing intensive small-group interventions for at least 30 minutes in small homogeneous groups, and providing training and ongoing support for teachers, interventionists, and other school personnel on how to deliver small-group instruction effectively, as well as how to implement effective teaching techniques that can be used outside small-group instruction (e.g., instructional pacing, error corrections, and modeling). ⁴⁹ Another important recommendation is that additional supports should be provided to ELLs struggling in English literacy that address the other skills crucial for success in school, such as vocabulary, listening, reading comprehension, and writing. ⁵⁰

Where Additional Research Would Help

While there are some studies on effective practices for ELLs in science, studies focused on math and social studies are still very limited, compared with studies of English-proficient students. More research is also needed on promising and effective teaching methods for developing ELLs' home language, knowledge, and skills, and equalizing the social status of students from different ethnic/language backgrounds with the social status of white and native English-speaking students in schools.

For bilingual programs in particular, research is needed on the features that influence the successful acquisition of language and content. These features should include student ratios of English speakers to partner-language speakers in two-way programs, the number of instructional hours allotted to each language, the proportion of school staff and leadership who are bilingual, and the use of target languages within and across content areas. ⁵¹ And since most of the intervention research focuses on ELLs in grades K-2, and on pre-reading and reading skills, additional research is needed to understand how to intervene with older ELLs struggling in reading and with ELLs at all grade levels struggling in math, science, and social studies.

Finally, the social and emotional factors that influence student dispositions toward learning and academic performance (e.g., student motivation and engagement) must also be studied. More effective instruction, positive teacher attitudes toward teaching ELLs and high expectations that they can succeed, and engaging school climates can foster ELLs' motivation to learn and commitment to their educational success in the elementary school years and beyond. ⁵²

Experienced teachers knowledgeable about supporting ELLs, such as Mr. Diaz, already incorporate many of these principles in their instruction. But more needs to be done to make sure this research gets into the hands of all classroom teachers, and to ensure additional research is conducted that can strengthen teaching and learning.

Diane August is a managing researcher and the director of the Center for English Language Learners at the American Institutes for Research. Previously, she was a senior research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics and a senior program officer at the National Academy of Sciences. This article is drawn from chapters 7 and 8 of the report Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures, published in February 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which is available online.

*For more on scaffolding, see " One Sentence at a Time" in the Summer 2017 issue of American Educator. ( back to the article)

†A useful resource for finding reading and math programs deemed effective for all students is this website created by the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. ( back to the article)

‡Nominalization refers to using a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, adjective, or adverb) as a noun or as the head of a noun phrase (e.g., using the adjective "rich" as a noun, as in "the rich"). ( back to the article)

§For more on ways English language learners bring cultural assets to schools, see " The Potential and Promise of Latino Students" in the Spring 2017 issue of American Educator. ( back to the article)

Endnotes

1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2017).

2. Diane August and Timothy Shanahan, eds., Developing Reading and Writing in Second-Language Learners: Lessons from the Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth (New York: Routledge, 2008); Fred Genesee et al., eds., Educating English Language Learners: A Synthesis of Research Evidence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 245; and Claude Goldenberg, "Unlocking the Research on English Learners: What We Know-and Don't Yet Know-about Effective Instruction," American Educator 37, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 4-11, 38.

3. What Works Clearinghouse, which has particularly high standards for evidence of effectiveness, has two publications related to English language learners: Scott Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School, NCEE 2014-4012 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2014); and Russell Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades: A Practice Guide, NCEE 2007-4011 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2007).

4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

5. Lily Wong-Fillmore and Charles J. Fillmore, "What Does Text Complexity Mean for English Learners and Language Minority Students?" (Stanford, CA: Understanding Language, Stanford University, 2014), http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/06-LWF%....

6. Ellen A. Skinner and Jennifer R. Pitzer, "Developmental Dynamics of Student Engagement, Coping, and Everyday Resilience," in Handbook of Research on Student Engagement, ed. Sandra L. Christenson, Amy L. Reschly, and Cathy Wylie (New York: Springer, 2012), 21-44.

7. Maria S. Carlo, Diane August, and Catherine E. Snow, "Sustained Vocabulary-Learning Strategy Instruction for English-Language Learners," in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research to Practice, ed. Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Michael L. Kamil (Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2005).

8. Rebecca Silverman and Sara Hines, "The Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction on the Vocabulary of English-Language Learners and Non-English-Language Learners in Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade," Journal of Educational Psychology 101 (2009): 305-314.

9. Diane August et al., "The Impact of an Instructional Intervention on the Science and Language Learning of Middle Grade English Language Learners," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 2 (2009): 345-376; and Diane August et al., "Helping ELLs Meet the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Science: The Impact of an Instructional Intervention Focused on Academic Language," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 7 (2014): 54-82.

10. Cheryl Dressler and Michael L. Kamil, "First- and Second-Language Literacy," in Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth, ed. Diane August and Timothy Shanahan (Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2006), 197-238.

11. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

12. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; and August et al., "Helping ELLs."

13. Michael F. Graves, The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction, 2nd ed. (New York: Teachers College Press, 2016).

14. Nonie K. Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction for Linguistically Diverse Adolescents: Evidence from a Randomized Field Trial," American Educational Research Journal 51 (2014): 1159-1194.

15. Sharon Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension for Seventh-Grade English Language Learners: Findings from Two Experimental Studies," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 2 (2009): 297-324.

16. Jennifer O'Day, "Good Instruction Is Good for Everyone-or Is It? English Language Learners in a Balanced Literacy Approach," Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 14 (2009): 97-119.

17. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

18. Bryan A. Brown, Kihyun Ryoo, and Jamie Rodriguez, "Pathway towards Fluency: Using 'Disaggregate Instruction' to Promote Science Literacy," International Journal of Science Education 32 (2010): 1465-1493; Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction"; and Lorena Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention Focused on English Language Learners," American Educational Research Journal 53 (2016): 395-424.

19. See, for example, Maria S. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap: Addressing the Vocabulary Needs of English Language Learners in Bilingual and Mainstream Classrooms," Reading Research Quarterly 39 (2004): 188-215; and Fuhui Tong et al., "Integrating Literacy and Science for English Language Learners: From Learning-to-Read to Reading-to-Learn," Journal of Educational Research 107 (2014): 410-426.

20. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; August et al., "Helping ELLs"; Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension"; and Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction."

21. Jung-In Kim and Kara M. Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning and Practices to Motivate and Engage Emergent Bilinguals in an Urban Middle School," Teaching and Teacher Education 55 (2016): 122-132.

22. Catherine E. Snow and Paola Uccelli, "The Challenge of Academic Language," in The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy, ed. David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 112-133.

23. Alison L. Bailey, The Language Demands of School: Putting Academic English to the Test (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 10-11.

24. Helen Quinn, Okhee Lee, and Guadalupe Valdés, "Language Demands and Opportunities in Relation to Next Generation Science Standards for English Language Learners: What Teachers Need to Know" (Stanford, CA: Understanding Language, Stanford University, 2014), http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/03-Quin....

25. See, for example, Brown, Ryoo, and Rodriguez, "Pathway towards Fluency"; Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; Kihyun Ryoo, "Learning Science, Talking Science: The Impact of a Technology-Enhanced Curriculum on Students' Science Learning in Linguistically Diverse Mainstream Classrooms" (PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 2009); Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction"; Tong et al., "Integrating Literacy and Science"; and Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension."

26. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy; and Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction.

27. Michael D. Coyne, D. Betsy McCoach, and Sharon Kapp, "Vocabulary Intervention for Kindergarten Students: Comparing Extended Instruction to Embedded Instruction and Incidental Exposure," Learning Disabilities Quarterly 30 (2007): 74-88.

28. Diane August et al., "The Moderating Influence of Instructional Intensity and Word Type on the Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary in Young English Language Learners," Reading and Writing 31 (2018): 965-989.

29. See Rod Ellis, Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2005). The purpose of this literature review is to examine theory and research that has addressed what constitutes effective pedagogy for the acquisition of a second language in a classroom context. In other words, the review seeks to answer the question: How can instruction best ensure successful language learning?

30. Mary Beth Calhoun et al., "Effects of a Peer-Mediated Program on Reading Skill Acquisition for Two-Way Bilingual First-Grade Classrooms," Learning Disability Quarterly 30 (2007): 169-184.

31. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; August et al., "Helping ELLs"; Nonie K. Lesaux et al., "The Effectiveness and Ease of Implementation of an Academic Vocabulary Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Students in Urban Middle Schools," Reading Research Quarterly 45 (2010): 196-228; Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction"; and Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension."

32. Brooke K. Cisco and Yolanda Padrón, "Investigating Vocabulary and Reading Strategies with Middle Grades English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis," RMLE Online 36, no. 4 (2012): 1-23; and Kim and Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning."

33. Guadalupe Valdés, Learning and Not Learning English: Latino Students in American Schools (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001).

34. Dressler and Kamil, "First- and Second-Language Literacy."

35. Ilana M. Umansky and Sean F. Reardon, "Reclassification Patterns among Latino English Learner Students in Bilingual, Dual Immersion, and English Immersion Classrooms," American Educational Research Journal 51 (2014): 879-912; and Rachel A. Valentino and Sean F. Reardon, "Effectiveness of Four Instructional Programs Designed to Serve English Learners: Variation by Ethnicity and Initial English Proficiency," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37 (2015): 612-637.

36. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; Lauren Aimonette Liang, Cheryl A. Peterson, and Michael F. Graves, "Investigating Two Approaches to Fostering Children's Comprehension of Literature," Reading Psychology 26 (2005): 387-400; Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; and William M. Saunders and Claude Goldenberg, "Effects of Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs on Limited- and Fluent-English-Proficient Students' Story Comprehension and Thematic Understanding," Elementary School Journal 99 (1999): 277-301.

37. Liang, Peterson, and Graves, "Investigating Two Approaches."

38. Saunders and Goldenberg, "Effects of Instructional Conversations."

39. Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; Diane August, Lauren Artzi, and Christopher Barr, "Helping ELLs Meet Standards in English Language Arts and Science: An Intervention Focused on Academic Vocabulary," Reading and Writing Quarterly 32 (2016): 373-396; and Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction."

40. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; and Darci A. Burns, "Examining the Effect of an Overt Transition Intervention on the Reading Development of At-Risk English-Language Learners in First Grade" (PhD dissertation, University of Oregon, 2011).

41. Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Intervention."

42. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; and August et al., "Helping ELLs."

43. Ester Geva and Katherine Herbert, "Assessment and Interventions for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities," in Learning about Learning Disabilities, ed. Bernice Wong and Deborah Butler, 4th ed. (Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2012), 271-298.

44. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy; and Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction.

45. Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction, 6-7.

46. Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, "Assessment and Classroom Learning," Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice 5 (1998): 7-74.

47. Kim and Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning."

48. Burns, "Examining the Effect of an Overt Transition Intervention"; Carolyn A. Denton et al., "Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties," Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 23 (2008): 79-89; Barbara Gunn et al., "Supplemental Instruction in Decoding Skills for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students in Early Elementary School: A Follow-Up," Journal of Special Education 39 (2002): 69-79; J. Ron Nelson, Patricia F. Vadasy, and Elizabeth A. Sanders, "Efficacy of a Tier 2 Supplemental Root Word Vocabulary and Decoding Intervention with Kindergarten Spanish-Speaking English Learners," Journal of Literacy Research 43 (2011): 184-211; Carolyn R. Ransford-Kaldon et al., Implementation of Effective Intervention: An Empirical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Fountas & Pinnell's Leveled Literacy Intervention System (LLI); 2009-2010 (Memphis, TN: Center for Research in Educational Policy, 2010); Emily J. Solari and Michael M. Gerber, "Early Comprehension Instruction for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners: Teaching Text-Level Reading Skills while Maintaining Effects on Word-Level Skills," Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 23 (2008): 155-168; Sharon Vaughn et al., "Effectiveness of an English Intervention for First-Grade English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems," Elementary School Journal 107 (2006): 153-180; and Sharon Vaughn et al., "Effectiveness of a Spanish Intervention and an English Intervention for English-Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems," American Educational Research Journal 43 (2006): 449-487.

49. Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction, 10-11.

50. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy.

51. Andrea Boyle et al., Dual Language Education Programs: Current State Policies and Practices (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2015).

52. For a general review, see Allan Wigfield, Jessica R. Gladstone, and Lara Turci, "Beyond Cognition: Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension," Child Development Perspectives 10 (2016): 190-195; and Tahir Jahan Khan, Azlina Murad Sani, and Sarimah Shaik-Abdullah, "Motivation to Read in a Second Language: A Review of Literature," International Journal of Research in English Education 2, no. 4 (2017): 41-50.

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It's October in the Rio Grande Valley; the summer heat has receded and the school year is in full swing. Rolando Diaz teaches sixth-grade science at Del Valle Middle School. His class is a mix of English language learners (ELLs) with varying levels of English proficiency.

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Our nation's moment of reckoning with the deficit view of multilingual learners has arrived. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated long-standing inequities that stand in the way of MLs' access to effective instruction. Recent events have also caused us to reflect on our place as educators within the intersection of race and language. In this innovative book, Sydney Snyder and Diane Staehr Fenner share practical, replicable ways you can draw from students' strengths and promote multilingual learners' success within and beyond your own classroom walls.
In this book you'll find:

Practical and printable tools that guide you on how to implement culturally responsive teaching in your context

Case studies and reflection exercises to help identify implicit bias in your work and mitigate deficit-based thinking

Authentic classroom video clips in each chapter to show you what culturally responsive teaching looks like in practice

Hand-drawn sketch note graphics that spotlight key concepts and reinforce central themes with memorable illustrations

There is no time like the present for you to reflect on your role in culturally responsive teaching and use new tools to build an even stronger school community that is inclusive of MLs. No matter your role or where you are in your journey, you can confront injustice by taking action steps to develop a climate in which all students' backgrounds, experiences, and cultures are honored and educators, families, and communities work collaboratively to help MLs thrive. We owe it to our students.
See What Readers Are Saying About Culturally Responsive Teaching for MLs

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Our nation's moment of reckoning with the deficit view of multilingual learners has arrived. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated long-standing inequities that stand in the way of MLs' access to effective instruction. Recent events have also caused us to reflect on our place as educators within the intersection of race and language.

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Department of Education, 2017

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Access a wealth of resources on supporting Multilingual Learners (MLs) and English Learners (ELs) in our Resource Library - SupportEd

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Article: Effective Scaffolding to Support MLs

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Article: Effective Scaffolding to Support MLs

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How to Provide Effective Scaffolding Instruction to Support Multilingual Learners

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How to provide Effective Scaffolding Instruction to Support Multilingual Learners. Question & answer from ML expert Diane Staehr Fenner, PhD.

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In 2019-20, the ACGRs for American Indian/Alaska Native (75 percent), Black (81 percent), and Hispanic (83 percent) public high school students were below the U.S. average ACGR of 87 percent. The ACGRs for Asian/Pacific Islander (93 percent) and White (90 percent) students were above the U.S. average ACGR. Across states, the ACGRs for American Indian/Alaska Native students

ranged from 53 percent in South Dakota to 93 percent in Alabama;, and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR of 87 percent in at least 10 states (Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, Indiana, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri, Connecticut, and Maryland).

Across states, the ACGRs for Asian/Pacific Islander students

ranged from 74 percent in Vermont to 98 percent in Florida; and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR in the District of Columbia and in all states except Wyoming, Nebraska, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Vermont.

Across states, the ACGRs for Black students

ranged from 66 percent in Wyoming to 88 percent in Alabama; and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR in 3 states (Alabama, Delaware, and Florida).

Across states, the ACGRs for Hispanic students

ranged from 64 percent in the District of Columbia to 93 percent in West Virginia; and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR in 6 states (West Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Missouri).

Across states, the ACGRs for White students

ranged from 81 percent in New Mexico to 95 percent in New Jersey; and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Across states, the ACGRs for students of Two or more races

ranged from 73 percent in Arizona and Minnesota to 92 percent in Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, and New Jersey; and

were higher than the U.S. average ACGR in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

[Race/ethnicity ] [State/jurisdiction]

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COE - Public High School Graduation Rates

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In 2019-20, the ACGRs for American Indian/Alaska Native (75 percent), Black (81 percent), and Hispanic (83 percent) public high school students were below the U.S. average ACGR of 87 percent. The ACGRs for Asian/Pacific Islander (93 percent) and White (90 percent) students were above the U.S. average ACGR.

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Terminology to Describe Multilingual Learners

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Terminology to Describe Multilingual Learners

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Terminology to Describe Multilingual Learners: Labels and their Implications

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Terminology to describe Multilingual Learners: Labels and their implications with research conducted by the SupportEd team in 2023.

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Elevate your classroom strategies and amplify the impact on your multilingual learners with SupportEd's digital ML Instructional Strategy Toolbox.

This dynamic toolbox is meticulously designed to empower educators using proven instructional practices.The toolbox is a companion to SupportEd's acclaimed best-seller, Unlocking Multilingual Learners' Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible [2nd Edition]. Authored by the esteemed trio of Diane Staehr Fenner, PhD, Sydney Snyder, PhD and Meghan Gregoire-Smith, MA, this robust toolbox is your gateway to a transformative teaching experience.
Toolbox includes:
* 30 ready-to-implement strategies

* Pre-designed activity templates

* Five key areas of instructional practice

* Conveniently linked resources throughout

Scaffolding Instruction Strategies

Frayer Model

Group Roles Framework

Numbered Heads Together

See, Think, Wonder

TIP Chart

Peer Learning Strategies

1-3-6 Protocol

Argument Balance Scale

Barometer: Take a Stand

Information Gap

Inner and Outer Circle

Stronger & Clearer Each Time

World Café

Academic Language Development

Analyzing Sequencing in a Text

Heads Up

Practicing Academic Language with Non-Academic Topics

Student-Friendly Definitions

Text Deconstruction

Unpacking Juicy Sentences

Reading and Writing Engagement

$2 Summary

Carousel Brainstorming

Classroom or School Library Inventory

Identity Text

Mentor Sentences

Writing Scaffolds

Formative Assessment

Anticipatory Guide

Concept Sort

Conferring Notes

Discussion Checklist

Three 3's in a Row

Tic Tac Toe Assessment

There are three different ways to approach the toolbox based on your interests and needs:

+ Individual Use
If you are using the toolbox individually, consider selecting one key area of instructional practice that you would like to focus on first. Read through the different strategies in that practice and identify those that you feel would be most beneficial and applicable to your students and context. Consider selecting one or two strategies that you would like to implement regularly and build in as a learning routine. It's important to remember that any new strategy requires modeling and practice.

+ Collaborative Use
The toolbox is an excellent resource for a professional learning community or content or grade-level team. For example, as a team, you might select one of the key areas of instructional practice to focus on. You might agree on one strategy that you will all try out and share back on or you might each implement a different strategy within the instructional practice and then share your successes and lessons learned. You could also use this collaboration as an opportunity to invite a colleague into your class to see a new strategy in action and then debrief how effective it was in supporting the MLs in your classroom.

+ Professional Learning
If you are an instructional coach, administrator, or English language development specialist, you might use the toolbox as a way to introduce and model a new strategy. Identify which of the key areas of instructional practice you would like to focus on based on the strengths and needs in your context. Discuss with your colleague(s) the possibility of modeling one of the strategies that could be integrated into the content that students are currently working on. If you are coaching a teacher or group of teachers, you could either model the strategy with a class or plan with the teacher(s) to implement the strategy. Following the lesson, reflect on the strategy implementation, student responses, and next steps.

Do I need to have the book in order to use the toolkit?
No. However, the strategies found in the ML Instructional Strategy Toolbox are supported, complemented, and elaborated on by our book, Unlocking Multilingual Learners' Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible.

What format is the toolbox?
The toolbox is a digital download in PDF format.

How many pages is the toolbox?
The toolbox is 112 pages.

What size is the toolbox?
8.5x11

Can I share this with my team?
We ask that every educator who is interested in utilizing the toolbox purchase their own copy for individual use. The toolbox is password protected to help eliminate piracy. Users receive the password via email following toolbox purchase.

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Toolbox | Unlocking Multilingual Learners' Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible; Sydney Snyder and Meghan Gregoire-Smith

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Race and Ethnicity of Public School Teachers and their Students

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Race and Ethnicity of Public School Teachers and their Students

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Race and Ethnicity of Public School Teachers and Their Students

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English learners are one of the fastest growing student populations in the country, yet the number of specialized educators for them is lagging behind.

The number of certified licensed English learner instructors decreased by about 10.4 percent between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years, according to the latest federal data available. The national English learner population grew by 2.6 percent in the same time period.

"It just is a huge disconnect in terms of what we're seeing with our student demographics and looking at projections of what's to come," said Diane Staehr Fenner, president and founder of SupportEd, a consulting firm focused on English learners' education.

And teachers generally seem to feel they are not fully prepared to best support English learners. In February, Education Week posted an unscientific poll asking teachers: Do you feel like you have enough training to teach English learners? Of the 1,248 responses, 39 percent said yes, and 61 percent said no.

While English learners typically work with specialized instructors for their language development, many spend most of their school days in classrooms with non-English learner peers. It's why researchers and educators alike call for broader training for all teachers and school leaders in best practices for supporting English learners-especially with national gaps in specialized English learner staffers.

"We all need to be trained in working and sharing the responsibility and the joy," Staehr Fenner said.

Policy change is needed

At the federal level, there have recently been financial investments in expanding educator training for working with English learners.

In October, the U.S. Department of Education awarded nearly $120 million in professional development grants for improving instruction for English learners. In February, the department awarded over $18 million in grants for teacher-preparation programs for teachers of color, and projects geared toward diversifying the national teacher pipeline. Winning projects included an emphasis on preparing more bilingual and multilingual educators.

But federal grants are only one part of the equation. States-which have greater control over enacting English learner policies-could require training in best practices for English learners as part of teacher recertification, Staehr Fenner said. They could make it flexible for educators by covering costs for training.

Preservice training for all teachers should also incorporate best practices for English learners, she added.

But at the national level, it's a patchwork of requirements for general education or content-area teachers.

In a 2020 study, SupportEd found that only four states at the time had some type of English learner professional development requirement for recertification: Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York.

California, Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas were among the states that required districts to offer English learner professional development, though not as a requirement for individual teachers' recertification, the study also found.

States also need to focus on building up staffing for English learner instructors.

That can be done by offering competitive compensation for teachers with specialized language skills, and investing in grow-your-own teacher programs specifically for this type of instruction, Staehr Fenner said.

Students set to graduate with a Seal of Biliteracy, for instance, can receive concurrent college credit while in high school to one day become English as a second language teachers.

So far, Staehr Fenner has seen the most investment in educator preparation for supporting English learners at the district level, spearheaded by superintendents and English learner department heads committed to equitable education for their students. These cases, however, are often outliers in the national landscape, she said.

The Russellville City schools district in Alabama, for instance, used its federal pandemic relief funds to hire bilingual aides as part of its efforts to improve the quality of education for a student population that is now a quarter of the whole district.

Change is happening, but in outlier districts

Norwalk Public Schools, in Connecticut, is another example.

When Alexandra Estrella started as superintendent of the Norwalk district in 2020, she had to turn around low graduation rates for the district's growing English learner population.

To do this, she led a comprehensive review of district policies and programs, a student roundtable, and a listening tour within her first year. She and her educators spent half a semester studying what English learners went through as students, and what they needed, especially as they navigated the coronavirus pandemic. Based on this review, district leaders then shifted programming to meet those needs.

That included offering English learners and other students receiving specialized services the option to attend school in person early in the pandemic to avoid disruption of their services. That move ensured, for example, that English learners had access to in-person conversations in English for their language development. The district also offered afternoon and evening classes for older English learners who had jobs to support their families.

Longer term, Estrella restructured professional development in the district by requiring school leaders to immerse themselves in best practices for English learners, followed by teachers, and English learner instructors who were also trained as professional development leaders in the district. Estrella also added coaches and interventionists at every school in the district so that teachers always had somebody to lean on for support in the classroom.

That way the message was clear that English learners' success was not solely in the hands of the district's English as a second language staff.

"I firmly believe that it first starts with the leadership. The leadership needs to know what it needs to look like and feel like in order to be able to effectively execute it," Estrella said.

Much of the restructuring aimed to shift deficit mindsets some educators might have had around English learners' abilities.

"A lot of times people come from the mindset that just because the child doesn't know the language at the time that they are an empty vessel," she said. "When in reality our children, even when they have limited education and educational experiences, they bring a wealth of knowledge that will help them advance within their learning experience."

The restructuring and investments have so far paid off with a 10 percent growth in the number of English learner graduates within a year of programming shifts, Estrella said. But there's still work to do to make sure every student is able to academically and linguistically succeed, and that's all accomplished first by making systemic changes.

"A system produces the outcomes that it's intended to produce," Estrella said.

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The English Learner Population Is Growing. Is Teacher Training Keeping Pace?

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English learners are one of the fastest growing student groups in the country, but not all teachers are prepared to best support them.

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Quezada, Lindsey, & Lindsey, 2015

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5 Elements of Cultural Proficiency - NAESP

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By Reyes Quezada, Delores Lindsey, and Randall Lindsey Communicator August 2015, Volume 38, Issue 12 SASHATIGAR/SHUTTERSTOCK

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Unspoken rules with high emotional impact

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Cultural Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills Assessment

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Cultural Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills Assessment

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Categories of Scaffolds and Examples Guide

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Learn the examples of scaffolding for teachers from multilingual learner experts, SupportEd and Diane Staehr Fenner.

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Considerations for Intentional Student Grouping

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Considerations for Intentional Student Grouping

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Considerations for Integrating Home Language Supports

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Considerations for Integrating Home Language Supports

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

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Huynh and Skelton, 2025

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Sentence-Level Scaffolds That Foster English Learners’ Independence and Growth

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Teachers can structure supports to guide English learners to speak and write using grade-level, discipline-specific language.

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Teaching, Learning & Assessment " K-12 Standards & Instruction " Mathematics " Instructional Resources

Mathematics vocabulary word wall cards provide a display of mathematics content words and associated visual cues to assist in vocabulary development. The cards should be used as an instructional tool for teachers and then as a reference for all students, particularly English learners and students with disabilities.

Suggested uses as a formative instructional tool:

Integrate the use of cards into daily instruction and then post on the classroom wall for student reference.

Include an "active" vocabulary card section containing cards that are currently being used as an instructional tool.

Highlight key words or portions of pictures.

Add notation, words, or pictures that connect to instructional discussions or formal definitions.

Group multiple cards when teaching units that include multiple vocabulary words.

Reformat cards to create a personal set on a ring that can be used for student reference.

Vocabulary word wall cards may be modified to address the instructional needs of teachers and students.

Word Wall Cards - 2016 Mathematics SOL

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Mathematics Vocabulary Word Wall Cards | Virginia Department of Education

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Teaching, Learning & Assessment " K-12 Standards & Instruction " Mathematics " Instructional Resources Mathematics vocabulary word wall cards provide a display of mathematics content words and associated visual cues to assist in vocabulary development. The cards should be used as an instructional tool for teachers and then as a reference for all students, particularly English learners and students with disabilities.

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Strategy Overview

How This Strategy Supports Language Development

Engineering or amplifying texts provides in-text support so that students can read grade-level text that would otherwise be beyond their reading comprehension level. These embedded text supports can include chunking the text, adding labeled visuals, inserting synonyms after academic terms, and adding headings or guiding questions for each chunk.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Chunk an original text into shorter sections (one to two paragraphs/ chunk).

2. Add a guiding question or heading with the main idea above each chunk.

3. Add synonyms in parentheses next to transferable academic words.

4. Add images with captions associated with key ideas.

5. Add translated words or cognates for key words.

Lessons Learned

When possible, engineer texts on a slide. This makes inserting headings, images with captions, and synonyms easier.

Since engineering a text takes time, carefully choose essential passages from a text for this process. Engineering a multiple page article or chapter from a novel is not practical in most cases.

Teach students to read the synonyms in the parentheses.

Give students practice reading engineered texts before presenting this version of a text on an assessment.

Work with a small group of students who would benefit from guided reading of an engineered text.

Differentiation

Entering/Emerging

Engineer a text at the student's reading level.

Read the text aloud or make a voice recording of the text.

For students who are literate in their heritage language, add translations of transferable academic words.

Developing

For challenging or complex sentences, offer a summarization of that sentence in parentheses.

For students who are literate in their heritage language, add translations of transferable academic words.

Expanding

Engineer only the most complex sentences.

Add headings to longer sections of text.

Co-Teaching Considerations

Content or Grade-Level Teacher

1. Choose the grade-level text for the class.

2. Identify the key passages or paragraphs.

English Language Development Teacher

1. Engineer essential paragraphs for the multilingual learners in the class.

2. Walk your teaching partner through the process so that they can use this strategy independently as well.

Examples

The following slide shows an example of text chunking and engineering that includes:
Text source: Plants in Acadia National Park

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Language DevelopmentEngineering or amplifying texts provides in-text support so that students can read grade-level text that would otherwise be beyond their reading comprehension level.

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Tool: Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Tool: Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Tool: Scaffolded Unit Planning Checklist

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Tool: Scaffolded Unit Planning Checklist

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Tool: Suggested Scaffolds at Each Proficiency Level

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Tool: Suggested Scaffolds at Each Proficiency Level

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Materials Selection and Adaptation Checklists 

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Tool: ML Materials Selection and Adaptation Checklists

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Tool: ML Materials Selection and Adaptation Checklists

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Sample Focused Listening and Nonverbal Communication Peer and Self-Assessment

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Sample Focused Listening and Nonverbal Communication Peer and Self-Assessment

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Zwiers & Hamerla, 2018

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Free PDF checklist tool to support oral language development for K-12 educators of all multilingual learner and English learner students.

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Jeff Zwiers

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Discover the Peer Learning Activity Checklist to enhance oral language development for educators to use with multilingual learners.

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This summarizing technique is a quick and useful tool to assess students' background knowledge or their level of understanding. Asking students to determine the most important concepts, facts and points is a valuable skill. Intermediate students can use their responses as a note taking device and the teacher can quickly check for understanding.

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Structure an active class discussion in which students express their opinions by standing along a continuum.

Advisory

Civics & Citizenship

English & Language Arts

History

Social Studies

Most teachers are willing to tackle the difficult topics, but we need the tools.

- Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Bay Shore, NY

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Barometer: Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues

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Structure an active class discussion in which students express their opinions by standing along a continuum.

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This discussion technique gives students the opportunity to respond to questions and/or discuss information with a variety of peers in a structured manner. Students form two concentric circles and exchange information with a partner until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction, giving each student a new peer to talk to.

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Peer Learning Activity Planning Template

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Peer Learning Activity Planning Template

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Peer Learning Activity Planning Template

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Download this free Peer Learning Activity Planning Template to support MLs’ participation in peer learning activities in the K-12 classroom.

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Student Goal Setting for Language Development

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Student Goal Setting for Language Development

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Using Informal Assessments for English Language Learners

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Informal assessments (also called authentic or alternative) allow teachers to track the ongoing progress of their students regularly and often. While standardized tests measure students at a particular point in the year, ongoing assessments provide continual snapshots of where students are throughout the school year.

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Download the free formative assessment tool that can be used to collaboratively plan formative assessments with grade-level or content teams.

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Formative Assessment Strategies for educators, schools, districts, and administrators of multilingual learners and english learners.

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Video: Formative Assessment Can Take a Variety of Forms

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Video: Formative Assessment Can Take a Variety of Forms

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A Scaffolding Strategy to Help Experienced ELLs Express Complex Ideas

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A Scaffolding Strategy to Help Experienced ELLs Express Complex Ideas

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Huynh & Skeleton, 2026

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A Scaffolding Strategy to Help Experienced ELLs Express Complex Ideas

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This technique gives multilingual students explicit instruction on how to effectively develop their ideas for each part of a paragraph and to link one idea to the next.

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Adapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

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Adapted from Baker, et al., 2014

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Adapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

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Adapted from Steinhardt, New York University, 2009

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Dr. Kate Kinsella Models Academic Language

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Dr. Kate Kinsella Models Academic Language

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YouTube

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NYS Department of Education & The University of the State of NY, 2018

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year.

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Naquin, 2025

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As education leaders and teachers, we often focus on large-scale reforms-new curricula, assessment systems, and professional development initiatives. But after returning to the high school classroom this fall and working directly with juniors and seniors these past few weeks, I'm convinced we're missing something fundamental: the deliberate, systematic teaching of sentence-level skills. While we've invested heavily in complex text analysis and essay writing instruction, many of our students lack the foundational sentence construction abilities that make sophisticated thinking visible on the page.

The gap is striking and immediate in our classrooms. Students who can engage thoughtfully in class discussions about The Great Gatsby or Shakespeare's sonnets often struggle to express those same insights in writing. They understand complex ideas but can't construct the sentences needed to communicate them effectively. This isn't a failure of intelligence or effort-it's a pedagogical blind spot. We've assumed that sentence-level competence develops naturally through exposure to good writing, but both research and our daily classroom experiences suggest otherwise.

This disconnect between student thinking and student writing represents a critical equity issue that we as educators must address. Students from backgrounds with rich academic language exposure may intuitively grasp sophisticated sentence patterns, while others need explicit instruction that we often fail to provide. When we don't teach sentence construction systematically, we inadvertently widen achievement gaps while frustrating ourselves and our students. The solution isn't to lower expectations but to provide the scaffolding all students need to meet high standards.

The research base for sentence-level instruction is compelling and directly applicable to our teaching practice. Hochman and Wexler's work demonstrates that "writing is the hardest thing we ask students to do, and very few become good writers on their own." Their analysis of struggling writers reveals that students often can't construct basic sentences with conjunctions like "although" and "despite"-words essential for the analytical thinking we expect in our courses. When students lack these building blocks, asking them to write sophisticated essays becomes an exercise in frustration that many of us know too well.

The cognitive science behind this finding illuminates what we observe daily in our classrooms. Sentence construction isn't just about grammar-it's about thinking made visible. As students learn to combine ideas using subordinating conjunctions, embed evidence through appositives, and vary sentence structure for emphasis, they're developing tools for the analytical reasoning we're trying to teach. Hochman and MacDermott-Duffy note that analytical thinking can and should begin at the sentence level, making this instruction far from remedial-it's foundational to the intellectual development we seek to foster.

Perhaps most importantly for teachers, sentence-level instruction creates a bridge between reading and writing that transforms both dimensions of literacy instruction. When students learn to recognize and construct complex sentence patterns, their reading comprehension improves because they can parse the sophisticated syntax we assign. Simultaneously, their writing becomes more precise and powerful because they have concrete tools for expressing complex relationships between ideas. This dual benefit makes sentence-level instruction one of the highest-leverage interventions available to us as educators.

The key to effective sentence-level instruction lies in embedding it within our existing rigorous content rather than treating it as isolated skill practice that fragments our curriculum. In my classroom these past weeks, we've been examining Fitzgerald's sentence construction in The Great Gatsby through "Quote of the Week" analysis that simultaneously builds literary understanding and writing craft. When students analyze how Fitzgerald uses sentence fragments to create mood in "So we beat on, boats against the current," they're learning both about narrative technique and about purposeful rule-breaking in writing that serves their analytical purposes.

Similarly, our work with Shakespeare's sonnets has become a laboratory for understanding how conjunctions and clause structures create meaning that students can apply in their own analytical writing. Students examine how "but" functions differently from "although" in Sonnet 130, not just as grammatical knowledge but as insight into Shakespeare's argumentative strategy that they can employ in their essays. This approach transforms sentence study from mechanical exercise into intellectual investigation, maintaining the rigor our students deserve while building essential skills they need for success.

The mentor text approach that elementary teachers have long used translates powerfully to secondary settings when we select sentences that exemplify both sophisticated thinking and sophisticated construction. Rather than using isolated grammar worksheets that disconnect from our content goals, we examine how accomplished writers use sentence patterns to achieve specific effects. Students see how Gatsby's famous closing lines use parallel structure and subordination to create their haunting rhythm, then practice incorporating similar patterns into their own analytical writing about the novel-making this work immediately relevant to our teaching objectives.

The most critical aspect of sentence-level instruction for teachers is ensuring that analysis translates into students' own writing production in ways that support our content goals. In our analytical essay preparation, we've been practicing sentence expansion exercises that start with simple claims and systematically build in evidence, reasoning, and qualifying language that mirrors what we expect in sophisticated literary analysis. Students begin with basic statements like "Gatsby represents the American Dream" and learn to expand them into sophisticated thesis statements through deliberate practice with subordinating clauses and embedded phrases.

This scaffolded approach addresses the cognitive overload that prevents many of our students from writing effectively-a frustration familiar to most teachers. When students try to juggle content understanding, essay organization, and sentence construction simultaneously, they often fail at all three, leaving us with papers that don't reflect their actual understanding. By building sentence-level fluency first, we free up cognitive resources for the higher-order thinking we're trying to develop. Students who can automatically construct complex sentences can focus on developing and organizing their ideas rather than struggling with basic expression.

The transfer from sentence work to essay writing requires the explicit instruction and modeling that effective teaching demands. We practice incorporating the sentence patterns from our mentor texts into analytical paragraphs, showing students how the subordinating conjunctions they've studied can signal cause-and-effect relationships in literary analysis. When students see how sentence-level tools serve their analytical purposes, they begin to use them independently in ways that improve the quality of thinking we see in their writing. The sentence becomes a vehicle for thought, not just a grammatical exercise.

For education leaders considering sentence-level instruction implementation, several factors are crucial for supporting teachers in this work. First, this approach requires significant professional development that goes beyond traditional grammar instruction. Most secondary teachers weren't trained to teach sentence construction explicitly within content instruction, and we need support in identifying effective mentor sentences from our texts and designing content-embedded activities that serve both literacy and content goals. The investment in teacher learning is substantial but necessary for meaningful implementation that doesn't add to our already overwhelming workload.

Second, sentence-level instruction must be distinguished from traditional grammar instruction that research shows has limited effectiveness and that many teachers have found frustrating to teach. This isn't about diagramming sentences or memorizing parts of speech in isolation-approaches that consume time without improving student writing. Instead, it's about students manipulating and constructing sentences to serve their communicative purposes within our content areas. Professional development must help teachers understand this distinction and provide concrete strategies for content integration that enhance rather than detract from our subject-area instruction.

Third, assessment practices must align with instructional goals in ways that support rather than burden teacher practice. Rather than separate grammar tests that consume time and provide little useful information, assessment should focus on students' ability to use sophisticated sentence patterns in authentic writing tasks within our content areas. This requires rubrics that credit sentence-level sophistication and teacher training in recognizing and responding to student growth in this area. The goal is developing writers who can construct clear, sophisticated sentences in service of the complex thinking we're trying to foster.

The implications for educational practice are both clear and challenging for those of us working directly with students. We must have the courage to return to fundamentals without lowering expectations or abandoning the rigorous content instruction our students deserve. This means systematically teaching sentence construction while maintaining focus on complex texts and analytical thinking. It requires rejecting false choices between "basic skills" and "higher-order thinking" in favor of an approach that recognizes sentence construction as essential to the sophisticated reasoning we're trying to develop.

Professional development investments must prioritize content-embedded sentence instruction that supports teachers across all subject areas rather than creating additional burdens. English teachers need support in selecting effective mentor sentences from literature and designing transfer activities that enhance rather than compete with content goals. Social studies and science teachers need strategies for helping students construct clear explanations and arguments at the sentence level within their disciplines. This cross-curricular approach multiplies the impact of sentence-level instruction and helps students see writing as a tool for learning in all subjects.

Finally, we must measure success in ways that support effective teaching practice and student growth. Rather than focusing solely on high-stakes essay assessments that often frustrate both teachers and students, we need to track students' growing sophistication in sentence construction and their ability to transfer these skills across contexts. This might include analysis of sentence patterns in student writing portfolios, assessment of students' ability to combine simple sentences effectively within content-area tasks, or evaluation of how well students use mentor sentences to improve their own analytical writing. Success metrics should reflect the foundational nature of sentence-level competence while maintaining connection to the higher-order outcomes we value as educators.

Duellman, A. (2020). Utilizing mentor texts in elementary literacy instruction. Hamline University DigitalCommons. School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects, 505.

Hochman, J., & MacDermott-Duffy, B. (2015). Effective writing instruction: Time for a revolution. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, Spring 2015, 31-37.

Hochman, J. C., & Wexler, N. (2017). One sentence at a time: The need for explicit instruction in teaching students to write well. American Educator, Summer 2017, 30-37.

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Sentence-level instruction, embedded within content, is the missing foundation for high school literacy success.

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Jepson & Vilen, 2018

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EL Education - Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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What’s the best way to empower and engage English Language Learners? Read the latest from EL Education’s Anne Villen and Kevin Jepson in the ASCD Express to learn concrete strategies to help ELL’s develop critical language skills.

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Huynh, 2026

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Analyzing Grade-Level Model Responses for Teachers | Tan Huynh posted on the topic | LinkedIn

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Created this table to help teachers analyze a grade-level model response. Analyze the model response helps teachers identify the language they need to teach to meet the content.

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Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for. These fourteen questions will work for just about any kind of writing-from cutting edge journalism to revealing personal essays to experimental poetry.
For a printable version of this handout that you can use tomorrow as well as 29 more pages of practical how-to's, handouts, and charts to teach your students to write better, check out my Writing Workshop Resource by clicking .
First, instruct students to read the text through one time, annotating it with a simple system. (For example, they might write a check mark for important information, a question mark or confusing parts, and a heart for parts that they especially like for whatever reason.)

Then, have them work thorough the following questions to help them notice the important elements of the writers' craft in any kind of mentor text.

1. Having read the piece once through, what is the most impactful or important part? This could be an image, a fact, a sentence, or even a word that stays with you for whatever reason.

2. What is the main point of the piece? Where does the author state that idea? Quote it and then explain it in your own words.

3. How does the writer grab a reader in the first sentence or few sentences? Describe the specific technique that is used.

4. Which details or descriptions or facts are most surprising, vivid, important, or memorable for whatever reason? Make a list of those details.

5. How does the author draw your attention to those details? What techniques are used?

6. How do the details that you noticed help the author to make the main point as you explained it in question #2?

7. How is the piece organized? Make a very rough outline of what the author includes in the beginning, middle, and end. (If you can, divide the piece into three parts-but don't be worried if one part is significantly shorter or longer than the rest.)

8. How might you imitate that structure? How might the author's choices in terms of organization be applied to your own writing?

9. How does the author help the reader to transition from one part to the next? What are some key words that signal a change or shift or movement to something new? Quote those words or phrases here.

10. Which transition words do you find especially effective? Why?

11. How does the author conclude the piece? With what impression are you left as a reader at the end? What does the author want you to take away with you after you are done reading?

12. What techniques does the author use to make that conclusion especially memorable? Describe them here.

13. Which elements of the piece would you most like to try on your current piece of writing? How can you incorporate the techniques that you have analyzed in this piece into your own work?

14. Which techniques would you like to try on a future piece of writing? Why?

Have you taught with mentor texts before? What questions do you have about teaching with mentor texts?
Learning to write can be nebulous and confusing and intimidating-but it doesn't have to be that way. When students and teachers alike can focus on the elements of a great piece of writing, they will both learn from it. Breaking it down into the basic elements of solid communication go a long way towards making the process of writing more approachable for everyone.

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14 Questions for Examining Mentor Texts (Of Any Kind) - Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for.

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Video: Activating and Building Students' Background Knowledge

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Video: Activating and Building Students' Background Knowledge

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Reading Instruction for MLs: The Role of Background Knowledge

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Reading Instruction for MLs: The Role of Background Knowledge

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Reading Instruction for Multilingual Learners: The Role of Background Knowledge

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Reading Instruction for Multilingual Learners: The Role of Background Knowledge for English Language Learners

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Determining How Much Background Knowledge to Provide to MLs

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Determining How Much Background Knowledge to Provide to MLs

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This week, I'd like to focus on a topic that is getting a lot of attention in Common Core conversations: the role of background knowledge in reading instruction for ELLs. You may recall that close reading is one of the major shifts of the CCSS. I've been interested in the role that background knowledge plays in the close reading of text and wrote a post about it a few months ago. It's an issue that teachers, district leaders, policymakers, and curriculum writers seem to continue to struggle with when considering how best to teach ELLs within a CCSS-based framework.

I've heard opinions that span both ends of the continuum when it comes to deciding how much background knowledge is appropriate for ELLs - from no background knowledge whatsoever (and exclusive attention on the text) all the way to extensive preparation about the subject of the text, the author, or other topics that relate to the text.

"Letting the Text Take Center Stage"

There is a new article that can help shed more light on the role of background knowledge within the Common Core. It's titled " Letting the Text Take Center Stage" and was written by Tim Shanahan for the American Federation of Teachers' Fall 2013 American Educator magazine. Some state-level educators referred to the article a number of times at a meeting I recently attended, so I decided to give it a read. The article clearly describes some of the major relevant themes with reading in the CCSS and presents guidance that will be helpful to teachers.

In this post, I'll highlight some information from Shanahan's article about background knowledge. I'll then share a table and flow chart adapted from the article that will help you decide how much background knowledge to teach to ELLs. You can use these tools to make the process of figuring out how much background knowledge to teach a little less subjective.

A Little Background on Tim Shanahan

What better way to start than with some background knowledge on our featured author? In case you're not familiar with him, Tim Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Urban Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is an expert on ELL literacy. (He has also served as an adviser to Colorín Colorado.) His stance on background knowledge for all students falls along the continuum I referenced earlier.

In this particular blog post, he says that readers use what they know to interpret text, which supports teaching background knowledge where necessary. However, even though students use what they know when they read, he tempers his position on background knowledge by stating that any pre-reading activities should "give students as little preparation as required to engage with the text." In other words, providing students with background knowledge can't take the place of them making meaning from the text itself. This is especially true if the teacher is going to work with a text over time to help students understand it deeply.

Matching Kids to Texts and the Role of the ESL Teacher

In his article, Shanahan observes that, before the CCSS, English Language Arts content standards usually ignored the fact that some texts are harder to read than others. Until now, he writes, teachers have been taught to give students books at their instructional level. The CCSS constitute a reversal of that practice. Shanahan says there is not a firm base of research to support matching kids to texts. He says that while the student and text level do matter, the amount a teacher can support or scaffold a text is also important. (This should come as no surprise for ESL teachers!)

He says, "Under the CCSS, students will be more frustrated by challenging texts, and this means other instructional supports will be needed to help and encourage them along this path. Teachers must learn to anticipate text challenges and how to support students to allow them to negotiate texts successfully, but without doing the work for them." The needed expertise he outlines is exactly the kind of skill set many ESL teachers bring to the classroom. For example, Lily Wong Fillmore supports analyzing texts and spending time unpacking what she calls " juicy sentences."

If ESL teachers help content teachers in the ways Shanahan outlines, they'd be one step closer to fulfilling TESOL International Association's vision for the new role of the ESL teacher in the CCSS as expert, consultant, and advocate. However, ESL teachers may still need support in not doing all the work for their students so ELLs can gain more responsibility in negotiating texts.

Areas of Background Knowledge

Shanahan outlines two essential areas of background knowledge that teachers can effectively utilize with students. One area is providing background knowledge. Readers need to integrate prior knowledge with text information in order to form a mental representation or memory. This area has gotten more buzz with the CCSS in the context of close reading, as some have incorrectly interpreted this to mean that teachers may not provide any background knowledge at all.

A second area is activating existing prior knowledge. Existing prior knowledge is also a form of background knowledge, and teachers can draw upon what students already know when teaching in a CCSS framework. For example, teachers can use the title of a text as a springboard to help the students make a connection between the title and their existing knowledge of a topic without giving away the text. (See more in this related Colorín Colorado article.)

Deciding How Much Background Knowledge to Provide

When trying to decide how much background knowledge to teach ELLs in particular, it's important to figure out how critical the background knowledge is to ELLs understanding the text, even though that's not always easy to do. When you're considering pre-teaching some background about a text your ELLs will be reading, use the following table and flow chart to help you decide whether to teach this background knowledge. When conceptualizing how much background knowledge ELLs need within the CCSS framework, consider these four elements.

Checklist for Providing Background Knowledge to ELLs in CCSS-Based Instruction

Note: These tools build upon a rubric that Diane August created as part of her ongoing Common Core work in New York State.

Background Knowledge Considerations

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Do non-ELLs have background knowledge on the topic?

Teachers must ensure that ELLs approach the text with comparable levels of background knowledge that non-ELLs already have. If non-ELLs already approach the text with certain background knowledge, teachers should make sure ELLs have the same information. However, non-ELLs (as well as ELLs) will also need background knowledge to comprehend some texts.

Does the background provide information in place of what the author is going to provide in the text?

The background information provided can't give away the text. (No spoilers!) Students must gather information from the text itself instead of learning it from background knowledge the teacher provides. ELLs will still need support and scaffolding to gather information from the text itself. The next two considerations can help both groups of students.

Is the background knowledge about big issues that will help students make sense of the text?

Teachers must focus instruction only on the background knowledge that is critical to ELLs comprehending the text. ELLs don't need to know everything possible related to the topic. For example, ELLs don't need to be pre-taught all the vocabulary they will encounter in a text but will need to know key vocabulary that will help them unlock the meaning of the text.

Is the background knowledge you'd like to provide concise?

The more concise the background information is, the better (e.g., you may wish to reconsider taking an entire class period to build ELLs' background knowledge).For example, you could provide some background knowledge via homework that students complete prior to class time and briefly discuss the background the next day of class.

Another way to work through how much background information to teach to ELLs prior to reading a text is to use the flow chart below.

What are your thoughts and experiences on providing background knowledge to ELLs in CCSS-based instruction? Are you hearing this topic debated or discussed in your local settings? We'd love to hear from you!

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Determining How Much Background Knowledge to Provide for ELLs

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In this post, I'll highlight some information from Tim Shanahan's article about background knowledge in American Educator. I'll then share a table and flow chart adapted from the article that will help you decide how much background knowledge to teach to ELLs.

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The Whys and Hows of Activating Students' Background Knowledge

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The Whys and Hows of Activating Students' Background Knowledge

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What are the best ways to activate and build students' background knowledge, and why is it important?
Our students have a great deal of background knowledge that teachers need to activate so that they can learn new content. And students need to be provided with additional background knowledge so that they can access even more content!

This two-part series will look at what we mean by the term "background knowledge," why it's important, and how we teachers can best identify and develop it both in the physical classroom and during remote teaching.

Today, Adam Fachler, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Rachel Bear, Cheryl Abla, Elizabeth Villanueva, Jenny Vo, and Sarah Said share their commentaries. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Jeffrey, Rachel, Cheryl, and Elizabeth on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
"Priming" students for success
Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Adam Fachler, and Rachel Bear are the authors of the book Planning Powerful Instruction: 7 Must-Make Moves to Transform How We Teach--and How Students Learn":

In our book, Planning Powerful Instruction (Corwin), we argue that a central move of teaching is priming to prepare students for success. (This is much more efficient and fun than remediating learners once they have begun to struggle.) The only resources that learners have for approaching a new challenge is what they already know and are already interested in. The only way to build new interests and capacities is by activating and building on students' prior interests and background knowledge before instruction. This process honors what students bring to the classroom and provides them with necessary context and connection to the purpose and payoff of what is to be learned. It is essential to culturally relevant pedagogy.

But the biggest reason we begin new learning experiences with activities that "prime" students for the learning ahead is this:

There is no alternative! All new learning builds on prior learning.

When we activate and build students' background knowledge:

Students see the connection between previous and current learning.

We establish a set of conceptual "hooks" on which students can "hang" new learning.

Students get on the same page with us.

We receive formative-assessment data we can use throughout the learning experience.

Not only does this practice provide myriad benefits and accord with how the brain functions, it also describes how experts in every field develop expertise. Everyone from engineers to entrepreneurs ask themselves, " What is already known and how do we know it-and how might we extend and build on it?" before undertaking a new project.

If the best instruction mirrors or approximates how individuals in the real world learn, then it stands to reason that we should do what they do.

So, what are the best ways to get it done? Here is a short list of our favorite techniques:

Solving a "junior," mini, or scaled-back version of the problem you will teach students to solve.

Unpacking images or art related to the targeted learning (e.g., see-think-wonder protocols that mirror the process of inquiry: establishing the facts, interpreting facts and inference chains, asking questions to drive further learning).

Providing autobiographical prompts related to the learning ahead (e.g., make students face a moral dilemma the character will face, putting them in the thematic driver's seat).

Asking questions that address problematic or controversial aspects of the content.

Facilitating a simulation.

Ranking products or concepts (which requires making value judgments and applying reasoning).

Conducting surveys or opinionaires.

Remember: The best priming activities are accessible, focused, relevant, and revealing of students' knowledge and abilities. If your priming activity leaves a good taste in your students' mouths and creates energy and interest in future learning, then that positive spillover can affect the vibe of the whole unit. So, while we know time is of the essence in every classroom, it's a necessary investment to make priming student learning a mainstay of yours.

Background knowledge and curiosity
Cheryl Abla is a former teacher who now, with McREL International, leads professional learning and coaching for K-12 educators on research-based strategies for effective instruction, use of classroom technology, English-language acquisition, and classroom culture and climate. She's a co-author of Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works, which provides easy-to-use tools and learning activities to help teachers get CITW strategies into the classroom on a daily basis:

At McREL, we're huge believers in the power of curiosity to propel lifelong learning, but we're not naïve about its limitations. Without background knowledge, what would students have to be curious about? You've got to start somewhere. Learning is about filling in the gaps between what is known and what isn't yet known.

The best way to leverage background knowledge is to give students cues, questions, and advance organizers about what they're about to learn. Sound familiar? Together, these tools form one of the nine classic research-based strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works. What cues, questions, and advance organizers have in common is that they're about beginnings. They all precede the delivery of new content and they all rely on the understanding that knowledge doesn't exist in a vacuum but builds upon prior knowledge and in turn gets built upon.

Vocabulary Knowledge Rating, which we adapted from Camille Blachowicz, introduces students to critical vocabulary terms before instruction begins. Students rate their understanding of each term before and after the lesson, to see if their knowledge has grown.

Anticipation Guide reverses the traditional model of learning enough about a subject to then be able to form an opinion about it. First, students are asked their opinion of a subject. Then the lesson is delivered. Was their background knowledge adequate to support their original position, or do they need to re-evaluate? Now they're not only learning new content, they're learning how additional evidence can influence their understanding.

Power Previewing teaches students to skim a text strategically. The teacher guides the previewing process by pointing out useful things to look for, such as recurring themes. There are many questions a teacher can include in an advance organizer, and one of them is, "Does anything look familiar or relate to something you've seen, read, learned about, or experienced?" Students become more proficient readers when memory is activated as part of the process of acquiring new knowledge.

While none of us wants schools to be curiosity-free drill-and-kill zones ever again, we have to acknowledge the importance of background knowledge and develop skill in helping students acquire it. Background knowledge plus curiosity is the most powerful formula of all.

"Funds of knowledge" Elizabeth Villanueva is a Spanish teacher and world-language department chair at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. She has been recognized as the 2018 National Education Association Social Justice Activist Award Finalist; 2018 California Teachers Association, César Chávez "Sí Se Puede Human Rights Award"; and Sacramento City Unified school district, Teacher of the Year 2015-16. Elizabeth is an Ed.D. candidate at the University of San Francisco in the Learning and Instruction Doctoral Program with an emphasis in heritage-language maintenance:
Academic learning success must be founded at the personal level of each learner and teacher. Its relevance brings meaningfulness and connectedness to each individual creating a learning atmosphere of interconnectedness that stimulates curiosity for the known and unknown. That bridges to a deeper level of understanding to explore and discover the purpose for academic access and success. Therefore, the power of disseminating the funds of knowledge of each learner to develop self-determination for personal growth and academic success is correlated with the teacher's willingness to share their own personal funds of knowledge that may trigger students' interest and motivation to thrive.

I come from a family that can be labeled as "dysfunctional," since there was domestic violence, lack of love, low economic status, and then at an early age, my parents separated. It was then my mother left my father and migrated illegally to Salinas, Callif., looking for better life opportunities. It was she who, after crossing the border, began telling me and my siblings to get an education to have more and better life opportunities because being uneducated, she was only able to work in the fields and then at a packing company. So five years after her arrival to Salinas, I came to Salinas knowing her expectations. Those were to finish high school, learn English, get some educational degree, and find a better job than she had. It was her insistence to apply myself to study that made me realize how important it is to go to school and most importantly the role that teachers play in a child's education.

As a language teacher and an English-language learner, I believe there is no language more powerful than the language of empathy, sensitivity, and kindness for one another. I know that if I take care of my students' educational well-being by valuing and integrating their funds of knowledge, it is transformed into meaningful and relevant instructional material that becomes students' academic success. Building that relatedness can enhance students' competence to develop their autonomy to continue thriving. Thus, learning from the funds of knowledge of my students is my motivation to strive and enhance meaningful relationships that empower a bigger community.

ELLs & prior knowledge Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 23 years in education and is currently an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas:
Our English-learners come to us from many countries and bring with them different backgrounds and experiences. In order to successfully support their learning in the content areas, we need to make sure we find out what they already know and what gaps need to be filled. We can do this by activating the students' prior knowledge and then building their background knowledge.

What is prior knowledge and why do we need to activate it? Prior knowledge is what the students bring with them that they have gained from previous schooling and their life experiences. It is important for teachers to activate their students' prior knowledge so they know what students already know about a certain topic and what gaps in learning they will need to fill in order for students to be successful. It helps them to understand the reason why the students are struggling. Is the poor comprehension or struggle with assignments due to lack of language, lack of experience, or lack of skills? Having a firm grasp on the reason or reasons will enable the teacher to know how to support the students.

I like using anticipation guides at the beginning of a unit to see what students know. Anticipation guides have statements that students answer at the beginning of a unit and then at the end. The responses can be in an Agree/Disagree or True/False format. KWL (Know-Want to Know-Learn) charts are also great for activating prior knowledge. Charts can be filled out as a class or by individual students. Another great strategy is the observation chart. This GLAD strategy has students walking around the room looking at pictures and writing observations, comments, and questions on them. I either give each student a different colored pen or have them write their name after their observation so I can track which student wrote what.

Once you have a grasp of your students' prior knowledge, your next step is to build their background knowledge to fill in the gaps. Building background knowledge allows you as the teacher to link the students' past learning and experiences to new learning. There are many ways to build background knowledge. Videos are great for this. Choose ones that are not too technical and easy to understand. Stop periodically to check for understanding. Virtual field trips are a great alternative to live field trips when you are unable to schedule them. I like virtual field trips because you can keep going back to them if needed. The most important way teachers can build background knowledge is to explicitly teach key academic vocabulary. Give students multiple opportunities to use and practice the vocabulary so that the words are internalized and permanently connected to the topic of study.

As you can see, it is essential for you to plan activities to activate your students' prior knowledge and to build background knowledge so that your students, especially your English-learners, can make that critical connection between their past learning and their new learning. With the info gained from the activities, you can better plan how to support your students so they are successful in their learning.

"Language dives" Sarah Said is the director of language and equity programs at an EL (Expeditionary Learning) Education School in the Chicago suburbs. In her role, she oversees support programs for multilingual learners, works with others to create a community that fosters success for students from the diverse communities her school serves, and helps strengthen school to community outreach. In the past, she has been a director of ELL, dean, and curriculum coordinator. In addition to her role in her building, she is a contributor for ELL Confianza and has written a variety of blog posts online. She is a member of the #ELLChat and #ELLchat_bkClub where she helps advocate for multilingual learners. Follow her on Twitter at @MrsSaid:
As I always say, "We don't eat something in a restaurant when we don't understand what it is on the menu"-at least I don't. Our minds are "picky eaters" when it comes to what we engage in and connect with. Be able to front-load information and support students with connecting to past knowledge is something we need to do to support them as educators. How do we do this? We engage students in activities that help us learn about them. This helps support us in being culturally responsive teachers in the classroom.

One strategy that I like to use at the beginning of the year is a project that I call the "cultural bag." I explain to students that their cultural bag is something that they always carry around with them that holds their values, norms, and experiences. What I like about this activity is that it can be done with any age level from K-12 and be effective. Simply, you give students a paper bag, explain what a "cultural bag " is with an age-appropriate explanation, then they can collage or draw the bag with effective images to emulate the "cultural bag." Depending on the age level of the students, you can have them then either write or explain what the images on the bag mean.

As you continue to get to know your students during the year, you can use ideas from what you know about them to scaffold conversations about new content. This helps students learn, and it makes the classroom more engaging for all.

When you are considering multilingual learners, you need to think about other ways to build background knowledge. You may need to utilize cognates in the native language to support students' understanding vocabulary in English. This can be supported in an interactive word wall. These word walls are not just word walls that sit on a wall; students actually create the word wall and utilize the word wall to actively support it.

Building background for students helps support them in really engaging with and grasping content and language. This is an essential part of teaching and learning. It is critical in supporting a culturally responsive classroom.

Thanks to Adam, Jeffrey, Rachel, Cheryl, Elizabeth, Jenny, and Sarah for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar.

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The Whys & Hows of Activating Students' Background Knowledge (Opinion)

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Seven educators explain the importance of tapping students' background knowledge in order to learn new content, and they describe ways to do just that, including through the use of surveys and anticipation guides.

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Some people like surprises, like when someone throws you a surprise birthday party. But in education, surprises tend to leave ELs confused, not energized. There's no context for learning the new information and nothing for them to tether current learning to past experiences. Before surprising your ELs with new information, building on their background knowledge helps provide solid ground for them to build on new knowledge.

In this third article in the Sheltered Instruction Series, I share the key points of building background knowledge.

Building background knowledge is so important that it is considered a key component of sheltered instruction. In Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (5th Edition) (SIOP Series) , Echevarria, Vogt, and Short recommend three things when trying to establish background knowledge :

Make clear links between past learning and new concepts

Emphasize key vocabulary terms (2017).

(Side note: If you happen to purchase this book, it supports the blog).

Explicitly link concepts to students' background experiences

I'm currently teaching a 10th grade English unit around the concept of Because this was the first unit of the year and because I didn't know my students in this class, it was difficult for me to connect to their background experiences.

Instead, I had students connect to the universal concepts in the texts we viewed.

For example, we read The Hunger Games to start exploring this concept of heros. As we read, we identified other concepts such as:

By looking at this list of universal concepts , students could easily find personal experiences that connected to these concepts. For example, Vina connected to the concept of control by explaining how her parents control her in different ways and to different degrees. She then analyzed how the Capitol controls the districts in different ways, the cruelest of which is by creating the Hunger Games.

Allowing ELs to connect to concepts in this way:

1. Values what ELs bring to class as assets,

2. Fosters greater comprehension of content and

3. Develops ELs' critical thinking skills

Make clear links between past learning and new concepts

Because this was the first unit of the year, I didn't have any prior units to connect new concepts to past learning. Instead, I decided to connect concepts between the resources used in our , which included:

We started by watching and reading articles related to Thistle Thorns a social enterprise that supports women escaping from prostitution, trafficking and drug use. Students identified several concepts from these resources (ie: service, compassion, abuse, escapism, seeking belonging).

The next class, we went to visit a Lao-based social enterprise called Xao Ban . Students toured the facilities and interviewed Ms. Nongnut, the founder, to learn how one might consider her a hero. Once back in class, they had a Harkness ( student-led discussion ) to compare the concepts from Thistle Farm and Xao Ban.

Though these two social enterprises were different in many ways, students were able to identify concepts that were similar to both. We didn't just move from video to article to field trip. Instead, we purposefully returned to the previous resources to make sense of the current resource.

Emphasize key vocabulary terms

Lacking proficiency in academic vocabulary is one of the main reasons why many ELs experience the fossilization of their English skills . It also significantly impacts their achievement because ELs are not able to access academic text or communicate using academic language.

In my unit on heroes, I emphasize key academic command terms , such as:

Then, I make sure the assignments we have circle back to and reinforce those vocabulary terms. One way to do this is by brainstorming writing topics for homework based on the resource we reviewed in class. The topics themselves need to use one of these key academic words. For example, after reading the New York Times article about N.F.L. players' responses to Trump's tweets, students identified three writing prompts they might explore further in writing:

Describe the conflict between President Trump and some NFL players.

Compare NFL players with the characters in The Hunger Games.

Argue your opinion about how the NFL players are protesting Trump.

I know what you're thinking: These aren't words related to the Heroes Unit! But our priority should be helping ELs develop academic language proficiency , not just learn content for one unit. By integrating these terms in the lesson, ELs understand them when they're expected to:

describe a phenomenon,

sequence events,

compare ideas,

describe the cause-effect relationship,

identify a problem,

suggest a plausible solution or

argue a claim in there other classes.

Takeaways

Surprises can be unpleasant, but we can make learning experiences less surprising by building background knowledge between new content and students' experiences. These three ways to build background knowledge bridge this divide. Without them, it's certain that some students will be left behind by the divide in experiences, while others forge on ahead.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, ME, & Short, D. (2017). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model. Fifth Edition. New York: Pearson.

Nora, Julie, and Jana Echevarria. No More Low Expectations for English Learners . Heinemann, 2016.

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#83. Start with What They Know: Building Background Knowledge - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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Building background knowledge is one component of sheltered instruction. When this happens, it provides an avenue to access content for ELs.

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How to Connect ELLs' Background Knowledge to Content

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How to Connect ELLs' Background Knowledge to Content

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What are some other ways you can tap into background knowledge if it's very different from your own? You can start by choosing a single topic to research that you think might be relevant to your students. These might include learning about:

your students' native countries, cultures, or educational systems

historical figures, musical and artistic traditions, geography, or biodiversity from your students' countries so that you can connect your lessons to something that the students already know.

Family liaisons are an excellent source of information here and can also guide you to choose examples that are likely to be appropriate and meaningful to students.

Helping students make connections

You can also find ways for your students to contribute their own cultural experience, funds of knowledge, talents, and interests in the classroom. You can do this by asking students to:

show how a topic connects to their lives

give an example of a particular idea as they would experience it in their native country

bring music or art from their culture and describe its significance and meaning to their classmates.

Another activity is to ask students to interview their family members in order to learn more about their memories and experience. ELLs may find interviews valuable because even if they speak their native language at home and are surrounded by their culture, they may not have had an opportunity to learn about their family members' life experiences and values.

Note: These strategies will work in mainstream classes as well as students may engage more deeply with content when they can relate it to historical and cultural information shared by family members.

Proceeding with care and sensitivity

If you plan to ask students to contribute their experiences to the class, it is important to keep a few things in mind. First, Dr. Cynthia Lundgren and Giselle Lundy-Ponce remind teachers to consult with multiple sources and not to expect students to be the sole 'ambassador' for a culture. They write, "Do not put a particular student on the spot without asking them beforehand if they are comfortable sharing information with the whole class. Each student is an individual and their experiences may or may not be similar to that of the group they represent."

It is tempting to view your students as the experts, and it is certainly important to draw on what they have to offer to the class, but it is also important to discuss whether they feel comfortable doing so beforehand, and to avoid putting them on the spot - particularly about cultural, political, or religious subjects that might be particularly sensitive.

This is also important because students may not feel comfortable sharing their culture or prior experiences for a wide range of reasons, including trauma or stigma. For example, some Indigenous students from Latin America "hide" their culture and identity because of the persecution (sometimes violent) that they have faced in their home countries. Be patient with your students, and look for ways to increase their confidence in the classroom as you get to know each other. They may share information with you privately that they do not wish to share with the class. Honor their confidence and look for other ways for them to contribute.

Related resources

Video: Getting to know your students

Teacher Omar Salem talks about the importance of getting to know your ELLs, their interests, and their concerns.

Go beyond the textbook

Look for resources that go beyond the textbook that will engage students and involve them in the learning process so that they find elements they can connect to and learn from. These may include:

Artwork

There are many ways to bring educational content to life through art, and to use art as a starting point for discussing different cultural traditions. For example, in a history class, you may offer students a couple of different artistic representations of historical events from different perspectives, and ask whether a particular perspective resonates with their experiences.

Or you might want to compare artwork depicting similar kinds of events as they occurred in different countries, such as revolutions, battles, the signing of a famous document, inaugurations, elections, protests, and major milestones. Perhaps students can share depictions of those kinds of events in their country as a way to open up the discussion and connect their experience to the content as well. Students can examine artistic style, theme, the artist's intent, and the materials used while comparing artistic works from different cultures as a way of applying what they learning about the content.

Finally, be sure to invite students to share artwork and traditions from their own cultures and look for ways to connect what they share with the curriculum.

Using artwork that depicts day-to-day events and celebrations can also be a provocative starting point for a discussion about the similarities and differences between other cultures, and a way of affirming the students' daily lives, traditions, and lifestyles in the classroom. You may find that these connections are even more powerful than you expected, as seen in the student story below.

Video: Why an indigenous student hid his identity

ESOL resource teacher Manuel Portillo Gomez shares the story of an Indigenous student who kept his cultural identity hidden for much of the year until Manuel planned a lesson plan about Guatemalan basket weaving.

Music & dance

Students are a great resource for sharing music, and older students especially like to share music, discuss the meaning, and connect it to content. If the song is in a language some students do not understand, ask the student to translate it and discuss the meaning. Songs from other countries often describe political events or re-tell folk stories in poetic form.

When it comes to dance, students may enjoy sharing videos of traditional dances from their own cultures and talking about when certain dances are performed. You never know - you may just have a performer in your midst who would like to share some talent with the class, as teacher Omar Salem discovered below!

Video: My students' many talents

Teacher Omar Salem describes a student who sings, dances, manages her own YouTube channel, and edits all of the video.

Culture kits

I got this idea from the Dakota County library system in Minnesota. They have a learning resource called "Bifolkal Kits" that patrons can check out. The kits have themes such as the "The Fifties," "Work Life," or "African American Lives." Each kit contains items relevant to the topic, reading materials, and questions that can be asked of a person who has experience in that area. It would be a wonderful addition to a curriculum if students created their own Culture Kits with special items that would bring culture alive as a way of sharing their cultures and discussing what can be learned from different multicultural traditions.

Special traditions, celebrations, and recipes

Invite students to share special traditions, holidays, and foods from their cultures throughout the year and across the curriculum. For example, students could describe a favorite recipe in writing or in a presentation (with plenty of practice beforehand). Ask students early on in the year what holidays they celebrate and what those celebrations look like, and invite families to share their own experiences with the class.

Video: Thirty kinds of "mole"

Juan Felipe recalls a conversation with a student who comes from the town of Hidalgo, which is famous for having many different kinds of mole, a Mexican sauce.

Realia

Using concrete objects, often called "realia," is a great way to build background knowledge and tap into students' existing background knowledge. Some objects may be very familiar, while others may be to new students. Other objects may have particular significance for students. Students can share what they know about particular objects through drawing, writing, or native language discussion groups before sharing a summary with the class.

Video: Using "realia" to build background knowledge

Albuquerque teacher Ali Nava describes the "realia" activity she used to introduce Burro's Tortillas and some of the items she brought into the classroom for the lesson.

Note: You can also see materials related to this lesson plan in our classroom module created in collaboration with Dr. Diane August.

Use things that are familiar

In addition to making important cultural connections, look for ways to tie learning to everyday objects that students are likely to have seen and used (without making assumptions, as discussed below). For example, ESOL specialist Katy Padilla prepared her ELLs for a lesson about vascular plants by pre-teaching the concept with straws - an even more relevant example since they were previewing the content in their special Secret Science Lunch Club!

Video: Making the connection between vascular plants and straws

Katy describes the challenge of the week, which is designed to increase ELLs' use of the target vocabulary.

Look for "mirror books" for your students

Using books, stories, and poems where students can see themselves, also called " mirror books," is a powerful way to tap into their experiences. Culturally relevant books are a great place to start. However, finding books about broader experiences, family traditions, or familiar situations that students recognize and relate to can be powerful as well.

Middle school teacher Anna Centi, who teaches newcomers in Dearborn, Michigan, also notes that her students dig in more deeply when they feel that connection and that she has been able to push them with more rigorous texts. You can see Miss Centi's students, most of whom come from Yemen, reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park in an excerpt from our award-winning film, You Are Welcome Here below.

Note: It is critical for teachers to be sensitive to what students have been through and not to ask a lot of direct questions about personal stories, especially in front of others; training in trauma-informed instruction is essential in order to lead conversations about students' experiences safely. Yet figuring out how to do this with care is worthwhile as it gives students a chance to connect more deeply with content and share their own stories if they wish. You may wish to request that training be offered to staff since it can benefit all adults in the school community.

Use literature, stories, and folktales from across cultures

By reading texts from different cultures, you can encourage students to connect what they are reading to their own experiences. While this seems like a simple and logical place to start, it will take some research to find just the right additions for an educational unit, as well as to find literature that is authentic and culturally relevant. If you are working with bilingual colleagues or cultural liaisons, ask them if they have recommendations or can help you make the best selections for your students.

Libraries across the nation have increased the amount of multicultural literature available from a wide variety of countries and cultures. Some of the material is written in other languages, and some of it is translated into English. There are also many publishers who have focused on increasing multicultural literature in the classroom, and Language Arts series often will have a multicultural connection with suggestions of books to read with the class. To read about one high school teacher's use of multicultural literature in the classroom, read Time is Not on Our Side: Literacy and Literature for High School Language Learners, on our sister site, AdLit.org.

In addition, you can also look for connections across stories. For example, many cultures have a story version of "Cinderella", as seen in the video below.

Video: Introducing different versions of Cinderella

In this classroom video, Albuquerque teacher Clara Gonzales-Espinoza introduces a character study of Cinderella by sharing a number of diverse versions of the Cinderella story, chosen to reflect the cultures of her students.

Note: You can also see materials related to this lesson plan in our classroom module created in collaboration with Dr. Diane August.

Use storytelling in the classroom

Many cultures have a rich tradition of storytelling that often gets lost in the U.S. with the focus on developing literacy skills. Many of the common stories in cultures have been translated and written in story form, but children also enjoy telling and acting out stories. There are many resources to help build storytelling skills, and some students may also have a relative who is a great storyteller and would be willing to visit the class and tell a story. The class can have great discussions about what made the story interesting, what the story was trying to tell them, and if they know other stories that are similar.

Asking students to share folk tales

In addition, you can ask students to share popular folk tales or legends from their own culture or bring them to life through writing, artwork, or a digital storytelling activity. You may find that many cultures have similar stories based on a certain theme, or that students have heard different versions of the same story. This is also an excellent way to engage families - who also will have strong opinions about the "right" way to tell a certain story!

Video: "How many of you have heard that story?" Teaching folklore through students' cultural experiences

Juan Felipe describes a project he oversaw for a Chicano folklore class in which students interviewed their families and compiled stories, jokes, and legends they had grown up hearing.

Video: My favorite section in the library

Storyteller Lucía González describes how family stories led to an important discovery in the library.

Avoid assumptions

Just as it's important not to put students on the spot, it's important not to make assumptions about the experiences they may (or may not) have had. For example, Dr. Ayanna Cooper shares a story in the video below about U.S. history teachers who mistakenly thought their Haitian students were African American students who had a deep knowledge base about U.S. history. As mentioned above, the better you know your students, the better you can plan lessons that will give all students access to grade-level content.

Finding resources for culturally responsive instruction

Teachers spend a lot of their own money to add to the school curriculum in order to meet the needs of their students. Adding culturally relevant curriculum and materials shouldn't be an additional financial burden on the teacher. Many schools are willing to fund the purchase of culturally relevant items if the teacher has researched the purchase and can explain how it will enhance student learning. If the school does not have resources, there may be funding at the district level or diversity grant funding available to teachers. You can find additional researched-based information in our resource collection about culturally responsive instruction.

Closing thoughts

Accessing students' background knowledge is a powerful way to make your instruction more culturally responsive and meaningful for all students. In the end, the efforts that teachers make to add a rich, cultural dimension to the curriculum will enhance student learning and comprehension, and create excitement in the classroom. The most wonderful thing about adding diverse cultural perspectives to the lesson is that it is a way of letting your students know - particularly ELL students - that their diverse experiences and backgrounds are valued in your classroom. Students may also be motivated to explore content and deepen their understanding of material.

As students share insights with you and with each other, they will develop appreciation for other cultural perspectives and they may find that there are more similarities than differences among them - and that might prove to be the greatest lesson of all.

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How to Connect ELLs' Background Knowledge to Content

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What are some other ways you can tap into background knowledge if it's very different from your own? You can start by choosing a single topic to research that you think might be relevant to your students.

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Designing Learning That Incorporates MLs' Background 

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Designing Learning That Incorporates MLs' Background 

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Part 1 of WIDA's Essential Action Series

Action 1: Incorporating ELs' Experiences

This is the first of 15 articles devoted to sharing practices that WIDA (World-Class in Design and Assessment) (Gottlieb, 2013) has identified as essential to helping ELs develop social and academic language. This set of articles can be found in Essential Actions: A Handbook for Implementing WIDA's Framework for English Language Development Standards .

The practices range from describing the types of scaffolding that support ELs to explaining how collaborating with content teachers can further ELs academic language and access content. Gottlieb is also the author of Assessment for English language learners: Bridges to equity (2016), another work that you might be interested in reading.

ColorínColorado.org wrote an extensive article on how schools can use the Essential Actions Handbook as a book study in professional learning communities.

WIDA's Action 1 encourages us to see that our ELs come with lots of life experiences that can be tapped to cultivate their academic language. Action 1 wants us to shift from a deficit-based model of language instruction to an asset-based approach. The purpose of this article is to encourage educators to find ways to welcome ELs' background knowledge, incorporate their cultural experiences, and use students' native languages to help ELs connect to class.

Research for Incorporating ELs' Experiences

Educators can honor students lives and cultural experiences by setting them as the context for teaching and learning (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Moll, 1992).

Although academic language includes multiple literacies, engaging in one academic language enriches and develops the others. Research suggests that ELLs who have diverse and meaningful experiences in their native language develop literacy faster in a second language (Gottlieb, 2013; Gee, 2008).

Teachers of ELs can encourage bilingualism by supporting students' inquiries into their own cultural experiences and their use of multiple languages (Escamilla & Hopewell, 2010, Garcia & Kleifgen, 2010; Hornberger, 2003).

In this article, I'll show you how I honor this body of research and attempt to include students' cultures and experiences as a context for learning language. In addition, I recommend reading Laura Lenz's guest post entitled " A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching ESL" on Jennifer Gonzales' highly useful Cult of Pedagogy blog . Laura and I both write about adopting an asset-based approach to instruction instead of a deficit model. She provides six reminders to educators on how to validate what ELs can contribute to their communities.

Current Practices: How to Incorporate ELs' Experiences

There are three areas of EL knowledge that educators can use as context for learning language: cultural traditions, hobbies/Interests, life experiences, national practices. Each of these areas can be integrated in 4 simple ways: reading, writing, researching and collaborating. Students in Garrett's class were exploring the concept of human rights. They had to report on the different ways that human rights are being denied and describe their impact.

Instead of making students report on a human rights issue selected by Garrett and I, we decided to tap into ELs' own experiences and cultures. We encouraged students to choose topics they are familiar with that are happening in their own countries. We knew that if they did, their engagement would increase and their focus would more likely be sustained. After all, students' experiences form a foundation where new learning can be built ( Ausubel,1968; Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian, 1978) . Here are some examples of how the students chose to incorporate their worlds into this assignment.

Student Examples

Yinuo, a student from China, wanted to inquire into the right to move both within and out of one's country. She decided to focus on internal migration in China. Because she was at the Emerging phase of her English language development, I encouraged her to find relevant sources in Chinese to help her access information.

Yinou used this article from Human Rights Watch, which was already translated into Mandarin by the organization, to support her research. We allowed Yinou to use resources in Chinese because we wanted her to first and foremost understand the topic. After all, she could not communicate what she did not understand.

We wanted to use Yinou's experience and her native language to empower her to communicate ideas, even if she had to do it in broken English. This belief that comprehensible input is required to produce comprehensible output comes from Stephen Krashen (1981). The priority was on her understanding the concept Mr. Garrett wanted Yinou to learn, not on her mastery of English grammar and vocabulary.

By allowing Yinou to use Chinese sources to aid her comprehension of the topic, Garrett and I honored Yinou's language development. When as her English was more established, we gradually let her use more and more English resources.

We use the same philosophy of incorporating ELs' experiences to support that academic engagement with Nurul, a Malaysian student. She was interested in the right to marry the partner of one's choosing. She wanted to explore the perspectives on why Malaysians are only allowed to marry if both partners practice the same religion. Nurul was also encouraged to use sources in Malay to help her research. She found several Youtube videos and two articles in her native language related to the topic.

The Result

Both of these girls were highly engaged in the assignment because they were allowed to explore topics connected to their cultural experiences. Learning had a context, and the concept of human rights became more accessible and meaningful to them when they were encouraged to use their home languages and a research a topic they could identify with.

Just because they used non-English resources does not mean that they were not developing English skills. On the contrary, the assignment required them to organize and communicate their understanding of the topic in English . This made learning academic English even more meaningful precisely because Yinuo and Nurul had to use it to express their ideas.

If there is space and freedom within your curriculum, I encourage you to try to find ways to allow ELs to incorporate their cultural backgrounds and interests as the context for learning content and developing skills. It makes learning more relevant and thereby increases student engagement. The more students are engaged, the more their critical thinking and communication skills flourish.

Can Do Philosophy

Incorporating ELs' experiences is one of the key elements of WIDA's Can Do Philosophy. This is a framework that has transformed the way I think about my ELs and the way I talk about them. I has shifted my thinking from a deficit model to one where I describe actions ELs can do instead of negatively focusing on things they can't. All they can do right now is everything they can do. WIDA's Can Do Philosophy honors that.

To empower ELs to live up to their full potential, we have to explicitly teaching academic language. In the next chapter, I'll be sharing diagrams that make learning academic language more accessible and visible.

References

Krashen, S.D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

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#19. Designing Learning that Incorporates MLs' Experiences - TanKHuynh

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Part 1 of WIDA's Essential Action Series Action 1: Incorporating ELs' Experiences This is the first of 15 articles devoted to sharing practices that WIDA (World-Class in Design and Assessment) (Gottlieb, 2013) has identified as essential to helping ELs develop social and academic language.

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Figure 4.11 Unlocking ML's Potential Book

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Helping MLs Prepare for a Socratic Circle

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Helping MLs Prepare for a Socratic Circle

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Scaffolding Discussion Skills With a Socratic Circle

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Kagan’s FREE Articles - Research & Rationale - Research proves effectiveness of Kagan Structures.

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Kagan specializes in staff development and educational resources for teachers. Visit our online store, magazine and message board � the leading authority on cooperative learning, classroom discipline and multiple intelligences.

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Article: Are You Using this Protocol to Engage Multilingual Learners in Math?

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Article: Are You Using this Protocol to Engage Multilingual Learners in Math?

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Are You Using this Protocol to Engage Multilingual Learners in Math?

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Learn how to use this math protocol strategy for educators and english language learner specialists to help engage Multilingual Learners.

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As more schools continue to adopt 1:1 in their buildings, the desire to reduce paper and enable ease of sharing within a students' and teachers' workflow has greatly increased. Awhile ago, we published a post that had several Google Apps templates for things like instagram posts, facebook pages, tweets, and more. That has been a very popular post and many of you have requested additional templates for use with things like graphic organizers and popular educational models (Frayer, for instance).

While I am a huge advocate of not confining ourselves to using one handout or constraining thinking into one format, providing students with an assortment of tools that will allow them to organize their thinking in a way that makes sense allows for student choice, differentiation, and individualization.

Consider providing the tools below as options for kids to help organize their thinking. And, since they live within the Google Apps ecosystem, they are extremely easy to share with groups of students or directly back with the teacher.

Have a template that you'd like to see created? Leave me a note in the comments.

As always, the "Preview" link will show you the template, the "Copy" link will force copy the doc into your Drive, automatically.

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8 Editable Graphic Organizer Templates for Google Apps

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As more schools continue to adopt 1:1 in their buildings, the desire to reduce paper and enable ease of sharing within a students' and teachers' workflow has greatly increased. Awhile ago, we publi...

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Supporting MLs' Academic Language Development in Speaking and Writing

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Supporting MLs' Academic Language Development in Speaking and Writing