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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Will be updated after each week's session.

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Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

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Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

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Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

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If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

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Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

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Katie Lewis

K-5 Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist

Arizona Department of Education

KatieLewis@azed.gov

Karen Ten Napel

K-5 Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist

Arizona Department of Education

Karen.TenNapel@azed.gov

Thank you for joining us for this book study. We are excited to collaborate with you all!

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Introduction to the text and 8-week book study format

Padlet

Golden Lines/Breakout Rooms

Jamboard Discussion Question/Breakout Rooms

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ELA Office Hours - Join the ADE ELA Team and literacy leaders from around the state in an opportunity to collaborate, share and learn about reading and literacy information.

Anchor Standards, Introduction, Glossary

Vertical Articulation of the K-12 ELA Standards

Vertical Articulation of the K-12 ELA Standards - The Vertical Articulation document shows the progression of each standard over the course of the K-12 continuum. It is important to have an understanding of how a skill/standard develops over time.

English Language Arts Crosswalks

The ELA and Social Studies Crosswalks show the purposeful connections between the Social Studies standards, the ELP (English Language Proficiency) standards, and the ELA (English Language Arts) standards.

Please contact Lauren Spenceley for an accessible version of the Social Studies Crosswalks.

ELA and Assessment

Arizona Assessments - AASA (Arizona's Academic Standards Assessment) is the statewide achievement test for Arizona students in Grades 3-8. All Arizona public school students in Grades 3 - 8 will take the grade level AASA assessments in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Grades 9 and Grade 11 students will take the ACT Aspire assessment. Cohort 2023 (typically grade 11) students will take the ACT assessment.

- AZELLA (Arizona's English Language Learner Assessment) is a Standards-Based Assessment that measures a student's English language proficiency based on the Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards.

NAEP - NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) is a national assessment of academic content outlined in the NAEP Academic Frameworks. The assessments are given to a sample of students in Grades 4, 8, and 12.

** ELA and Assessment - Would you like to learn more about the new Arizona assessments? Visit Assessment for lots of helpful information and resources, including their Friday Focus Webinars!

ELA Professional Learning
Literacy Professional Learning
For questions regarding registration, certificates, accessing courses, etc. please refer to our APLD Participant Guide: APLD FAQ Page

ELA Resources
ELA Resources
Summary of Changes for the Arizona English Language Arts Standards (Adopted December 2016)
The ADE ELA Team:
**The views and opinions expressed in any third-party resource do not necessarily reflect those of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and do not imply an endorsement by ADE.

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Arizona English Language Arts Standards Updates icon.png ELA Updates PD icon.png ELA Professional Development Email icon.png Sign up for ADE ELA Updates ELA Office Hours - Join the ADE ELA Team and literacy leaders from around the state in an opportunity to collaborate, share and learn about reading and literacy information.Anchor Standards, Introduction, GlossaryIntroduction PDF | Word Standards Glossary PDF | Word Anchor Standards PDF | Word Grades K-5K-5 STANDARDSK-5 STANDARDS PLACEMATSKindergarten (Revised 7/17) PDF | WordKindergarten (Revised 7/17) PDF | WordFirst Gr

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The views and opinions expressed in any third-party resource do not necessarily reflect those of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and do not imply an endorsement by ADE.

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Order your Literacy Foundations for English Leaners here:

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Order your Literacy Foundations for English Leaners here:

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About the Online Materials
About the Editor
About the Contributors.
Foreword  Sharon Vaughn
Preface
Acknowledgments

I   Introduction to English Learners, Language, and Literacy
1  Teaching Literacy Skills to English Learners
Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

2   Language and Literacy Development
Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

3   Components of Literacy Instruction for English Learners
Eric Tridas

II  The Components of Literacy and English Learners
4  Phonological Awareness Development Among English Learners
Virginia Lovelace-Gonzalez

5  Phonics Development Among English Learners
Kenneth Nieser and Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

6   Reading Fluency Among English Learners
Coleen D. Carlson

7   Vocabulary Instruction Among English Learners
Sharolyn D. Pollard-Durodola

8   Reading Comprehension Among English Learners
Colleen K. Reutebuch

9   Spelling Development Among English Learners
Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan and Alessandra Rico

10   Writing Development Among English Learners
Linda O. Cavazos and Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Appendix  Using Technology to Adapt and Enhance Instruction for English Learners
Elaine Cheesman

Index

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english language learners; els; esl; esol; teaching reading to english learners; language and literacy for english learners; bilingual instruction; teaching bilingual children; knowledge and practice standards; national literacy panel; components of reading; big five essentials of reading; dual language learners; structured literacy; ida; elsa cardenas-hagan; elsa cardenas hagan

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Literacy Foundations for English Learners

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About the Online Materials About the Editor About the Contributors.

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Book Study Flyer - Share with a friend/colleague!

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Book Study Flyer - Share with a friend/colleague!

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Make sure you register for ALL 8 sessions!

# data[].attributes.body
Each session is worth 2 hours of PD. Make sure you register for each session to get the credit. Search: ELA Book Study: Literacy Foundations for English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a new user, you should start by creating your account.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

# data[].attributes.body
Golden lines are an opportunity for each reader to share their learning from the text. It allows readers to collaborate and share their own learning and knowledge.

A golden line can be a line from the text that:

•raises questions for you

•confirms what you already believe

•makes you say aha

•conflicts with your beliefs

•causes you to reconsider prior assumptions

Come ready with a golden line from the chapter each week! Feel free to add to the padlet throughout the week before the session and make sure to include page numbers so your colleagues can find them.

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Learn the six types of syllables found in English orthography, why it’s important to teach syllables, and the sequence in which students learn about both spoken and written syllables.

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6 Syllable Types: Everything to Know & Examples

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All you need to know about the 6 syllable types in the English language: closed, open, magic e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant+le!

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Consider this interaction between a teacher and his students, most of them English language learners, in a ninth-grade English language arts class:

Teacher: Who wrote The Pearl, Carmen?

Carmen: Steinbeck wrote The Pearl.

Teacher: Very good. And Rosa, who is the main character in this novella?

Rosa: I guess the main character is Kino, although his wife, Juana, is also important.

Teacher: That's right. And why do we say The Pearl is a novella? Jim?

Now contrast it with the interaction other ninth-graders had in their English language arts/English language development class:

Teacher: As we begin to explore this short story, "The Necklace," written by a French author from the 19th century, Guy de Maupassant, I am inviting you to read the first four paragraphs with your partner using types of "Question-Answer Relationships."* We have practiced this process several times, so unless we require some explanation-[students signal they do not]-then, please get started. As you engage in reading and discussing, I would like you to focus on the character Mathilde and think about what kind of person she is. We will then focus on the problem she faces.

Rodrigo (after reading the first paragraph of "The Necklace" aloud to his partner, Martha): OK, I am going to ask you a "think and search" question. Did Mathilde grow up in a rich family?

Martha: I am not sure. I think no, because the paragraph says she could not marry a "rich and distinguished man" and had to marry a little clerk. Is that an employee? [Rodrigo nods his assent.] I guess it is because she is not rich. But she was very pretty and charming, right?

So now I am going to read the second paragraph. [She proceeds to read aloud to Rodrigo, then pauses and thinks.] I am confused, so I guess I will ask you a think and search question. The text says "with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth." Is the author saying that for women, money does not matter? Why did she marry a clerk then?

Rodrigo: Yeah, I agree. I don't fully understand. You said she was pretty but not rich. Now the second paragraph says that's in place of family and birth, so does that mean richness? Does it not matter if women are pretty? Does it matter or doesn't it matter? [Both students decide to raise these questions later during the whole-class discussion. Then Rodrigo proceeds to read the third paragraph to Martha.]

We have all observed classes resembling the first example, where the teacher already knows the answers to the questions being asked, as do most students. The exchange is just an exercise in reiterating the known using complete sentences. In contrast, students in the second example must actively consider the possibilities related to the text, by asking and responding to questions that reveal their understanding.

How do we ensure that all English learners have opportunities to productively use oral language in academic settings? And how do we ensure that teachers leverage the power of classroom interactions to simultaneously foster language development, content knowledge, and analytical practices? In this article, we offer answers to these questions-and clarify common misconceptions-by presenting guidelines supported by both research and classroom practice.

A Framework for Oral Language

If English language learners (ELLs) are going to productively engage in classroom discourse and express their thinking related to content learning goals, teachers must create a trusting classroom culture in which students feel that whatever level of language they can produce, their contributions will be valued by their teacher and peers and will never be subject to ridicule, sanctions, or negative comparisons. ² Establishing classroom norms such as close listening to understand the ideas ELLs are conveying and showing respect to each other during their interactions (learning, of course, from the models their teachers provide) is essential for successful oral language use. Students need to know that interrupting their peers as they are formulating ideas and finishing their sentences for them are not desirable classroom norms.

As teachers plan to engage students in oral interactions, the framework shown in Figure 1 below can help guide their support for their students' work and language development. The framework comprises six interconnected levels.

First, teachers need to ensure that students clearly understand the purpose of the interaction they are being asked to undertake. For example, are they supposed to read a text and elaborate their thinking, highlighting what they understand and what they don't? Are they engaged in describing a scene to somebody who has not seen it? Are they being asked to make a prediction after observing phenomena they will later investigate?

Second, teachers need to make sure students have ideas upon which they will elaborate. For example, have they noticed the most important aspects of the scene (the background, main character(s) presented, what they are doing, other relevant details) on which they will center their description?

Third, teachers need to help students organize their thoughts and ensure their language follows specific patterns. For example, descriptions of a scene from a text cannot begin with sentences such as, "He kicks it, it breaks." Students need to first indicate the setting of the scene, then introduce the characters, describe them, and explain what they are doing. This sequence is essential to help participants engaged in a conversation paint pictures in their minds. Organization is marked by phrases that can be provided to students as formulaic expressions (which we discuss later in this article) to use: ³ "The picture we have shows a..." "We can see a..." "Our scene takes place in a..." "Based on my observation..." "The two historical contexts are..."

Fourth, teachers need to consider the types of sentences students produce and judiciously highlight how they may be combined and expanded to produce more complex language. Increasing complexity can be accomplished with the use of connectors and conjunctions, such as "besides," "furthermore," "additionally," "however," etc.

Fifth, teachers must pay attention to the words students use. Is one word repeated several times in an interaction? If so, teachers can take the opportunity to introduce a synonym. Do students incorrectly or imprecisely use a term? Teachers can take a moment to clarify usage and meaning.

Finally, when students are ready to present their work to others, teachers can focus on the pronunciation of carefully selected elements-only those that interrupt understanding. Traditionally, many educators have been taught to focus on correcting student utterances by zeroing in on form and not on meaning. As a result, our framework may initially feel counterintuitive, but the more educators rely on it, the more it will assist them in supporting students' language growth.

Productive Talk

As a general pattern, we educators often talk too much, no doubt influenced by our "apprenticeship of observation" that began when we were students ourselves. ⁴ However, given the centrality of talk in learning, this pattern needs to change. By some estimates, ELLs spend less than 2 percent of their school day in oral interaction. ⁵ Teachers must find ways to provide students learning opportunities that engage them in productive talk and then listen carefully to the language they use in order to support their continued growth.

By productive talk, we mean speech that has the following characteristics:

Has depth: the specific idea being discussed is central to the theme of the lesson, is presented in interconnected ways, and engages students' analytical thinking.

Is sustained: one student's statement is followed by another student's response, which extends, refutes, or questions what was first said.

Is student controlled: students control what they say, not the teacher. But teachers set up parameters for the interactions, sometimes framing questions that start the conversation. These questions are intended to communicate new related ideas, propose counter ideas or examples, and in general enhance the theme at work.⁶

Now consider these characteristics in an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class, which comprises students with varied levels of English competence. ⁷ "Language" is the theme of the students' exploration, and this was the third class on the topic. Table 1 below shows the deliberate moves of the teacher, Mr. DeFazio, during the lesson and the students' interactions. The text in the table indicates the multiple instances of productive talk that he promotes with his directions and actions.

Let us look more closely at a specific interaction that occurred in the lesson after a student, Lavinia, reads the beginning of a letter she wrote about animal communication, and another student, Julio, reacts to one of her statements that animals do not have language.

Julio: Animal communication is not a language? It is a language-that's what I think-because they are communicating with each other.

Lavinia: But they don't speak.

Class: [Many students agree with Julio, saying "Yes, they do," or nodding.]

Julio: You said a language can have words, sounds, gestures, and everything.

Class: [Many students are in agreement with Julio's ideas once again.]

Lavinia: But they don't have words. They don't say "mama."

Julio: They don't need to. They have other characteristics. In animal language, some of the characteristics that you said are present-sound, pitch, gestures-so it is a language.

Mr. DeFazio: Julio is arguing very strongly that animal communication is language. Lavinia is saying that it's not. What do you think would be a way to help them resolve that argument in their writing?

Class: [The discussion continues and a resolution emerges. Then Julio reads a section of his letter.]

Mr. DeFazio: A lot is going to depend on how you define language, OK? You can define it in such a way as to exclude what animals do; you can define it in a very broad way, as a system of communication that includes everything. You are going to find linguists and zoologists who disagree, and if you are interested, I can give you some readings that were in the journal Science last year, people arguing back and forth.

Julio (reading his letter): First of all, I think that language is a way to inform others around you, your feelings, or just a simple thing that you want to let people know what is the deal. And it can be expressed by saying it, looking at a picture, or hearing it, you know what I'm saying? I don't know if you have heard about the kangaroo rat that stamps its feet to communicate with other rats. It's really funny 'cause we humans have more characteristics to communicate to each other, but we still have problems to understand other people. Characteristics like sound, grammar, pictures, and body language are some of them, while the rat only uses the foot. [Julio stamps the ground.]

Mr. DeFazio: Excellent! [The class applauds.] I never even heard about the kangaroo rat. Nice job, nice job. [Mr. DeFazio shakes Julio's hand.]

Applying the framework illustrated in Figure 1 to this interaction, we notice that students are clearly aware that the purpose of this exercise is to compare diverse positions on communication and to debate whether animals have language or not, providing evidence for their positions. They have ideas, and they choose which ones to debate based on a diversity of opinions. Mr. DeFazio's opportunity to correct student work, suggest changes, ask for elaboration, and so forth comes in the letters he is asking his students to construct. This written product is intimately tied to oral production. Oral activity feeds into writing, and writing produces oral activity.

In terms of productive talk, in Mr. DeFazio's class, students' analytic thinking is engaged, their interaction is sustained, and they control what they say. Mr. DeFazio has chosen a theme for the lesson that appeals to the students, and he has deliberately planned their active engagement throughout. As a result, the interaction engages students in deep thinking as they compare views on language.

Now that we have seen the characteristics of quality interactions for ELLs in practice, in the next section, we provide guidelines for promoting quality interactions during content lessons.

Six Guidelines for Promoting Quality Interactions

1. Design lessons that involve ELLs' participation in subject-specific and substantive oral practice to accomplish clearly defined lesson goals: Planning a lesson always begins with establishing the destination: Where do teachers need to lead students? Teachers should ask: Are my goals closely related to content standards? What is the knowledge that will be constructed? Which analytic practice will be promoted? What is the language (beyond isolated words or sentences) that will need to be developed? Unless teachers themselves are clear about the goals of a lesson, they will not be able to plan the tasks and activities that support students' language and conceptual development.

2. Construct tasks that appropriately scaffold student participation and growth: Tasks need to be deliberately constructed to engage students in working beyond their current competence. Such tasks should promote worthwhile interactions for students to acquire new conceptual understandings and analytical skills and language. They should also have appropriate scaffolds, which entail teachers closely observing students to ascertain whether the support is working, whether it is still needed, or whether it needs to be modified or replaced.

3. Make sure the task is designed to meet its purposes and the materials used are appropriate to support students working at the edge of their competence successfully: Learning is most effective when tasks are designed to match students' current competencies and also challenge them to move forward, with support.

4. Make sure that activities or tasks follow and precede others logically to build coherent lessons: Leading students to increasingly more complex demands is essential if teachers want their lessons to flow smoothly and to incrementally build ELLs' understanding.

5. Integrate reading and writing into oral development activities: Oral interaction while reading texts not only allows ELLs to understand the text more deeply but also helps them develop awareness of what they understand as they read and what they can do to solve problems in reading.

6. Be selective in addressing errors and intentional in providing feedback: When ELLs use English to develop their understanding of content and their use of analytical practices, often their language will be neither accurate nor fully formed, although the intent of their communication will be apparent. Imagine, for a moment, the impact on ELLs' motivation and self-esteem if teacher responses to inaccuracies constituted a constant flow of error correction. Instead, consider formative feedback to students as invitations to understand how they are progressing in language development and to provide a resource for how they can advance. When feedback is given to students about language while they are learning discipline-specific content, the feedback should focus on language so that students can make sense of the academic content, rather than on correcting errors of language production. As such, feedback can increase the students' awareness and help them troubleshoot their own performance and eventually correct their own language.⁸

There is no hard and fast rule about how much feedback students should receive or how often it should be provided; this is a decision teachers will need to make for themselves, given their knowledge of their students, their language and content goals, and the students' current language use. However, because of the powerful impact that feedback can have on learning, ⁹ we advise teachers to make providing feedback a regular and routine part of their classroom practice.

Common Misconceptions

Designing and facilitating meaningful classroom talk is essential for ELLs-indeed for all students-to develop more extended and sophisticated language use while simultaneously learning subject matter. Yet in too many U.S. classrooms, we find ELLs sitting silently, watching their teachers do all the work, and waiting for opportunities to fully engage cognitively and linguistically.

By way of concluding thoughts, we outline five pitfalls to avoid in thinking about language learning, and we provide suggestions for how teachers can engage students in sustained, high-quality classroom talk.
Misconception 1: Sentence frames that provide students with a way of expressing their ideas about specific situations are helpful to them.
A sentence frame is basically a fill-in-the-blank type of activity that invites only one correct answer. Sometimes it can be open and provide starters for students (also called sentence starters for this reason) to be filled in any way. However, these starters may not provide students with phrases they can use time and time again in academic situations. ¹⁰ For example: "The main character in The Pearl is a modest and loving man, furthermore..." "His wife, Juana, loves Kino and Coyotito, their baby, and because of that..."

In addition to using sentence frames, we suggest teachers use formulaic expressions, which are phrases that help start or link ideas and can be used in many situations. Initially, students learn them as unanalyzed chunks, almost as if they were one word. Later on, as students learn more English, they begin to realize the formulaic expressions are formed by several words. Formulaic expressions are extremely useful in students' development of English and in making their interaction with peers possible and more effective. Examples of formulaic expressions are: "I agree with you, and I can add that..." "May I suggest a couple of other ideas? One example I can offer..."
Misconception 2: Correct mistakes students make as they talk or they will "fossilize."
Historically, correctness has been regarded as paramount in second language learners' use of English. More recently, however, researchers' attention has shifted to the larger components of communication, as discussed before: purpose, ideas, organization, types of sentences, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Fossilization, a concept popular in the 1980s, refers to the inability of second language learners to learn the correct forms of language if they continually misuse them. Our perspective, consistent with that of multiple applied linguists, is that language keeps evolving as a result of continuous practice. It may fossilize if it is no longer used productively or receptively. However, in their schooling, students will be invited to engage in uses of language continuously, and thus, they will have ample opportunities to correct themselves or be corrected by others.
Misconception 3: Rather than correcting students' ungrammatical oral language, it is better to provide them with recasts, which model correct English in response to students' mistakes.
It is common for teachers to believe that rather than correcting a student's mistakes-and putting him or her on the spot-it is better to repeat what a student has said, this time changing the student's utterance into grammatical English. They think that recasting saves a student's face and that it is a less authoritarian approach.

Research, however, shows that these implicit corrections may not be productive. ¹¹ Students do not take teachers' recasts as corrections, but rather as reiterations of the idea and as acceptance of students' comments as being right. When the time is appropriate to focus on selected language forms to study and correct, the correction and expansion activity needs to be made explicit.
Misconception 4: Sustained, focused interactions are possible starting in fourth or fifth grade, but lower elementary students are not mature enough to carry them out because they get too impatient with the task and with each other.
Recently, during an open house at an elementary school in Portland, Oregon, one of us (Aída) had the opportunity to visit three classes. The first one was a kindergarten class. The teacher, Mr. Andanen, was preparing students to read and discuss Julius, the Baby of the World, a book by Kevin Henkes, an author the students were already familiar with because they had enjoyed reading three of his other books in class.

To introduce the book, Mr. Andanen set up nine stations around the room and invited students to walk through them. At each station, a picture illustrating a scene from the book was prominently displayed. Students were asked to rotate around the stations every three minutes. At each station, students needed to stop, look at the picture, and explain what they noticed. The teacher had asked students to use a "talking stick" so that the turns to speak were democratically divided within the group at each station. Peers had to listen attentively to the speaker and agree with, disagree with, or expand on what the student said. Formulaic expressions such as "In this picture, I notice..." and "I noticed that, too, and I want to add..." were familiar to the group. At one station, Aída heard the following exchange:

Student 1: I notice a woman holding a big baby. Her mouth is open. I think she is crying.

Student 2: I also noticed she had her mouth open, but I don't think she is crying. I think she is singing.

Student 3: I also noticed the woman with the big baby, and I want to add that he is very heavy. Perhaps that is why she is screaming.

The exchange shows that Mr. Andanen has created an environment that enables young children to notice and use language in purposeful ways. Although the students were only in kindergarten, they clearly articulated their ideas and listened to others. They showed they will soon be ready to start exploring the book more deeply so that they can eventually write an opinion piece based on evidence from the text about which Henkes book was their favorite.
Misconception 5: All students in a class need to master the same levels of oral development as a result of participating in lessons.
Because not all students in a class will be at the same starting point, a robust activity provides multiple entry points for all students to engage as they learn. The important idea is that they should all be gaining-not that all of them will arrive at the same point, in exactly the same way, developing at exactly the same level. This would only be possible if what is learned is limited, and if the learning demands recall. This is not necessarily what we want in education. Rather, we want to produce individuals who are thoughtful, engaged, and conscious of their own development.

English language learners bring valuable assets and immense potential to school. The role of educators is to realize that potential in deep and accelerated ways. Each classroom teacher must ensure the path to that development is paved with meaningful interactions to help students develop language skills, gain conceptual understanding, and learn academic content. Our students deserve no less.

--
Aída Walqui is the director of the teacher professional development program at WestEd. Previously, she taught in the Division of Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Margaret Heritage is a senior advisor at WestEd and was previously an assistant director at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles.
*Taffy Raphael's Question-Answer Relationships framework ¹ is intended to call students' attention to the kinds of questions that may be asked about a text. In this class, students work in pairs, announcing first the type of question he or she will ask to increase the other student's awareness of the types of meaningful connections the question seeks.
Endnotes

1. Taffy E. Raphael, "Teaching Question Answer Relationships, Revisited," The Reading Teacher 39 (1986): 516-522.

2. Alison L. Bailey and Margaret Heritage, Progressing Students' Language Day by Day (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2018).

3. See Rod Ellis, Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2005).

4. Dan C. Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975).

5. Diane August, referenced in Ivannia Soto-Hinman, "Increasing Academic Oral Language Development: Using English Language Learner Shadowing in Classrooms," Multicultural Education 18, no. 2 (Winter 2011): 21-23.

6. Aída Walqui and Leo van Lier, Scaffolding the Academic Success of Adolescent English Language Learners: A Pedagogy of Promise (San Francisco: WestEd, 2010).

7. Anthony DeFazio and Aída Walqui, Where Do You Want to Go Next? (San Francisco: WestEd, 2001), DVD.

8. David J. Nicol and Debra Macfarlane‐Dick, "Formative Assessment and Self‐Regulated Learning: A Model and Seven Principles of Good Feedback Practice," Studies in Higher Education 31 (2006): 199-218.

9. See, for example, John Hattie and Helen Timperley, "The Power of Feedback," Review of Educational Research 77 (2007): 81-112.

10. For more on sentence frames, see Ellis, Instructed Second Language Acquisition.

11. Ahlem Ammar and Nina Spada, "One Size Fits All? Recasts, Prompts, and L2 Learning," Studies in Second Language Acquisition 28 (2006): 543-574; Ellis, Instructed Second Language Acquisition; and Roy Lyster, "Differential Effects of Prompts and Recasts in Form-Focused Instruction," Studies in Second Language Acquisition 26 (2004): 399-432.

Originally published in American Educator, Fall 2018.

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Meaningful Classroom Talk: Supporting English Learners' Oral Language Development

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In this article, Aida Walqui and Margaret Heritage present six guidelines for promoting quality interactions for English learners and clarify common misconceptions in thinking about language learning.

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges.

Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).

Getting Started

As a former elementary teacher in a bilingual school, I developed a love and passion for finding effective ways to support oral language and oral reading development of emerging English language learners (ELLs). I discovered this passion when I began my first year of teaching in a second-grade classroom, where I encountered a handful of challenges related to my students' oral language development.

Many students were transitioning from a classroom with Spanish instruction into my classroom with instruction provided in English. I had students ranging from monolingual English speakers to students who had just recently moved to the U.S. from a Spanish-speaking country. The range of language proficiency levels crossed the entire spectrum. Having minimal experience with this range of diverse students and needs, I began reading, researching, and implementing new instructional ideas into my classroom. With each challenge I encountered, I gained new information about my students and their parents. I also began learning more about my own methods of instruction, and I learned a great deal each year about new challenges and successes.

Currently, I am fortunate to work with many teachers who have the opportunity to impact the lives of children and families who speak more than one language. As I work with these teachers and families, I have found five common and reoccurring challenges that they seem to face in the area of oral language development that parallel my own experiences. I detail these challenges and questions below, as well as suggestions for addressing each challenges based on strategies I used in my classroom.

Questions and Classroom Scenarios

1. What do I do if they don't know ANY English?

Understanding the characteristics of language learners at different proficiency levels helps to think about how we can best support students in their oral language and reading development. Below is a chart that gives a description of the first two levels of language proficiency as well as implications for using oral reading. This is a nice place to start when thinking about how to interact with and support our Starting and Emerging English speakers.

Levels of Language Proficiency

Description

Implications For Using Oral Reading

Level 1: Starting
Students are in a silent period in which they listen, but do not speak in English. They may respond using nonverbal cues in attempt to communicate basic needs.

The teacher and other more advanced students should model oral reading. Students in the silent period should not be forced to speak, but should be given the opportunity to participate in a group activity where they won't be singled out.

Level 2: Emerging
Students are beginning to understand more oral language. They respond using one- or two-word phrases and start to produce simple sentences for basic social interactions and to meet basic needs.

Teacher and students should continue to model oral reading. Students should be encouraged to begin taking risks with simple, rehearsed oral reading in non-threatening situations.

Opitz & Guccione (2009). Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels.

2. How do I provide instruction and support for the ELLs without holding back the students who are fluent in English?

Differentiation is the key to effective instruction for all students. Students of varying proficiency levels can learn the same content when the teacher provides a wide range of learning opportunities for students with different academic and linguistic needs. Three key strategies for this approach include differentiating or modifying the texts, creating grouping structures, and targeting the amount and nature of support based on students' needs (Opitz & Ford, 2008).

Modifying the text: Teachers can differentiate the text by selecting various levels of text difficulty on similar content, or they can also divide the text up into smaller portions appropriate for certain groups/individuals for a jigsaw activity. Another idea is to summarize text that might be too difficult and provide ways to make the text more accessible (such as vocabulary support, visual support, connecting to background knowledge, etc.).

Creating grouping structures that set students up for success: While some grouping structures can be established according to language or literacy skill levels and needs, it is also important to think about providing students exposure to interact with peers who demonstrate a wide range of different language and literacy skills. Additionally, teachers can improve engagement and motivation by creating choice/interest groups where students gather, read, discuss and work together on topics of common interest.

Targeting the amount and nature of student support: It is important to think about scaffolding the experience and using comprehensible input to make it accessible for all students. Comprehensible input means that students should be able to understand the gist of what is being said or presented. There are many ways to do this, such as selecting key vocabulary, using context or visual cues, building background knowledge, building on experiences the students have had, using consistent language, and providing images or visual representations to support vocabulary and content. Teachers can support their students by embedding comprehensible input into their whole-group instruction, but this also becomes particularly effective when used in the different grouping structures. Teachers can also modify the amount of support and interaction between teachers and students depending on their individual and group needs.

3. This student knows English - I hear him talking to his friends and on the playground. He just doesn't want to try in class.

I have heard many teachers discussing variations of this same idea. However, I would caution teachers and parents about jumping to this conclusion. Academic language (or the language specifically related to school and/or academic content) can be complicated to acquire. Students often first develop social language and demonstrate near proficiency or proficiency in English in social settings. A student may be demonstrating sophisticated use of social language, but they may have difficulty using language in more formal settings such as school.

Much of the academic language required to be successful in school - everything from instructions to expectations to content-specific vocabulary - requires assistance in acquiring. Students hear and use their social language in various settings from home, community, and school, but academic language is often only used in the school setting. These students need specific instruction and support surrounding their language development in this area.

The same children who appear to be functioning at a high level of English proficiency in social settings may actually be functioning at a beginning stage in other settings, depending on how they are called on to use language. The students need to feel safe and in a low-anxiety environment in order to begin to feel comfortable taking risks with their oral language. When they have less exposure and instruction related to academic language, this can often cause students to feel intimidated and less likely to be willing to share in class.

One idea for reducing anxiety and encouraging students to experiment with language might include allowing students to read, practice, and discuss their responses in partners and small groups before sharing out to the entire group. This allows students an opportunity to hear language modeled by peers, practice what they want to say, and possibly revise their original thought and/or language before sharing it in a public way. As students find more success with their language production and classroom participation, they will be more likely to share and take risks, and in turn continue building their confidence.

4. How is the child ever going to learn English if they don't speak it at home?

It is important to celebrate being bilingual and biliterate. Research has shown that development of a students' first language can facilitate development in the second language (Genessee, Geva, Dressler, and Kamil, 2007). Understanding this helps parents, teachers, and children to encourage the use and development of the students' home language while they are at home. All of the home literacy activities that we recommend for English speakers, such as reading aloud, making lists, discussing books, reading environmental print, etc., should also be encouraged for the English language learners in their home language. Students can begin to use more English as they feel comfortable in different settings, but it is important to note that speaking two languages will not hinder their English development.

Another important idea to remember is that we want to invite parents to feel confident in their interactions with their children regardless of their English proficiency level. As they begin to read or retell stories and discuss them at home, they are developing vital oral language and comprehension skills, and these skills will transfer over into their school language.

5. What kinds of activities should I be doing to help the student develop their oral language and oral reading?

McCauley and McCauley (1992) report four factors as necessary for acquiring a second language: a low-anxiety environment, repeated practice, comprehensible input, and drama. These are all important components of setting children up for success and language development.

A low-anxiety environment includes a setting where students feel nurtured and supported by their teacher and peers, and in turn, they feel safe to take risks without the fear of being laughed at or made fun of.

Repeated practice is just like what it sounds! Students need repeated practice hearing and using a new language. They need multiple opportunities to comprehend and express their ideas in a new language. Like with anything new that we learn, practice helps us get better.

Comprehensible input, as explained above, means finding different ways to make what is being said comprehensible and easier to understand. Things to consider with comprehensible input might include using speech that is appropriate for students' language proficiency, providing a clear, step-by-step explanation of tasks, and using a variety of techniques to support their understanding.

Drama, or a sense of excitement and engagement, can be found in activities like Reader's Theatre, dramatic play, puppetry, narrating wordless picture books, etc. All of these activities also have the other three factors embedded within them. These activities assist in the development of oral language in addition to introducing students to oral reading and rich literacy experiences and responses in a classroom setting.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from these questions and examples, there are a lot of different approaches to helping ELLs build their oral language development skills, and you may have to try different activities until you find what works for your students. The most important thing, however, is to build your students' confidence while giving them new words and phrases to practice. Don't be afraid to try something new - and most of all, don't be afraid to have fun doing it!

About the Author

Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione is a coauthor of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels. She is an assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado and teaches courses in Early Childhood Education, Literacy, and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education. She is a former elementary teacher of English language learners and is currently researching how ELLs make sense of texts.

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Oral Language Development and ELLs: 5 Challenges and Solutions

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges. Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).

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A sound wall using speech lips to match the articulation of speech sounds/phonemes to the letters/graphemes that represent those sounds. Many sound walls only show the letter sound and lip pictures. Others also include the picture of a key word that has the target sound. Less frequently, teachers combine a word wall with a sound wall. In this case, the word she would go under the digraph sh, and not under s. The benefit for Multilingual Learners (MLs) is that a sound wall visually shows how to form your lips for each speech sound/phoneme. This is particularly helpful when a sound is not part of the students native language.

Setting up a Sound Wall

Some sound walls take up a large amount of space. Typically the consonants are arranged in one section and the vowels in a separate section based on how your mouth forms the sound.

You can also set up a sound wall in alphabetical order but include speech lips to help with articulation. I find this helpful for MLs if the whole school is not using sound walls. Instead of spending time teaching students a new way to find letter sounds, use alphabetical order they are familiar with from their classrooms with the speech lips.

For older ELLs, depending on their home language you might only give out the vowel page. Or have students highlight sounds that are new to focus on.

If space is an issue, try using a display board or file folders to set up a portable sound wall. You can also print out student size versions. This is partially helpful for older ELLs to use as a reference.

Sound Walls and Spelling

Depending on the age, language level, and phonics knowledge of a student you can use a sound wall to show one sound and a key word, or use a sound wall as a way to help students organize the multiple ways in English to spell a sound.

Read More about Using Sound Walls Displaying Words

Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls on Reading Rockets

Using Sound Walls in Early Elementary Classrooms on Edutopia
How to Display Words to Support ELLs
Read More about Teaching Reading to ELLs

What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners? on Colorin Colorado
Teaching Phonics to ELLs
Sound Wall Materials

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Using a Sound Wall with MLs - A World of Language Learners

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A sound wall using speech lips to match the articulation of speech sounds/phonemes to the letters/graphemes that represent those sounds. Many sound walls only show the letter sound and lip pictures. Others also include the picture of a key word that has the target sound.

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Phonological Awareness: What is it and how does it relate to phonemic awareness?

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Phonological Awareness: What is it and how does it relate to phonemic awareness?

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Click to enlarge

﻿Phonological Awareness: What is it and how does it relate to phonemic awareness?

Phonological Awareness is the ability to recognize that spoken words are made up of individual sound parts.

Word Level Rhyming

Alliteration

Bold big brown bear

Sentence Segmentation

I / see / the / dog = 4 words

Syllable Level

ba-by = 2 syllables
ex-er-cise = 3 syllables

Phonological Awareness is like an umbrella. Phonemic Awareness and other skills exist under this umbrella.

Onset & Rime Level

Phonemic Awareness Level

/m/ /oo/ /n/ moon = 3 phonemes
Phonemic awareness is the most advanced skill of phonological awareness.

National Center on Improving Literacy (2022). Phonological Awareness: What Is It and How Does It Relate To Phonemic Awareness. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org.

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Phonological Awareness: What is it and how does it relate to phonemic awareness?

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If you prefer, read the text-version of the infographic. Click to enlarge ﻿Phonological Awareness: What is it and how does it relate to phonemic awareness? Phonological Awareness is the ability to recognize that spoken words are made up of individual sound parts.

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This practice guide was prepared for the WWC by Instructional Research Group under contract ED-IES-12-C-0016.

The following research staff contributed to the guide: Joseph Dimino, Kelly Haymond, Russell Gersten, Madhavi Jayanthi, and Rebecca Newman-Gonchar.

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WWC | Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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This practice guide provides four recommendations that address what works for English learners during reading and content area instruction. Each recommendation includes extensive examples of activities that can be used to support students as they build the language and literacy skills needed to be successful in school.

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning. In this way, fluency acts as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension, and this relationship is reciprocal. That is, when a student understands the meaning of the text he/she is reading, it is much easier to read that text with expression.

Prosody is a term that is frequently heard in discussions of fluency. Prosody refers to the appropriate use of intonation and phrasing in reading. Prosodic reading involves paying attention to punctuation signs like commas and periods, assigning appropriate stress to individual words within a sentence, and raising or lowering voice intonation to match the meaning of the text (e.g., raising the voice at the end of a question). Paying attention to the elements of prosody allows us to quantify and measure what we refer to as "reading with expression."

How fluency relates to ELLs

Instruction in fluency can be particularly beneficial for English language learners because activities designed to enhance fluency in reading can also contribute to oral language development in English. As students practice reading English text accurately, automatically, and prosodically, they are gaining valuable information about the sounds and cadences of spoken English, and they are also developing vocabulary skills that can contribute to oral language fluency, as well as reading and listening comprehension.

Assessing reading fluency

As with any type of instruction, fluency instruction depends upon ongoing assessment to identify individual students' strengths and needs. Effective fluency assessment must include measures of all three components of fluency: reading accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. It is important to note that the accuracy percentages and the reading rate ranges described in this article are based on research conducted in English and should not be applied to reading in other languages. Even languages that use the same alphabet differ in such characteristics as phonetic regularity, syntactical complexity, and even average word length, all of which can affect reading accuracy and rate. Additional research is needed to determine appropriate accuracy and rate ranges for other languages.

Assessing reading accuracy

Accuracy refers to the percentage of words a reader can read correctly in a given text. Measuring accuracy allows teachers to choose texts at an appropriate difficulty level for each student. In order to improve their reading, students need texts that are difficult enough to require them to practice using the reading strategies they are learning without being so difficult that the student is overwhelmed.

In talking about text difficulty, reading teachers often refer to three functional reading levels, which represent the amount of difficulty that a particular level of text presents for a student. Text that is at a student's independent reading level is text that he/she can read with 98-100% accuracy. That is, the student misses no more than two words out of every 100 words of text. At this level, the student can read independently with no support from the teacher. Text that is at a student's instructional reading level is text that the student can read and comprehend, but only with some assistance from the teacher. The accuracy range for instructional-level text is 90-97% for Primer-level text and above and 85-97% for Preprimer-level text. Text that is at a student's frustrational reading level is text that he/she can read with less than 90% accuracy (less than 85% at Preprimer level). At this level, the student would have difficulty reading and comprehending the text, even with the support of the teacher.

Teachers should target a student's instructional reading level for classroom reading instruction. When students read text that they can read with 90-97% accuracy, they encounter enough challenges to require them to practice the strategies they are learning, but the text is not so difficult that students are overwhelmed. Independent-level text can be used for independent reading and for practicing reading speed and prosody, and frustration-level text is great for comprehension instruction during teacher read-alouds.

Here is a quick way to measure reading accuracy:

Find a short reading passage, and ask the student to read it aloud to you.

Make note of any errors the student makes while reading. Errors include: substitutions (substituting an incorrect word or a nonsense word for a word in the text), reversals (reversing the order of two words in the text), omissions (leaving out a word), or words you have to provide to the student. If the student self-corrects after making a mistake, count the word correct.

Divide the number of words the student read correctly by the total number of words in the passage. This number will be a percentage.

Example: The student read a 200-word passage and missed 14 words.
200 - 14 = 186 words read correctly
186 Â Ã· 200 = .93
The student read the passage with 93% accuracy, which is within his/her instructional reading range.

Assessing automaticity

Automaticity is usually measured as reading rate, or the number of words a student reads per minute (WPM). You can measure rate at the same time that you assess a student's reading accuracy. Here's what you do (you'll need a stopwatch):

Select a short reading passage, and have the student read it aloud. Begin timing as soon as the student reads the first word of the passage, and stop the stopwatch as soon as he/she reads the last word. (To measure silent reading rate, let the student know that you will begin timing as soon as he/she looks down at the passage, and you will stop when he/she looks up at the end. Students should not be expected to read silently until they are reading at second-grade level).

Convert the time on the stopwatch to seconds by multiplying the total number of minutes the student read by 60 and adding the number of additional seconds.

Multiply the total number of words in the passage by 60, and divide by the student's reading time in seconds:

Example: The student read a 200-word passage in 2 minutes and 32 seconds (2:32 on stopwatch).
2 minutes x 60 seconds each = 120 seconds
120 + the remaining 32 seconds = 152 seconds
(200 x 60) Ã· 152 seconds = 79 words per minute (wpm)

Many different researchers have suggested guidelines for how many words per minute students should be reading at particular stages of their reading development. Although there is no one accepted scale, the following ranges, developed by Dr. Darrell Morris at Appalachian State University, can be used as guidelines:

Average End-of-Year Reading Rate Ranges (Grades 1-8)

Grade

Oral rates (wpm)

Silent rates (wpm)

Source: Morris, D. (2008). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems. New York: Guilford.

Note: Reading rate is not assessed until students are reading in Primer-level text and above. Students reading below primer level are still reading word-by-word, focusing all of their attention on decoding the text.

Assessing prosody

Teachers often use rubrics to assess whether students are reading with appropriate pitch variation, intonation, phrasing, and expression. One such rubric is the Oral Reading Fluency Scale created for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To use this rubric, simply have a student read a short passage of text, and assign a score of 1-4, based on the descriptions below.

NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale

Level 3

Reads primarily in three- or four-word phrase groups. Some small groupings may be present. However, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author. Little or no expressive interpretation is present.

Level 1

Reads primarily word-by-word. Occasional two-word or three-word phrases may occur - but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax.

SOURCE: U.D. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Oral Reading Study.

Comprehension caveat

Even though fluency instruction is important, teachers must remember that many ELLs can be deceptively fast and accurate while reading in English without fully comprehending the meaning of the text they are reading. That is because reading comprehension depends upon a variety of complex skills that are not as important to word reading. These include deep vocabulary knowledge, syntactical knowledge, and background knowledge of the subject discussed in the text. For this reason, it is always important to pair fluency instruction with good instruction in comprehension.

For some great ideas on both fluency and comprehension instruction with ELLs, see Reading 101 for English Language Learners.

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning.

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In this excerpt from Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8, authors Susan Lenski and Frances Verbruggen offer strategies focused on how to teach and assess spelling with ELLs, including discussion on error correction. The authors have created a hypothetical school setting based on their extensive research and observations in classrooms around the country, presenting educators' questions and challenges, as well as their collaborative conversations with colleagues.

In this example, Ms. Bowden and Ms. Brennan are mainstream teachers interested in designing more effective writing lessons and activities for their ELLs, and Ms. Ramos is the school's literacy coach.

Spelling and native language influence

Spelling, like handwriting, is a transcription skill that helps students to write with fluency. During writing workshop in her classroom, Ms. Bowden found that when students stopped writing in order to ask for help with spelling or to look up a word in the dictionary, the flow of the students' thinking was interrupted and they would often have difficulty picking up their train of thought. For ELLs, who need to use the bulk of their cognitive resources to organize and express their ideas, fluent spelling is an important part of fluent writing.

For ELLs, the transfer of linguistic knowledge from the home language to English can have both benefits and drawbacks. For the Spanish speakers in Ms. Bowden's class, phonological and orthographic transfer from Spanish to English accounted for many spelling errors in words containing /k/, /b/, and /h/ allophones, /sk/ blends, all clusters, and phonemes, such as /e/, /pr/, and /u/ (Fashola, Drum, Mayer, & Kang, 1996). Her Spanish-speaking students tended to make more errors than native English-speaking students in words containing these phonemes. There appears to be a significant amount of Spanish influence in the spelling of words that Spanish-speaking students spell incorrectly. Much of Spanish-speaking students' spelling errors can be accounted for by interference from the transfer of phonological knowledge from Spanish (Dressler, 2002). Spanish-speaking students are not the only ones for whom spelling can be challenging. Example 1 shows the work of a fifth-grade Dutch-speaking student who had been in the United States for 1 year, which illustrates that point. This student, like many ELLs, spells words the way she hears them.

Because of the challenges for teaching ELLs to spell, Ms. Ramos suggested that a phonetically organized spelling program would provide Ms. Bowden's students with explicit practice in the organizational patterns of the English language, and could improve their writing and other English language skills (Wright, 2001).

Correcting spelling and usage errors

Teachers used to correct every error with a red pen to indicate mistakes in writing. Mina Shaughnessy (1977) questioned this practice in her classic Errors and Expectations. One of Shaughnessy's maxims was that errors count but not as much as most teachers think. Research supports this viewpoint. Teachers who mark every error may feel like they're doing the right thing, but research suggests that marking errors does not make a difference in student writing (Rob, Ross, & Shortreed, 1986). Most errors tend to distract readers rather than distort meaning. Although the goal of writing is to communicate meaning without distractions, errors are actually a natural part of language development and are a window into a writer's development (Schleppegrell & Go, 2007). According to Díaz-Rico (2008), "persistent errors, rather than random mistakes, provide insight into the learner's rule set" (p. 246).

Understanding the kinds of errors that ELLs make in writing is critical. According to Parker and Riley (2010), spelling errors tend to be a direct result of the phonology of English. For example, words that have unstressed syllables, such as the second syllable in the word interest, are often deleted. In this case, the word is spelled intrest by novice spellers. This example and many others cause ELLs to have difficulty spelling correctly. Furthermore, ELLs do not unlearn their first language when they learn English. ELLs develop an interlanguage (Selinker, 1972) as they move from their first language to English. This interlanguage reflects the English rules they are learning as they intersect with the rules governing the first language. The way ELLs apply the rules of English is revealed by the errors they make when they write. Analyzing errors can help teachers identify patterns that ELLs are using while learning English.

Ms. Brennan decided to try an error analysis of some of her ELLs' writings. She was especially concerned about Rosi, who was a fairly recent immigrant from Mexico. Rosi was learning English rapidly and was beginning to apply several of the grammatical and usage rules that she had been taught. Ms. Brennan used Rosi's sample writing of a biography (see Example 2) to decide how to best scaffold her writing.

After carefully reading Rosi's paper, Ms. Brennan decided that Rosi was making sufficient progress in writing considering the time she had spent in the country. She developed a chart that detailed what she learned from Rosi's writing (see Chart 1) and concluded that she would have Rosi concentrate on some of the areas in which Rosi had demonstrated learning. She decided to remind Rosi to capitalize proper nouns, especially names. She also gave Rosi extra assistance in writing simple sentences. Finally, Ms. Brennan reviewed when to use me and when to use my. Ms. Brennan recognized that Rosi had additional errors in her writing, but she knew that overwhelming Rosi with too many areas to learn all at once would not be beneficial. Instead, Ms. Brennan tried to help Rosi focus on just three areas for her next piece of writing.

Spelling assessments

Spelling tests are another type of assessment that most of us know from school. The teacher assigned a set of words, and at the end of the week the words were dictated, usually in sentences for context. We would write the words, hopefully with the correct spelling. This kind of assessment is still useful for checking students' mastery of spelling words. Mrs. Ramos told the teachers that there are a few variations on the traditional spelling test that teachers could try. First, instead of dictating the words, show the students a picture that illustrates the meaning of the word and have them write the word. A second variation would be to give the students a multiple-choice test, with various options for spelling the word, to see whether they can recognize the correct spelling (Brown, 2004). This alternative might be especially useful when a word has several different spellings, each with a different meaning, such as there, their, and they're, or two, to, and too, in which case the teacher could assess word meaning as well as spelling.

Citations

Reprinted with permission. Lenski, S. and Verbruggen, F. Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8. 12, 126-7, 147-8. New York: Guilford Press. 2010.

References

Brown, H.D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson: ESL.

Dressler, C.A. (2002). Inter- and intra-language influences on the English spelling development of fifth-grade, Spanish-speaking English language learners. Unpublished dissertation, Harvard University.

Fashola, O., Drum, P., Mayer, R., & Kang, S. (1996). A cognitive theory of orthographic transitioning: Predictable errors in how Spanish-speaking children spell English words. American Educational Research Journal, 33(4), 825-843.

Parker, F., & Riley, K. (2010). Linguistics for non-linguists: A primer with exercises (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rob, T., Ross, S., & Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 83-93.

Schleppegrell, M. J., & Go, A. L. (2007). Analyzing the writing of English learners: A functional approach. Language Arts, 84, 529-538.

Selinker, L. (1972). International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 10(3), 210-231.

Shaughnessy, M. P. (1977). Errors and expectations: A guide for the teacher of basic writing. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wright, D. (2001). Phonetically organized spelling because-. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 67(4), 30-33.

Reprints

For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners

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In this excerpt from Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8 , authors Susan Lenski and Frances Verbruggen offer strategies focused on how to teach and assess spelling with ELLs, including discussion on error correction.

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"phonemic awareness" phonics literacy reading heggerty "phonological awareness"

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Heggerty Phonemic Awareness is a well-organized 35-week curriculum of daily phonemic awareness lesson plans. Developed on a systematic scope and sequence of skills, each level focuses on eight phonemic awareness Skills, along with two additional activities to develop Letter and Sound recognition, and Language Awareness.

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There are so many ways a word can be related to another. Understanding these relations between words will help you build your vocabulary. Word families are one such way to explore how words relate to one another. So what is the word family? A group of words that have a common root word with different prefixes and suffixes is known as a word family.

Word families refer to groups of words that follow a certain set of letter patterns with the root word fixed for all words within the same group. This implies that the words belonging to the same group have common characteristics. Word families are also known as chunks, times, or groups.

Have a look at the following words:

All these words come under a single word family. So what do you think they have in common? These words have the common root word 'help'. This in turn means that all these words are members of the 'help' word family. Suffixes or prefixes are added to the root word to form derivatives of a root word.

Word families most often occur in rhymes and poems. For example:

Hickory, dickory, dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

The following word families are used in the above rhyme:

You can even try out our other articles on How to Improve Your Vocabulary as well to expand your knowledge base.

Most Common Word Families for Beginners

There are thirty seven common word families according to the National Council of Teachers of English. Given below is a list of the various word families with examples for each family. So get ready to explore!

ack: back, crack, hack, sack

ain: gain, grain, main, complain

ake: sake, make, cake, fake

ale: pale, male, sale, scale

all: all, ball, mall, call

ame: game, came, lame, same

an: an, ban, can, pan

ank: prank, rank, sank, thank

ap: cap, map, slap, trap

ash: ash, dash, rash, stash

at: gnat,cat, fat,pat

ate: hate, gate, late, mate

aw: slaw, raw, paw, saw

ay: lay, gay, may, pay

eat: peat, neat, heat, seat

ell: hell, shell, tell, smell

est: best, chest, vest, quest

ice: thrice, price, nice, rice

ick: nick, stick, pick, trick

ide: bride,glide, side, guide

ight: tight, fight, tonight, night

ill: chill, drill, still

in: inn,tin,kin

ine: vine, mine, nine, pine

ing: spring,string,sting

ink: pink, ink,drink

ip: lip, ship, skip,dip

it: sit, hit,quit

ock: clock, stock, rock,shock

op: cop, hop, mop, top

ore: bore, more, sore, tore

ot: got, hot, not, rot

uck: buck, duck luck, tuck

ug: bug, hug, mug, rug

ump: bump, dump, jump, pump

unk: chunk, punk, sunk

Few other word families that occur regularly:

ad- sad, mad, bad

ar-bar, car, star

en-men, pen,ten

ent- tent, went, sent

oil- oil, coil, soil

oom-doom, groom, loom

Why Focus on Word Families?

Getting yourself familiar with word families has its advantages. An understanding of different word families will help you learn to read. Building your vocabulary will also be simple with the help of word families. Being able to identify common features and patterns among words is a foundation for developing your speaking skills.

Scholars also suggest that children generally connect what they have already discovered to what they are currently learning. This happens through the process of observing word similarities. Hence knowing the concept of root words and their derivatives will help you infer the meaning of other words in the word family. Familiarity with word families will also increase your pace of reading. You will learn to analyze language and infer common grammar rules.

Let's take the example of the word family 'all'. This word family will help you to learn simple spelling words like, 'call', 'hall', 'mall' etc. Later this understanding can be built upon, when you realize how many more words can be framed from the root word 'all'. From simple words like 'call', you move into tougher words like 'install', 'enthrall' etc.

Read More:

How to Study Word Families?

You can make use of the following key points to learn about word families:

Begin with one-syllable words.

Develop a word family chart at home.

Make it a point to learn one-word family each week.

Create new words by adding suffixes and prefixes to the root word.

Engage in reading activities to memorize root words.

Familiarise yourself with rhymes and poems that make use of word families.

Engage in games and activities that deal with word families.

FAQs on Word Families
1. Is it important to know about word families?
Knowledge of word families will help you build vocabulary. Instead of simply memorizing words, you will learn to spot patterns and root words. This will in turn increase your reading fluency.
2. How are word families formed?
A word family consists of a group of words that have a single root word with different prefixes and suffixes. The addition of suffixes or prefixes results in the creation of new words(derivatives) that belong to the same word family.
3. What is the order in which word families should be studied?
There is no particular order in which word families should be covered. However the easiest starting point would be the short 'a' word family that includes: at, am, an, ab, ag, ap, etc.
4. How many word families are there in English?
There are thirty seven word families in English, according to the National Council of Teachers of English. These word families are ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw, ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk.

Conclusion

Word families are certainly a productive way to attain a stronger vocabulary. Exposing yourself to various word families, will in turn increase your understanding of language patterns. Reinforcing the information with rhyming games and activities will accelerate your vocabulary acquisition by increasing the number of words you have at your command.

Using the thirty seven common word families, you will be able to learn about five hundred words. If other word families are included, the number of new words you learn can grow dramatically. So make sure that you have a stronghold on the different word families. You can also check out our article on Word Classes to get a grip on the concept.

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Most Commonly Used Word Families Activity Ideas for Beginners | How to Identify Word Families?

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There are so many ways a word can be related to another. Understanding these relations between words will help you build your vocabulary. Word families are one such way to explore how words relate to one another. So what is the word family?

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words.

A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text. As the teacher, you can explicitly teach word meanings to improve comprehension. However, to know a word means knowing it in all of the following dimensions:

The ability to define a word

The ability to recognize when to use that word

Knowledge of its multiple meanings

The ability to decode and spell that word

Therefore, it is vitally important to teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests. Words are taught through direct instruction of word meanings as well as through discussions about words (including prefixes, suffixes, and roots) - all combined with a lot of reading.

For English language learners (ELLs), vocabulary development is especially critical for their ability to read and comprehend texts. The selection of vocabulary words to teach ELLs can be grouped into three tiers.

Tier 1 words

Tier 1 words are words that ELLs typically know the concept of in their primary language, but not the label in English. For example, a Tier 1 word might be butterfly. This is a word that English language learners may not know, but it can be easily taught by pointing to a picture of a butterfly during text discussion.

Another Tier 1 word might be march (move like a soldier). A word like march can be easily instructed during text discussion by marching in place. But because this word has multiple meanings, it also merits further instruction. This can be accomplished through oral language activities that follow the text discussion.

Teaching Tier 1 words

We take it for granted that native English-speakers know most Tier 1 words, but this is not the case for ELLs. Many Tier 1 words may be unknown to ELLs and key to the comprehension of a passage. Different types of Tier 1 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 1 words cannot be demonstrated and do not have multiple meanings, but students will need to know them. An example of this is the word uncle. A simple explanation of the word's meaning during the story reading will suffice. Or, if the teacher and students are bilingual, a quick translation is sufficient.

Idioms and everyday expressions (like "make up your mind," "let's hit the books," and "once upon a time") are also in the Tier 1 category. Teachers will need to explain the meanings of these phrases to students.

Some Tier 1 words are simple cognates (like family/familia or preparation/preparación). The cognates in this category consist of words that are high-frequency words in Spanish and English. They may not require substantial instruction because students may know the word meanings in Spanish. The teacher can merely state the English cognate and have students provide the Spanish cognate. Or, the teacher can provide the English cognate and students can say both the English word and Spanish cognate.

It is also important to point out false cognates and give the correct translation. Examples of false cognates are: rope/ropa (clothing) and embarrassed/embarazada (pregnant). There are also some false cognates that have multiple meanings in one language, and one or some of those meanings do not coincide with the meaning of the other language.

Here is a list of helpful Spanish-English cognates.

Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words are more complex than Tier 1 words. They may also be more abstract. These include:

1. Words that are important and useful to understanding the text, such as: character, setting, plot, even numbers, and country.

2. Words that have connections to other words and concepts, such as: between, among, by, combine, and estimate.

3. Words for which students understand the general concept, but need greater precision and specificity in describing a concept or a person, such as: sets, tables (for math or science, or for a table of contents), shy, ashamed, and stubborn.

Teaching Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words appear in grade-level texts. They can be worked with in a variety of ways so that ELLs build rich representations of them and connect them to other words and concepts. Different types of Tier 2 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 2 words will not require elaborate discussion, because they can be demonstrated. These include words with multiple meanings, such as trunk, which can be taught by using gestures to show that it is part of an elephant, part of a tree, part of our body, and the back of a car.

In addition, many Tier 2 words are cognates. In this tier, they are high frequency words in Spanish and low frequency words in English. This means that Spanish-speaking ELLs will have a head start with these words (such as coincidence/coincidencia, industrious/industrioso, and fortunate/afortunado) because they will know both the concept and an approximation of the label in English.

The Tier 2 words that should be targeted for pre-teaching include words that cannot be demonstrated and are not cognates.

ELLs should be expected to master Tier 2 words in order to do well on comprehension and on tests.

Tier 3 words

These are low-frequency words that are found mostly in content books in the upper grades. Examples include witticism, isotope, procrastinate, amoeba, or words that are not demonstrable or cognates. These words are rarely encountered in the early grades, but if they do appear, you can translate them or briefly explain them in either English or in the ELLs' first language.

Note: It is advisable at all grade levels to have bilingual dictionaries available in the classroom. If you do not know the translation for a vocabulary word into students' native language, it is an easy reference and clarification tool. Also, when reading texts on their own, students can look up unknown words and ensure their own comprehension.

References

Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Gilford Press.

Calderón, M., August, D., Durán, D., Madden, N., R. Slavin & M. Gil (2003 and in press). Spanish to English Transitional Reading: Teacher's Manual. Baltimore, MD: The Success for All Foundation.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (2004). Expediting Comprehension to English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) Teachers Manual. Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (in press). Teaching Reading, Oral Language and Content to English Language Learners - How ELLs Keep Pace With Mainstream Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Reprints

For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words. A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text.

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English language learners (ELLs) often have problems mastering science, math, or social studies concepts because they cannot comprehend the textbooks for these subjects. ELLs at all levels of English proficiency, and literacy, will benefit from explicit instruction of comprehension skills along with other skills.

Examples of comprehension skills that can be taught and applied to all reading situations include:

Summarizing

Sequencing

Inferencing

Comparing and contrasting

Drawing conclusions

Self-questioning

Problem-solving

Relating background knowledge

Distinguishing between fact and opinion

Finding the main idea, important facts, and supporting details

These skills are particularly important for comprehending what is generally known as information reading or expository reading.

For more information, see our related articles and classroom videos:

Why reading comprehension skills are particularly important for ELLs

ELL students will still need a lot of vocabulary development and teaching of comprehension strategies even if they:

have been mainstreamed after some bilingual instruction;

are being pulled out for English as a Second Language or Sheltered English instruction; and/or

have been assessed as English proficient but you know that they still need additional help with language, reading, and writing.

Here is a way of thinking about the support your ELLs will need:

Classroom strategies: Steps for explicitly teaching comprehension skills

The following steps are useful for all students. However, these need to be complemented with the additional steps below to ensure comprehension for ELLs.

Introduce the comprehension strategy or skill (see above list) through examples. Discuss how, when, where, and why the strategy or skills are used. For example: contrast main idea with details, fact with opinion, good summaries with poor summaries.

Have students volunteer additional examples to contrast and discuss.

Label, define, model, and explain the strategy or skill. For example, after listing four facts about a healthy diet and four opinions about what is good to eat, label one list as facts and the other list as opinions.

Give students opportunities to practice using the strategy with a peer as they apply it to a short, simple paragraph from a science text or any expository text.

Debrief with the whole class to ask students to share how they applied the strategy or skill.

Additional steps for ELLs

Identify vocabulary words that you think might be difficult for students to understand when they read the text. Write ELL-friendly definitions for each - that is, simple, brief definitions ELLs can easily understand.

Model think-alouds. For example: verbalize a confusing point or show how you use a strategy to comprehend something. "This sounds very confusing to me. I better read this sentence again."

Demonstrate fix-up strategies. For example: I need to think about this. Let me rethink what was happening. Maybe I'll reread this. I'll read ahead for a moment.

Partner ELLs with more dominant English speakers and ask each student to take a turn reading and thinking aloud with short passages.

After working with partners successfully, ask ELLs to practice independently by using a checklist such as the following. Be sure to explain all the terms and model each.
While I was reading, how did I do?

Celebrate each ELLs' progress with recognition notes, praise, and/or class applause.

For advanced ELLs

When students' English proficiency and basic reading skills have increased, you can teach the following steps not just to ELLs, but to all students - because everyone will benefit.

In pairs, have students survey the text and use an idea map to record the main idea and details.

Ask partners to read the text.

Have partners restate the main idea and supporting details. At this point, they can add to their idea map or make necessary corrections.

Then ask students to reread the text and either develop their own questions (pretending to prepare a test for their partner) or write a short summary of what they just read.

After that, have partners check each other's work.

Finally, partners can share their questions or summaries with other teams.

Other ideas

For building ELL comprehension

Teach students how to use these tools for informational or expository reading:

Ask students to use the following strategies to summarize (orally or in writing):

Retell what you read, but keep it short.

Include only important information.

Leave out less important details.

Use key words from the text.

Questioning ELLs after reading

After the ELLs and/or whole class have completed the reading comprehension activities above, you can anchor or test their comprehension with carefully crafted questions, taking care to use simple sentences and key vocabulary from the text they just read.

These questions can be at the:

Literal level (Why do the leaves turn red and yellow in the fall?)

Interpretive level (Why do you think it needs water?)

Applied level (How much water are you going to give it? Why?)

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Reading Comprehension Skills for English Language Learners

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English language learners (ELLs) often have problems mastering science, math, or social studies concepts because they cannot comprehend the textbooks for these subjects. ELLs at all levels of English proficiency, and literacy, will benefit from explicit instruction of comprehension skills along with other skills.

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Help your students classify ideas and communicate more effectively with these free graphic organizer templates, available for download. They can be used to structure writing projects and help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research, and brainstorming.

Printable Graphic Organizers

Select a blank graphic organizer from the following categories depending on your curriculum needs.

Sequence of Events

Main Topic and Key Details

Compare/Contrast

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Free Downloadable Graphic Organizer Templates

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Use these free graphic organizer templates to help your students communicate more effectively by classifying ideas, structuring writing projects, and more.

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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Strategy Overview

How This Strategy Supports Language Development

Multilingual learners are often told to "add details" or "expand on their ideas," but may not have the skills to do that. This strategy develops the skills of adding more details to a sentence, as well as writing sentences that match the discipline-specific writing task within content areas.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Provide students with a simple sentence related to the content or context of the unit.

2. Ask questions that would add details to the sentence such as: who, when, where, what color, how many, why, how, etc.

3. Model how to expand the sentence with the answers to one or two questions.

4. Then have students work with a partner to expand the sentence answering additional questions.

5. Ask students to share their expanded sentences with another group. Next, ask them to write their expanded sentences on the board or a shared document.

6. Provide specific feedback on sentence structure and punctuation as sentences become more complex.

Lessons Learned

Model the process with students showing how to add details to answer the questions directly in the original sentence. Choose one or two different structures for expanding the sentence at first, such as adding prepositional phrases or adding an adjective before a noun.

Create a list of questions for the model sentence that can be easily answered with details that will work in an expanded sentence. Note that some details would be better written in another sentence.

When a particularly complex sentence structure is used correctly by students, teach the class this structure by analyzing how it works. Ask all students to practice with that structure.

Choose simple sentences about a concept students have already learned. Once they have practiced expanding one sentence, ask them to write another sentence about that content using some of the structures they just practiced.

Differentiation

Entering/Emerging

Encourage students to expand their sentences using their heritage language because this skill can transfer to English eventually.

Students can write in their heritage language and translate their writing into English.

Guide a small group when other students are working collaboratively.

Developing

Choose a sentence from students' writing for them to expand.

Have partners brainstorm their own list of questions they could ask about their simple sentence.

Have teams answer the questions and add those details to the sentence.

Expanding

Ask students to choose a sentence from their own writing to expand.

Have students work individually to add details to the sentence before sharing with a partner.

Ask partners to compare their expanded sentences and refine their sentences based on this feedback and comparison.

Co-teaching Considerations

Content or Grade-Level Teacher

1. Write a simple sentence about grade-level content.

2. Write an expanded sentence with various key details.

English Language Development Teacher

1. Write questions to guide students to add details to the simple sentence.

2. Model how to write the expanded sentence with the details generated.

3. Teach students how to ask their own questions and add details based on those questions.

4. Hold a discussion to reflect on when to transfer this skill to another class.

Examples

Content Area

Simple Sentence

Questions

Expanded Sentence

Language Arts

The bird was in the tree.

What color was the bird? Blue and gray

What kind of tree? Willow

Where in the tree? On a branch

What was the bird doing? Eating a worm

The blue and gray bird was eating a worm on a branch in the willow tree.

Science

The water evaporates.

When: The solar rays reach earth

Why: The sun warms the water

Where is the water: In lakes and oceans

What happens next: Forms clouds

When solar rays reach earth, the rays warm the water in lakes and oceans, causing it to evaporate and form clouds.

Social Studies

Ellis Island is a famous landmark.

What is Ellis Island? An immigration station

Where: New York City

Why is it important? More than twelve million immigrants arrived there

When: Between 1892 and 1954

Ellis Island, an immigration station in New York City, is a famous landmark because more than twelve million immigrants arrived there between 1892 and 1954.

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Language DevelopmentMultilingual learners are often told to "add details" or "expand on their ideas," but may not have the skills to do that. This strategy develops the skills of adding more details to a sentence, as well as writing sentences that match the discipline-specific writing task within content areas.Step-by-Step InstructionsProvide students with a simple sentence related to the content or context of the unit.

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Teaching Writing to Diverse Student Populations

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Teaching Writing to Diverse Student Populations

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According to data from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 28% of fourth graders, 31% of eighth graders, and 24% of twelfth graders performed at or above a proficient (i.e., competent) level of writing achievement for their respective grade level (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003). This Access Center resource is intended to help teachers implement writing instruction that will lead to better writing outcomes for students with and without writing difficulties. We provide research-based recommendations, activities, and materials to effectively teach writing to the wide range of students educators often find in their classrooms.

There are three apparent reasons why so many children and youth find writing challenging. First, composing text is a complex and difficult undertaking that requires the deployment and coordination of multiple affective, cognitive, linguistic, and physical operations to accomplish goals associated with genre-specific conventions, audience needs, and an author's communicative purposes.

Second, the profile of the typical classroom in the United States has undergone dramatic changes in the recent past. Many more students today come from impoverished homes, speak English as a second language, and have identified or suspected disabilities (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003).

This increasing diversity of the school-aged population has occurred within the context of the standards-based education movement and its accompanying high-stakes accountability testing. As a consequence, more demands for higher levels of writing performance and for demonstration of content mastery through writing are being made of students and their teachers, while teachers are simultaneously facing a higher proportion of students who struggle not only with composing, but also with basic writing skills.

Unfortunately, many teachers feel ill-equipped to handle these competing pressures, in part because they lack the prerequisite pedagogical knowledge, instructional capabilities, and valued resources for teaching writing, and in part because writing curricula, which exert a strong influence on teachers' writing instruction, tend to be underdeveloped and misaligned with other curricula (Troia & Maddox, 2004).

Third, the quality of instruction students receive is a major determinant of their writing achievement (Graham & Harris, 2002). In some classrooms, writing instruction focuses almost exclusively on text transcription skills, such as handwriting and spelling, with few opportunities to compose meaningful, authentic text (e.g., Palinscar & Klenk, 1992). In other classrooms, frequent and varied opportunities exist to use the writing process to complete personally relevant and engaging writing tasks, but little time is devoted to teaching important writing skills and strategies, as it is assumed these can be mastered through incidental teaching and learning (e.g., Westby & Costlow, 1991).

Still in other classrooms, virtually no time is devoted to writing instruction or writing activities (e.g., Christenson, Thurlow, Ysseldyke, & McVicar, 1989). In perhaps a minority of classrooms, students are taught by exemplary educators who blend process-embedded skill and strategy instruction with writing workshop elements such as mini-lessons, sustained writing, conferencing, and sharing (e.g., Bridge, Compton-Hall, & Cantrell, 1997; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, in preparation; Wray, Medwell, Fox, & Poulson, 2000).

Yet, for students with disabilities who tend to develop or exhibit chronic and pernicious writing difficulties, even this type of instruction may be inadequate. These students need considerably more intensive, individualized, and explicit teaching of transcription skills and composing strategies that incorporates effective adaptations to task demands, response formats, student supports, and teacher practices (Troia & Graham, 2003; Troia, Lin, Monroe, & Cohen, in preparation). The box below presents several areas of difficulty for students with writing problems.
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Qualities of strong writing instruction

In order for teachers to support all students' writing ability development, certain qualities of the writing classroom must be present. Four core components of effective writing instruction constitute the foundation of any good writing program:

Students should have meaningful writing experiences and be assigned authentic writing tasks that promote personal and collective expression, reflection, inquiry, discovery, and social change.

Routines should permit students to become comfortable with the writing process and move through the process over a sustained period of time at their own rate.

Lessons should be designed to help students master craft elements (e.g., text structure, character development), writing skills (e.g., spelling, punctuation), and process strategies (e.g., planning and revising tactics).

A common language for shared expectations and feedback regarding writing quality might include the use of traits (e.g., organization, ideas, sentence fluency, word choice, voice, and conventions).

The illustration below provides a graphic representation of the core components of effective writing instruction.

Putting the pieces together:
the core components of effective writing instruction

All of these basic components must be thoughtfully coordinated to form a comprehensive writing program for students. Of course, these are only the basic features of strong writing instruction. Additional features, such as procedural supports for carrying out the writing process, a sense of writing community, integration of writing with other academic areas, assistance in implementing a writing program, and sustained professional development to strengthen teachers' knowledge and skills are presented in the box below.

These characteristics of exemplary writing instruction are equally relevant for elementary and secondary teachers - regardless of content area focus - and their young writers. If students are expected to become competent writers, then writing instruction must be approached in similar ways by all teachers who expect writing performance in their classrooms and must be sustained across the grades to support students as they gradually become accomplished writers.

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Establishing routines

A major step in implementing strong writing instruction is establishing routines for (a) daily writing instruction, (b) covering the whole writing curriculum, and (c) examining the valued qualities of good writing. A typical writing lesson will have at least four parts:

Mini-lesson (15 minutes)
Teacher-directed lesson on writing skills, composition strategies, and crafting elements (e.g., writing quality traits, character development, dialogue, leads for exposition, literary devices), which are demonstrated and practiced through direct modeling of teacher's writing or others' work (e.g., shared writing, literature, student papers); initially, mini-lessons will need to focus on establishing routines and expectations;

Check-in (5 minutes)
Students indicate where they are in the writing process (i.e., planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing). The teacher asks students to identify how they plan to use what was taught during the mini-lesson in their writing activities for that day;

Independent Writing and Conferring (30 minutes)
Students are expected to be writing or revising/editing, consulting with a peer, and/or conferencing with the teacher during this time;

Sharing (10 minutes)
Students identify how they used what was taught during the mini-lesson in their own writing and what challenges arose. The teacher may discuss impressions from conferring with students; students share their writing (it does not have to be a complete paper and may, in fact, only be initial ideas for writing) with the group or a partner, while others provide praise and constructive feedback. Students discuss next steps in the writing assignment; and

Publishing Celebration (occasionally)
Students need a variety of outlets for their writing to make it purposeful and enjoyable, such as a class anthology of stories or poems, a grade-level newspaper or school magazine, a public reading in or out of school, a Web site for student writing, a pen pal, the library, and dramatizations.

Several tools can help the teacher maintain the integrity of this lesson structure. Examples of these tools follow.

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Additional instructional considerations

Writing workshop is an instructional model in which the process of writing is emphasized more than the written product and which highly values students' interests and autonomy. Because so many teachers use some variation of writing workshop as the fundamental structure for their writing program, the attributes of an exemplary workshop are described in Specific Characteristics of a Strong Writers' Workshop. Some of the most important attributes include explicit modeling, regular conferencing with students and families, high expectations, encouragement, flexibility, cooperative learning arrangements, and ample opportunities for self-regulation.

On occasion, teachers may wish to assign topics or provide prompts for journaling or other writing activities. A list of potential prompts appropriate for late elementary and middle school grades is given in Writing Prompts. Using titles is a unique way of having students plan and write creative narratives that conform to a particular sub-genre or that have a distinctive tone. Other ways of prompting creative narratives include pictures, story starters, and story endings (these are particularly beneficial because they require a high degree of planning).

Numerous persuasive topic prompts are listed because persuasive writing often is overlooked until secondary school, and because such topics can engage students in critical thinking about relevant issues. Of course, teachers will need to supplement this list with other prompts to trigger other forms of writing (e.g., exposition, poetry); many such prompts can and should be derived from the curriculum as well as students' personal experiences and interests (for suggestions, see Fletcher, 2002; Heard, 1989; Portalupi & Fletcher, 2001; Young, 2002).

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Breaking down different genres in writing

A carefully orchestrated routine should also guide coverage of the writing curriculum. One type of routine includes genre study. In genre study, each instructional cycle focuses on a single genre (e.g., poetry) and one or two particular forms of that genre (e.g., cinquain and haiku). To develop a strong sense of the genre, a genre study cycle should typically last about one marking period.

For primary grade students, it is advisable to begin genre study with a highly familiar genre, such as personal narrative, so that students have an opportunity to become accustomed to the activities associated with genre study. Specific recommended procedures for narrative genre study and expository genre study are presented in the associated charts (see Genre Study Routines for Narrative Text and Genre Study Routines for Expository Text). For these and any other genre of instructional focus, teachers need to do the following:

One way of thinking about the organization of genre study is to relate it to the process of growing a prize-winning rose for entry into a garden show. The first step is to plant the seed for writing by immersing students in touchstone texts (i.e., exemplary models) of the genre targeted for instruction and discussing the key qualities of those examples to illustrate the structure and function of the genre.

The next step is to grow the seed idea through careful planning and small increments of drafting (much like giving a seed just the right amount of sunlight, water, and fertilizer to help it grow). Then, as any accomplished gardener will tell you, once a rose plant begins to grow, it is often necessary to prune back dead branches and leaves, add structural supports, and perhaps even graft new plants.

Likewise, once a draft has been produced, it requires multiple trimmings of unworkable portions or irrelevant information; expansions through the addition of details, examples, and even new portions of text; and attention to writing conventions for ultimate publication. Displaying one's writing in some public forum to gain valuable feedback and accolades, much like a prized rose, is the culmination of all the hard work invested in the writing process and the written product.

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Building and assessing advanced writing components

Students need to develop an understanding of the valued aspects or traits of good writing and the capacity to incorporate these traits into their writing. Developing a routine for communicating about specific writing qualities is essential to the success of a writing program. A number of resources are available to help teachers do this (e.g., Culham, 2003; Spandel, 2001).

The most commonly taught writing traits are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. These closely resemble the dimensions on which many state-mandated accountability measures base their writing achievement assessment (i.e., content, organization, style, and conventions). An example of a scoring rubric for teachers for all of these traits is the Analytic Trait Scoring Rubric (note that voice is not included on the rubric because it is difficult to reliably distinguish it from other traits and score accordingly.

However, teaching it does have instructional value). This kind of rubric is appropriate for all types of writing. Examples of genre-specific rubrics, which focus on unique aspects of a genre such as its structure, include the Story Grammar Elements Rating Scale and Guidelines for Segmenting Persuasive Papers Into Functional Elements.

To help students develop a sense of what constitutes a strong example of a particular trait, teachers can have students listen to or read excerpts from an exemplar touchstone text (which could be a student writing sample) to (a) identify the primary trait evident in the excerpts and (b) identify concrete evidence for characterizing a piece of writing as strong on that particular trait.

Teachers also might ask students to develop their own definition for the trait and/or the descriptors for different scores on a trait rubric by examining superb, average, and weak examples. It is better to limit the number of traits that receive instructional focus at any given time to one or two; the decision regarding which traits are targeted should be guided by the genre and form of writing being taught as well as students' needs.

Writing portfolios are a valuable tool for providing students with feedback regarding how well they incorporate various traits in their writing. They also give students opportunities to reflect on the writing process and their writing accomplishments, and help them make informed choices about what pieces of writing exemplify their best work (see Writing Portfolio: Student Reflection). Portfolios also can provide a mechanism for teachers to reflect on their writing instruction and to establish individualized goals for students (see Writing Portfolio: Teacher Reflection).

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Accommodating all students

Even when a top-notch writing program is firmly established in the classroom, some students will require additional assistance in mastering the skills and strategies of effective writing. Such assistance can be provided through adaptations, which include accommodations in the learning environment, instructional materials, and teaching strategies, as well as more significant modifications to task demands and actual writing tasks. A list of such adaptations is provided in Adaptations for Struggling Writers.

Spelling and handwriting strategies

Of course, elementary school teachers must explicitly teach spelling and handwriting to their students (this is not to say that secondary educators do not address these skills, but they do so to a much lesser extent). Research-based suggestions for teaching spelling and handwriting to students with and without writing difficulties are summarized in Tips for Teaching Spelling and Tips for Teaching Handwriting, respectively.

For students with disabilities and for other struggling writers, more extensive practice and review of spelling, vocabulary, and letter forms and the thoughtful application of other adaptations (e.g., individualized and abbreviated spelling lists, special writing paper) by the teacher will be required. Whether teaching spelling or handwriting, certain curriculum considerations should be addressed (see Tips for Teaching Spelling and Tips for Teaching Handwriting mentioned previously), including the following:

Students can spend time practicing and self-evaluating their performance, with the teacher frequently checking their work (error correction is critical). Depending on how well the students do, the teacher may teach additional lessons. The students might also work with each other to study/practice and evaluate each other's work. Finally, at the end of the week, the teacher should assess how well the students have learned the elements.

To facilitate the establishment of weekly routines in spelling (which is usually a focus of instruction across elementary grades), review the following activities and student handouts.

The above are basic lesson formats; the content for an actual lesson is derived from the spelling patterns (either orthographic or morphemic) targeted for instruction. These teacher-directed activities are used to provide more explicit spelling instruction, as student self-study or partner activities are insufficient for many students, especially those who struggle with spelling, to learn spelling patterns and rules.

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Teaching composing strategies

Students who struggle with writing, including those with disabilities, typically require explicit and systematic instruction in specific composing strategies. Even more emphasis should be placed on strategies that support the planning and revising aspects of the writing process, which trouble these students most. Fortunately, there have been numerous studies examining the effectiveness of various planning and revising strategies for students with and without high-incidence disabilities in multiple educational contexts (i.e., whole classrooms, small group instruction, individualized tutoring). Two excellent resources that describe this research and give advice on how to teach the many available strategies are Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students With Learning Difficulties (Graham & Harris, 2005) and Making the Writing Process Work: Strategies for Composition and Self-Regulation (Harris & Graham, 1996). For this resource, only a few research-based strategies are presented in depth to give teachers an idea of how to implement composing strategies in their particular setting.

Following are two planning strategies (one for narrative writing and one for persuasive writing) and five revising/editing strategies. For all of these, the teacher should first model how to use the strategy, then give students an opportunity to cooperatively apply the strategy while producing group papers, and finally let students practice using the strategy while writing individual papers. Throughout these stages of instruction, the teacher should provide extensive feedback and encouragement, discuss how to apply the strategy in diverse contexts, solicit students' suggestions for improvement, and directly link strategy use to writing performance. All of the strategies presented here use acronyms that encapsulate the multiple steps of the strategies. Furthermore, each strategy has an accompanying watermark illustration that serves to cue the acronym. These features help reduce memory and retrieval demands for students, particularly those with learning problems.

This is a narrative-planning strategy (personal or fictional) that incorporates the basic structure of narrative (i.e., SPACE) and the steps for planning and writing a good story (i.e., LAUNCH). A prompt sheet identifies the strategy steps and can be copied for each student or reproduced for a poster display. A planning sheet allows students to record their story ideas, writing goals, and self-talk statements.

First, the student should establish and record personalized writing goals: a quality goal and a related quantity goal. For example, a student struggling with word choice (one of the six traits described previously) might identify a goal to increase quality rating from a 3 to a 5 on a 6-point scale (see Analytic Trait Scoring Rubric). A related quantity goal to help the student reach this level of quality in word choice might be to include a minimum of 10 descriptive words in the story.

Next, the student should generate ideas for a story and record single words or short phrases that capture these ideas (it is important to discourage students from writing complete sentences on a planning sheet, as this will restrain flexibility in planning and yield a rough draft rather than a true plan). Note that space is provided for multiple ideas for each basic part of a story - students should be encouraged to explore several possibilities for setting and plot elements to foster creativity and to permit evaluation of each idea's merit.

Finally, the student should record self-talk statements, which are personalized comments, exhortations, or questions to be spoken aloud (initially) or subvocalized (once memorized) while planning and writing to help the student cope with negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to the writing process or the task. For example, a student who believes writing is hard might record, "This is a challenge, but I like challenges and I have my strategy to help me do well."

The last sheet is a score card, which is used by a peer to evaluate the student's writing performance. The evaluation criteria are closely linked to the valued qualities embedded in the strategy itself (i.e., million-dollar words, sharp sentences, and lots of detail), the basic structure of a narrative, and writing mechanics. Of course, these criteria could be modified to align more with particular writing traits, and the rating scale could be adjusted to match the scale used by the teacher. At the bottom of the score card, the writer tallies the points, determines any improvement (this implies progress monitoring, a critical aspect of strategy instruction that helps students see how their efforts impact their writing), and sets goals for the next story.

This strategy for planning persuasive papers incorporates the structure of persuasion (i.e., DARE) and the steps for planning and writing a good opinion paper (i.e., DEFEND). The materials for this strategy are very similar to those provided for SPACE LAUNCH; there is a prompt sheet, a planning sheet, and a score card. Note that the student is required to identify and record ideas that support the position and ideas that counter that position. In the process of doing this, the student may decide to alter the position after evaluating the importance and relevance of each idea. The student can place an asterisk next to those ideas to elaborate upon or to provide concrete supporting evidence for, which encourages further planning.

These are revising/editing strategies intended to be used as checklists by individual students during an initial round of revision and editing. COPS (Mulcahy, Marfo, Peat, & Andrews, 1986) is a limited checklist and therefore is appropriate for primary grade students, but it can be used for any genre. COPS (Singer & Bashir, 1999), on the other hand, is a comprehensive checklist and thus is more suitable for older or better writers, but it is used for exposition and persuasion rather than narration. However, the items on the checklist can be modified to make it appropriate for narratives.

This strategy for individual revising (De La Paz, Swanson, & Graham, 1998) involves a greater degree of self-regulation on the part of the writer than checklists and is considerably more powerful; consequently, it is very helpful for students with writing difficulties. The prompt sheet lists the three steps for strategy deployment - compare (identifying discrepancies between written text and intended meaning), diagnose (selecting a specific reason for the mismatch), and operate (fixing the problem and evaluating the effectiveness of the change).

These strategy steps occur first while the student attends to each sentence in the paper, and then, during a second "cycle," while the student attends to each paragraph in the paper. A third cycle, focusing on the whole text, could be added. A minimum of two cycles is necessary to help the student attend to local as well as more global problems in the text. The diagnostic options for making meaningful revisions vary depending on the level of text to which the student is attending. The teacher will need to develop sets of diagnostic cards, color coded for each cycle, from which the student selects.

This revising/editing strategy (Ellis & Friend, 1991) employs a checklist, but it does have two unique aspects. First, the student is expected to set writing goals before even beginning to write, and when finished revising and editing a paper, to determine if the student's goals were met. Second, the student is expected to work with a peer to double-check editing. As for the other checklists, the teacher can add additional items once the student attains mastery of those listed.

This revising strategy (Neubert & McNelis, 1986) is appropriate for a second round of revision and editing (a third round would involve conferring with the teacher) during which students work with one another. The prompt sheet indicates that a peer editor is to first read the author's paper and mark those parts of the paper that are imaginative, unusual, interesting, and confusing.

Then, the peer editor praises the author for the positive aspects and questions the author about the confusing parts. The peer makes suggestions for how the paper can be improved and gives back the original, marked copy to the author.

Finally, the author addresses the confusing parts marked on the paper and, if desired, makes changes suggested by the peer editor. Whenever a student elects to not make a requested or suggested modification, the student should be expected to adequately justify that decision (this encourages ownership and responsibility).

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Integrating writing instruction with content area learning

Teachers often feel that devoting ample time to writing instruction is problematic given the voluminous content area information that must be covered in the typical curriculum (Troia & Maddox, 2004). Simultaneously, they sometimes struggle to identify relevant and stimulating writing topics and assignments that will help students develop their expertise as writers. One way to resolve these dilemmas for older students or students with higher level writing skills is to integrate writing instruction with content area learning.

One important aspect of content area learning is developing communicative competence for interacting with others who have shared knowledge about a discipline or area of study. Individuals within a discipline - such as literary critics, historians, economists, biologists, physicists, and mathematicians - possess a unique way of talking and writing about the theories, principles, concepts, facts, methods of inquiry, and so forth connected with that discipline. Thus, a common goal of content area instruction and writing instruction is to help students acquire proficiency in disciplinary writing.

This does not mean, however, that less content-driven writing exercises are undesirable or unnecessary; the inclusion of disciplinary writing is simply one part of a strong writing program (see Ten Additional Attributes of a Top-Notch Classroom Writing Program). If teachers have students write regularly in content area classes and use content area materials as stimuli for writing workshop, it is more likely that students will develop the capacity to communicate effectively in varied disciplinary discourse communities and will write for more educationally and personally germane purposes.

There are a number of very simple ways to encourage content-relevant writing on a frequent basis in a social studies, science, or mathematics class. Following are some examples:

A number of methods for integrating content area reading with writing have been developed by researchers. Following is a brief description of four methods. The story impressions method (McGinley & Denner, 1987), similar to exchange-compare writing (Wood, 1986), the steps for which are presented in Story Impressions/Exchange-Compare Writing,, utilizes a cooperative learning framework. Students are assigned to a group and given roles (researcher, scribe, content editor, proofreader, and reporter) for writing a brief summary that predicts the content of a lesson or unit text based on key vocabulary provided by the teacher. Once the group has read the text, they rewrite their summary to reflect the actual content of the text and their improved understanding of the material, and discuss this revised version with the rest of the class.

A Jigsaw Content Learning group (Aronson & Patnoe, 1997) is another cooperative learning strategy. It can be coupled with double entry journals (Cox, 1996) for an effective and efficient means of learning from multiple source materials on a topic. The steps for these activities are outlined below.

1. Students are assigned to home groups and each person in a group is given a different source text (e.g., a magazine article about exercise and cardiovascular health, a newspaper clipping about new medical procedures and drugs that can help reduce the risk of heart attacks, a consumer brochure outlining healthy eating tips for promoting cardiac health, and a textbook chapter about the human circulatory system) to read.

2. Then, each student completes a double-entry journal while reading the assigned source text. This is a journal in which the student records some important piece of information from the source text on the left side of the journal page (with an accompanying page number) and a response, question, or evaluative comment on the right side. After completing their double-entry journal, students disperse to an expert group, a group where everyone else has read the same source text. Members of the expert group share their journal entries and summarize the material using a graphic organizer.

3. Finally, students return to their home groups to teach the other members about the content information they learned from their text and discuss how this information relates to that covered by the other texts. The double-entry journal could be expanded to a triple-entry journal by having students within the expert groups respond to each others' responses, questions, or evaluations in a third column.

(Carr & Ogle, 1987; Ogle, 1986) is a time-honored method for activating background knowledge about a topic ( Know), setting learning goals ( Want to Learn), summarizing learning from text ( Learned), and promoting continued investigation ( How to Find Out More). The plus (+) portion of the method is a written summary of what was learned and what additional things students would like to learn. This method can be used as a teacher-led pre- and post-reading class exercise or as a small-group activity. Below is an example of how this activity can work for a unit on geometry.

1. In math, a class might be about to embark on a unit of study related to geometry. The teacher asks students to brainstorm all that they know about geometry and list these under the Know column. This student-generated information should be organized into categories either by the teacher or by the students with teacher guidance (e.g., shapes, angles, spatial orientation, and measurement) that will facilitate text comprehension.

2. Then, the teacher lists under the Want to Learn column those things students would like to discover about geometry (which helps motivate them to read the text).

3. After reading, the teacher records under the Learned column what the students learned through the text, with particular attention paid to information that confirmed their prior knowledge, information that was inconsistent with what was anticipated, or new information. If appropriate, new categories are added. Next, students write their summary paragraph based on the information listed in the Learned column.

4. Finally, students identify how they would locate missing information in the How to Find out More column (e.g., use a Web browser to search for documents related to geometry), which can help motivate additional learning.

One last method for integrating content area reading with writing is the use of Writing Frames (Nichols, 1980). Writing frames help struggling writers use appropriate text organization for summarizing content area information that adheres to a basic structure (e.g., compare-contrast). The frames prompt coherent organization by providing partially completed sentences or transition words that, over time, can be faded as students become familiar with each frame. The examples provided can easily be adjusted to fit the contents of a particular source text.

All of these methods are helpful for students who struggle with writing because they activate prior knowledge about the topic of study, require text summarization, and/or encourage discussion through which students are exposed to multiple perspectives. Of course, students who have writing problems sometimes have reading problems, so adaptations may be needed to help these students read the texts assigned. Some appropriate adaptations might include:

Having the text on tape, CD, or in electronic file format for computer readout;

Having the struggling reader/writer work with a partner who is a better reader; or

Providing the student with a modified version of the text that is written with the same essential content but at a lower grade level.

Likewise, students who struggle with writing may have difficulty working in cooperative learning arrangements. Three proactive measures teachers can take are:

1. Carefully consider with whom students are most likely to work well in a group and place them in groups accordingly;

2. Assign roles that are well suited for students' particular strengths (e.g., assign a student who is an accomplished speaker but a struggling writer the role or reporter); and 3. Seek professional development opportunities that focus on cooperative and peer-mediated learning.

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Summary

A significant number of students perform well below the proficient level of writing achievement for their grade level (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003). The reasons for this are varied and complex. The number of exemplary writing programs are limited, and even when available they are often not adequate to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

These students require intensive, individualized, and explicit teaching of various strategies if they are to improve their writing abilities. This document provides an information base for the core components of effective writing instruction, and examples of specific strategies and supports that can be used to develop a comprehensive writing program to meet the needs of all students.

About the author

Gene Fowler, celebrated author, editor, and journalist, epitomized the inherent difficulty of composing with his comment, "Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead."

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Teaching Writing to Diverse Student Populations

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According to data from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 28% of fourth graders, 31% of eighth graders, and 24% of twelfth graders performed at or above a proficient (i.e., competent) level of writing achievement for their respective grade level (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003).

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Literacy

Resources:

Linking

Research

and Practice

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