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Video to participate in as a class for more PA practice.  

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Video to participate in as a class for more PA practice.  

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Stretchy the Word Snake | Phonics Song for Kids | Segmenting and Blending Words | Jack Hartmann

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In the video above by the Jack Hartmann, he introduces a fun phonics song that helps kids practice their phonemic awareness. Stretchy the word snake, shows how to segment and blend words for reading fluency and phonemic awareness.  Stretchy stretches out each letter sound and then blends the sounds back together to decode and sound out words in this reading strategy video. 

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In the video above by the Jack Hartmann, he introduces a fun phonics song that helps kids practice their phonemic awareness. Stretchy the word snake, shows how to segment and blend words for reading fluency and phonemic awareness.  Stretchy stretches out each letter sound and then blends the sounds back together to decode and sound out words in this reading strategy video. 

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Children more successfully at reading and writing words when they have a firm understanding
that words can be segmented into individual sounds, and that these sounds can be blended into words. (Anthony, & Francis, 2005)

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Blending Sounds in Syllables with Autumn, Kindergartner

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Nothing's more inspiring to an educator than seeing students excited about reading and engaged in their growth. Take a look into classrooms where teaching and technology works together to support educators, empower kids, and change lives. Based on scientific evidence and comprehensive research, Istation's formative assessments, adaptive curriculum, personalized data profiles, and flexible teacher resources help schools measure growth and introduce new skills for reading, math, and Spanish literacy.

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edtech education software curriculum instruction

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The official YouTube channel of Istation. Visit www.istation.com to learn more about Istation's all-in-one educational technology.

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In the video, SRA Open Court- Reading Phonemic Awareness a sample lesson features the teacher Marisa Russo modeling grade K–1 foundational skills. She shares age appropriate, fun interactive lessons that practicing the foundational phonemic awareness skills, these students need to master in order to become proficient readers.

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Segmenting Syllables- activities in the classroom

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Segmenting Syllables- activities in the classroom

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Decoding and Segmenting Sounds -Impact on Memory

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Decoding and Segmenting Sounds -Impact on Memory

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Understanding that words are made up of sequences of individual sounds, or phonemes, is a building block for learning to decode, or sound out, individual words. Two important abilities that students must develop are blending and segmenting.

Blending involves pulling together individual sounds or syllables within words; segmenting involves breaking words down into individual sounds or syllables. Both processes require a student to hold the individual elements in mind as the word is created or taken apart. This ability to hold sounds or syllables on a 'thinking counter space' is facilitated by a student's active working memory.

Here are some strategies to help students develop their ability to decode words by focusing on blending and segmenting.

Helpful Hints

Use pictures to develop students' blending and segmenting skills. Provide students with a picture (e.g. a cat) and have them sound out the name while placing marbles, drawing marks, or tapping their fingers for each of the individual sounds in the word (e.g., /c/.../a/.../t/ is composed of 3 sounds, thus the child would use 3 marbles, marks, or taps.) (This approach is known as the Elkonin technique.)

Let students practice counting syllables by clapping or using their fingers to tap out the number of different sounds, or phonemes, in a word.

Follow a systematic sequence for teaching blending and segmenting activities to students. Use modeling to introduce the skills and guided practice as students develop mastery.

Begin with compound words (e.g., /snow/ -- /ball/). First have students repeat the components of a compound word slowly, and then put them together to form one word; As a next step, ask students to quickly repeat a compound word, and then to break the word into its component parts by repeating it slowly.

Next, move to syllables (e.g., /ev/ -- /er/ -- /green/). Following the above model, have students first put together syllables to create words, and then break words into syllables. Move from two syllable words to three, four, etc.

Finally, move to phonemes (e.g., /s/ -- /a/ -- /t/). Have students put together phonemes to create words and break down words into phonemes. Move from consonant-vowel-consonant words (e.g., fat), to consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant words (e.g., flat).

Give students various opportunities throughout the day to practice blending sounds to create words, and segmenting words into sounds or syllables. For example, sound games can be played while driving in the car, shopping in the grocery store, etc.

Provide reinforcement for learning consonant blends that are particularly challenging to students. For example,

Students can play blend bingo where students match words chosen from a deck of picture cards or called out to them with the blends written on their bingo cards, e.g. sl, sm, sn, sp, etc.

Play a "How Many Words Can You Make" game: Students make words by combining consonant blends and digraphs (consonant combinations that make a single sound), such as /sh/ and /th/) with a variety of word endings.

Students who are skilled at blending and segmenting words can benefit from additional practice manipulating sounds and syllables within words. For example, students may enjoy sound omission games where they remove sounds from words in order to create new words. For example, removing /sun/ from suntan leaves /tan/, while subtracting the /t/ from tray leaves ray. Begin by asking students to take out initial sounds or syllables, then have them remove ending sounds/syllables, and finally, ask students to pull out middle sounds/syllables.

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Blending and Segmenting Sounds/Impact of Memory

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Understanding that words are made up of sequences of individual sounds, or phonemes, is a building block for learning to decode, or sound out, individual words. Two important abilities that students must develop are blending and segmenting. Blending involves pulling together individual sounds or syllables within words; segmenting involves breaking words down into individual sounds or syllables.

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In the article above about blending and segmenting sounds and its relations to decoding, it makes a connection to the ability to read. By following a systematic sequence for teaching blending and segmenting activities to students, the teacher can increase the difficulty or phonemes being manipulated. The article discusses a helpful hint of modeling to introduce the skills and guided practice, as students develop mastery of segmenting and blending. In my current class we play a game called 'Rhyme Time' where we play with words and the phonemes. One section of the game is where I break up a compound word into the two words and say them separately, like "Rain" and "Bow". Then my students have to respond with the compound word, "Rainbow". The suggestion in this article is a similar idea. But it even gives strategies to help students who have mastered segmenting and blending become engaged through fun challenging activities.

IN THE ARTICLE  A HELPFUL HINT  WAS THE ACTIVITY BELOW:

Begin with compound words (e.g., /snow/ -- /ball/). First have students repeat the components of a compound word slowly, and then put them together to form one word; As a next step, ask students to quickly repeat a compound word, and then to break the word into its component parts by repeating it slowly.

IN THE ARTICLE A CHALLENGE ACTIVITY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MASTERED THIS SKILL IS:

Sound omission games, where they remove sounds from words in order to create new words. For example, removing /sun/ from suntan leaves /tan/, while subtracting the /t/ from tray leaves ray. Begin by asking students to take out initial sounds or syllables, then have them remove ending sounds/syllables, and finally, ask students to pull out middle sounds/syllables.

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In the video above Dr. Louisa Moats explains to a kindergarten teacher why it is critical to differentiate between the letters and sounds within a word when teaching children to read and write. There are 26 letters in the alphabet but we have 43 sounds in the English language, therefore we must have combinations of letters that create specific sounds like "SH" "TH".

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Kindergarten Heggerty Phonics Lesson- Example 1

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ELL: 5 Components of Reading Instruction 

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ELL: 5 Components of Reading Instruction 

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August, D., Hakuta, K. (1997). Improving schooling for language-minority children: A research agenda. Washington, DC: National Research Council.

Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. (2001). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. The Partnership for Reading: National Institute for Literacy; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and U.S. Department of Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery in English and other languages. Keynote address presented at the West Coast Literacy Conference, Palm Springs, CA.

Collier,V. & Thomas, W. (1992). A synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16(1-2), 187-212.

Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering minority students. Sacramento, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education.

Cummins, J. (1992). Language proficiency, bilingualism, and academic achievement. In P. A. Richard-Amato and M. A. Snow (Eds.), The multicultural classroom: Readings for content-area teachers. White Plains: Longman.

Escamilla, K. (1987). The relationship of native language reading achievement and oral English proficiency to future achievement in reading English as a second language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer-sity of California, Los Angeles.

Hiebert, E. H., Pearson, P.D., Taylor, B.M., Richardson, V., Paris, S.G. (1998). Every child a reader: Applying reading research to the classroom. Center for the Improvement of Earl Reading Achievement. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan School of Education.

International Reading Association. (2001). Summary of the National Reading Panel Report, "Teaching Children to Read." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Reading Association, Washington, DC, July 2001.

Moats, L.C. (1999). Teaching reading is rocket science: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.

National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (2002). Survey of the states' limited English proficient students and available educational programs and services, 1999-2001. Washington, DC: NCBE.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000a). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000b). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Reading Panel (2001). "Frequently asked questions." [Online]. Available: http:// www.nationalreadingpanel.org/faq/faq.htm

New York State Education Department, Office of Bilingual Education. (2000). The teaching of language arts to limited English proficient/English language learners: A resource guide for all teachers. Albany, NY: Author.

Peregoy, S. F. & Boyle, O. F. (2000). English learners reading English: What we know, what we need to know. Theory into practice, 39(4), 237-247.

Ramirez, J.D. (2001). Bilingualism and literacy: Problem or opportunity? A synthesis of reading research on bilingual students. A Research Symposium on High Standards in Reading for Students in Diverse Language Groups: Research, Policy, and Practice. Washington, D.C.: Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, U.S. Department of Education.

Rodriguez, A. (1988). Research in reading and writing in bilingual education and English as a second language. In A. Ambert (Ed.), Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language. New York: Garland Pub.

Snow, C., Burns, S., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

U.S. Congress, No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110), 2001.

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English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction

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Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.

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This article provides recommendations and considerations for instruction of ELLs within each of the Reading First components. It should be kept in mind, however, that the Reading First components did not originate from studies including ELLs, and that despite research indicating a need for native language instruction, any discussion within the context of Reading First is about teaching ELLs to read in English.

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Children show their earliest
phonological awareness abilities
when they demonstrate an appreciation for rhyming and alliteration. Through the Heggerty Phonics lessons, this teacher shows a fun interactive way to engage students when learning and manipulating phonemes in words, with rhyming words and substituting the first or final sound for a different phoneme to create new word.

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Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the acquisition of young students’ pre-reading and
reading skills, which develop as children expand their phonological processing abilities
through exposure to a variety spoken and written input. Both of the above videos are examples of how PA can be included in the classroom.

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Teachers need to be aware that English Language Learners categorize phonemes in their first language. So offering activities that can show a correlation between their native language and English can be useful.

ELLs cannot develop phonological awareness in English until they are familiar with the sounds of English.

This means that before explicit instruction in phonological awareness begins, children should have extensive experiences with fun and appealing songs, poems, chants, and read-alouds that will allow them to hear and reproduce the sound patterns of English.

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In this video the instructor is administering a pre-reading assessment to one of her students. In this assessment is it clear that the concepts of print and letter recognition is an important factor in becoming a successful reader.

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Reading Intervention for Students with Learning Disabilities

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Reading Intervention for Students with Learning Disabilities

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Through that analysis, Dr. Swanson identified the specific teaching methods and instruction components that proved most effective for increasing word recognition and reading comprehension skills in children and teens with LD.  The most important outcome of teaching word recognition," Dr. Swanson emphasizes, "is that students learn to recognize real words, not simply sound out 'nonsense' words using phonics skills."

Problem with "word recognition"

decoding

phonics

phonemic awareness

word attack skills

Direct instruction appears the most effective approach for improving word recognition skills in students with learning disabilities.

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Effective Reading Interventions for Kids with Learning Disabilities

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Research-based information and advice for sizing up reading programs and finding the right one for your child with a learning disability.

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Reading Instruction for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

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Dr. Jill Allor presents an overview of the elements of direct, systematic reading instruction for students who struggle to read, including students with intellectual disabilities. Students with learning disabilities can learn to read through memorizing sight words. These students are able to learn to isolate skills like, letters sounds and some phonemic awareness skills. But the challenges for these students are in blending sounds and combining isolated sounds. Providing them with intensive amounts of practice and repetition with blending sounds and combining isolated sounds, can help them gain mastery over this ability. Providing specific more explicit instruction for these students with learning disabilities can help them understand these concepts to ultimately help them becoming a successful reader.
Dr. Jill Allow's shows a style of interaction with these students that can help model the proper way to demonstrate new words/sounds or phonemic awareness activity, then have them try it with you and finally have student try it on their own.

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ELL and Reading

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As a classroom teacher, I was largely ignorant of, and definitely suspicious of, research. I believed that researchers could make their studies come out any way they wanted them to, and that a good teacher who reflected on her own teaching knew much more about how to be effective with her students than any researcher did. Later, as a university professor, I learned how important good research can be, and how difficult it is to do really good experimental research in a field such as education, where it is impossible to control all the variables.

For that reason, I was pleased in 1997 when Congress funded the National Reading Panel (NRP) to evaluate research about teaching children to read. The panel's charge was to review existing studies, choose those that were well designed and well implemented, and synthesize their findings. The results were published in 2000 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000), and became the basis of the Reading First grant program included in the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001. Although there was initially a good deal of controversy about the findings of the report, all U.S. elementary school teachers were soon very aware of the five "essential elements" of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension).

Teachers of English language learners (ELLs), however, were left to wonder if and how the findings of the NRP applied to their students. How do you teach phonemic awareness and phonics in English to students who can't yet hear and distinguish the sounds? How do you teach fluency to students whose control of the structures of the English language is still limited? How do you teach them grade-level vocabulary when their vocabulary knowledge starts so far behind that of their English-speaking peers? How do you teach reading comprehension in English when they don't yet comprehend the English language?

Now there appears to be help. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority and Youth to survey, select, and synthesize research on teaching language-minority students to read and write. Their report was published recently (August & Shanahan, 2006).

How much help will this report provide for teachers of ELLs? A preliminary review of the Executive Summary (August, 2006) and the section of the full report on "Educating Language Minority Students" reveals these four potentially important general recommendations:

Literacy in the native language is an advantage.

We already knew this (see, for example, Collier & Thomas, 1997), and it doesn't help teachers working in situations where literacy instruction in the native language is not possible.

Substantial coverage of the five essential elements of reading instruction helps.

However, this finding is based on only 14 studies that looked at instruction of the essential elements of reading with ELLs. Because of the small number of studies, this recommendation is based on the fact that there is nothing in these 14 studies that contradicts the findings of the numerous studies of native speakers that were reviewed by the National Reading Panel. Also because of the small number of studies, no specific practices could be advocated for teaching the essential elements of reading to ELLs.

Reading programs for ELLs should include intensive language development as well as instruction in literacy strategies and skills.

This recommendation is not based specifically on the research, because there were no studies that addressed the inclusion of intensive language development in reading instruction for ELLs. It is instead a hypothesis drawn from several other findings: (1) native speakers benefit more from instruction in the essential elements than do ELLs; (2) ELLs with greater language proficiency benefit more from instruction in the essential elements than do those with less proficiency; and (3) instruction in the essential elements with ELLs has a greater effect on decoding and fluency than on comprehension.

Instruction needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of ELLs.

The report, however, states that there is not enough research to be able to identify specifically how those adjustments should be made. I could find only seven specific suggestions that would be useful to teachers of reading classes that include ELLs:

Provide additional work on English phonemes that are not present in the students' native language.

If students are literate in their native language, focus on differences between that language and English, with less attention given to elements that will transfer.

Provide extra practice in reading words, sentences, and stories.

Use cognate words in the native language as synonyms when teaching vocabulary.

Identify and clarify difficult words and passages.

Consolidate knowledge of the text through the use of summaries.

Find appropriate ways to use the native language.

These seven findings do not constitute a reading program for ELLs. We obviously need much more research. However, given the fact that teachers cannot wait until research catches up with their needs in order to implement effective practices with their ELL students, I think it is important to look not only at the research that is available, but also at what experienced, reflective teachers of ELLs (and observers of those teachers) consider to be best practices. The rest of this article will discuss the implications of available research on instructional practices in the teaching of the five essential elements of reading to ELLs, based on the findings of the National Literacy Panel as much as possible, but also drawing on information from reliable sources such as The Knowledge Loom: Spotlight on Elementary Literacy (The Education Alliance at Brown University, n.d.), as well as my own experience.

Phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is difficult for ELLs because they may not yet have enough experience with English to be able to distinguish sounds that differ from those of their native language. There are three aspects of phonological awareness when learning to read in a second language that are important for teachers of ELLs to remember and incorporate into their instruction:

ELLs cannot develop phonological awareness in English until they are familiar with the sounds of English.

This means that before explicit instruction in phonological awareness begins, children should have extensive experiences with fun and appealing songs, poems, chants, and read-alouds that will allow them to hear and reproduce the sound patterns of English.

Once explicit instruction has begun, modifications must be made to allow for more practice with sounds that can potentially cause confusion.

These are sounds that either don't exist in the native language (most of the short vowel sounds of English don't exist in Spanish, for example), or sounds that are perceived as different in English but the same in the native language (such as /r/ and /l/ for speakers of Japanese, or /b/ and /v/ for speakers of Spanish). Because these differences vary from one language to another, teachers will have to become familiar with which sounds of English will need extra practice, depending on the language backgrounds of their students.

Once phonological awareness has developed in any language, it transfers to other languages that are learned.

Therefore, students who are literate in their native language will not need to develop this skill again in English; they will only need to become familiar with the sounds of English and to learn to discriminate sounds that are different between their native language and English.

Phonics

Phonics can be problematic because ELLs often have difficulty discriminating between similar sounds, and because the English language does not have a regular system of correspondence between letters and sounds. Here are some issues related to phonics instruction for ELLs, with discussion of their implications:

Systematic phonics instruction can be very effective in helping ELLs, even those at fairly low levels of language proficiency, learn to decode words.

However, this skill does not facilitate reading comprehension if students' oral language proficiency is not developed to the level of the texts they are expected to read. For this reason, reading instruction should be combined with intensive development of the oral language needed to understand the text.

The most effective reading programs for ELLs combine systematic phonics instruction with a print-rich environment that provides exposure to appealing reading materials in varied genres.

Skills practice that is embedded in meaningful texts helps ensure that decoding skills don't progress beyond students' ability to comprehend the text.

Many of the components of phonics instruction need to be modified to meet the particular needs of ELLs.

For example:

Before phonics instruction begins, students must have the phonemic awareness skills they need in order to perceive individual sounds in words. This is particularly important for sounds that are problematic because of the native language.

Teachers must be aware of whether a students' native language uses a non-Roman alphabet or is non-alphabetic. Even if ELLs have had no instruction in reading in the native language, environmental exposure to a different writing system can negatively affect the ease with which they learn to recognize the letters of the English alphabet.

ELLs must be able to hear and reproduce English sounds with a degree of accuracy commensurate with their pronunciation abilities, before they are taught to make associations between those sounds and particular letters.

It is helpful to explicitly point out different letter combinations that have the same sound, and provide extra practice with them. Multiple spellings of the same sound can be very confusing for ELLs, particularly if they have had some reading instruction in a language such as Spanish, which has almost completely regular sound-symbol correspondences.

Teachers must pay attention to the meanings of the words used to teach phonics skills. Teaching students to decode words they don't know only reinforces the idea that "reading" is pronouncing sounds out loud rather than creating meaning.

Automatic recognition of frequent words is very important for ELLs, whether the words follow phonics rules or not. Although ELLs may develop good decoding skills, their lack of total proficiency in the English language will always slow them down somewhat. Automatic recognition of words can help mitigate this difficulty.

Most ELLs will need additional time to master phonics. Given the need for extra practice to learn to hear and produce the sounds of English, to learn the meanings of the words used in phonics instruction, to learn the multiple combinations of letters that make the same sound, and to learn many more sight words than English speakers need, additional time for phonics instruction should be built into reading programs for ELLs.

Fluency

Fluency is difficult for ELLs because their lack of proficiency in English slows down their ability to decode words and hinders their ability to understand the meanings of the words and how the words combine to produce meaningful sentences and discourse. These suggestions will help teachers adapt fluency instruction for ELLs:

ELLs cannot achieve fluency in oral reading before they have achieved fluency in speaking.

Repeated readings of texts that contain unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence structures will not increase fluency. When working on developing fluency, be sure that students are reading texts that they are familiar with and can understand. Students' own language experience stories are a very good choice, as are read-alouds that students have heard several times and discussed.

ELLs' normal self-consciousness about accents and errors can affect their reading fluency, especially if they are asked to read aloud in front of the entire class.

This effect will be magnified if students are openly corrected or criticized. Fluency practice for ELLs can be facilitated by having them read along with the teacher, or by reading chorally with a group. If individual oral reading is necessary, provide an authentic purpose for the reading (such as a theatrical performance, or delivering information that the rest of the class needs), and let students practice first with a partner.

Decoding skills, fluency in oral reading, and reading comprehension interact in various ways.

The ability to decode words easily is obviously necessary for fluency, and it also facilitates comprehension by allowing the reader to pay more attention to meaning. Comprehension, in turn, facilitates fluency by making it easier to recognize new words. Effective instruction for ELLs integrates these three elements of reading (plus vocabulary learning) into the same lessons using the same text, as each element helps build and reinforce the others, producing a multiplier effect.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is difficult for ELLs; even for quite proficient learners, the extent of their knowledge of vocabulary is only a fraction of what it is for native speakers of English, and the failure to understand even a few words of a text can have negative effects on comprehension. There are many things teachers can do to help ELLs improve their reading vocabulary, including the following:

ELLs need more vocabulary instruction than their native-speaking peers.

If a native-speaking child enters kindergarten knowing about 5,000 English words, and an ELL with no previous exposure to English enters the same class knowing no English words, it's obvious that the same instruction for each of them will not produce the same results. Everything a teacher of ELLs does should revolve around vocabulary acquisition-explaining, demonstrating, drawing, repeating, reading, writing, and playing with words throughout every aspect of instruction.

ELLs need instruction in different vocabulary words than their native-speaking peers.

ELLs lack many of the basic words that native speakers know, so just teaching the vocabulary words that are suggested in the reading materials you are using will not be sufficient. Here are some of the many types of words that need to be explicitly taught:

words that are crucial for understanding a text;

words that are encountered in a wide variety of contexts;

frequently used words that contain word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes) that can help students analyze other unknown words;

words with multiple meanings, whether spelled differently (homophones such as to, two, and too) or spelled the same (such as a dining room table and a multiplication table);

figurative language and idiomatic expressions;

academic words that indicate relationships among other words (such as because, therefore, and since to indicate cause and effect).

ELLs need different vocabulary teaching techniques and strategies than their native-speaking peers.

Handing out a list of definitions or asking students to put the words into sentences won't help ELLs learn the meanings of the words. Here are some things to keep in mind:

ELLs who are literate in a language that has many words that are similar in meaning and form to English words should be taught to recognize these cognates and use them to create meaning.

The meanings of words are acquired through multiple opportunities to hear, say, read, and write the words in slightly different meaningful contexts. Teachers will have to create these contexts in the classroom, since incidental learning of vocabulary cannot be relied on for ELLs.

Explicit explanations of unknown words should include contextual support through real objects, pictures or drawings, gestures, examples, demonstrations, or experiments that accompany the verbal explanations.

The use of context clues to infer meaning is not always successful with ELLs because they may not understand the context well enough to infer an accurate meaning.

Having to explain what a word means to other students helps develop comprehension of the full meaning of the word.

Comprehension

Reading comprehension is more difficult for ELLs than for native speakers for various reasons. Three of the most important reasons are discussed here:

ELLs are more likely than native speakers to lack the background knowledge necessary for understanding texts.

ELLs' prior educational experiences may have been substandard or interrupted, so reading texts that assume certain prior knowledge becomes difficult. Even for students with good educational backgrounds, cultural differences and culturally based assumptions can result in a lack of background knowledge and thus loss of comprehension. Whatever the reasons for a lack of necessary background knowledge, before asking ELLs to read a particular text, teachers must identify information that is prerequisite for understanding the text, evaluate students' prior knowledge of these prerequisites, and fill any gaps that are found. The best kinds of activities for building background knowledge are those that get students involved in manipulating language and concepts, rather than just receiving information from the teacher. These include experiential activities such as science experiments, classification activities, role playing, previewing a reading and generating questions about it, and sharing predictions about the answers to those questions.

The language level of the text to be read, compared with ELLs' language proficiency, is a major factor in how much they will understand of the text.

Even advanced ELLs and those who have been redesignated as fluent in English will experience difficulty with unusual vocabulary, figurative language, very complex sentence structures, or unfamiliar styles and genres (just as many native speakers of English do). For this reason, the integration of intensive language development with reading instruction is highly recommended for ELLs at all levels of language proficiency.

Reading comprehension instruction for ELLs needs to be modified to address their needs.

Asking ELLs to read the same texts and do the same activities as everybody else will only result in frustration for teachers and failure for students. This is not a matter of "dumbing down" the curriculum or applying different standards. It is a matter of implementing the curriculum at a language level that makes it accessible to ELLs, while at the same time working to develop their oral language so they will be able to comprehend texts at higher levels. Here are some general principles for modifying reading instruction for ELLs:

Provide as much nonverbal support for reading comprehension as possible, including pictures, diagrams, real objects, gestures, acting, and graphic organizers. The support can be used both for helping students understand a reading passage and for assessment, so students can show what they have understood in ways that are not entirely dependent on verbal ability.

Explicitly teach comprehension strategies, such as reader-generated questions, summarizing, and monitoring comprehension. Remember, however, that teaching strategies is not enough; students must practice them with texts that are accessible at their level of language proficiency. If students don't experience successful application of the strategies, they won't even try to use them with other texts.

Plan interactive activities around reading and interpreting texts. Sharing ideas, comparing perspectives, and coming to agreement (or agreeing to disagree) are all ways that students use the language of the text in meaningful ways, and thus progress to higher levels of language proficiency and reading comprehension.

Conclusion

The original intention of this article was to provide specific suggestions for modifying reading programs to meet the needs of English language learners, based on the findings of the National Literacy Panel. Because of the paucity of appropriate research studies, however, the recommendations made in the NLP report are not extensive enough to help teachers build appropriate reading programs for ELLs. I therefore looked beyond the NLP findings and included theory and experience as well as research.

I hope that readers will take this synthesis of research, theory, and experience and integrate it into their ongoing examination of what they do in their classrooms, what happens as a result of what they do, and why it happens. Research can tell us which kinds of practices are effective in general, but ultimately only individual teachers can determine what is most effective for them and the particular group of students they are teaching at the moment.

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What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners?

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As a classroom teacher, I was largely ignorant of, and definitely suspicious of, research. I believed that researchers could make their studies come out any way they wanted them to, and that a good teacher who reflected on her own teaching knew much more about how to be effective with her students than any researcher did.

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Syllable Practice and Alliteration Activities

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Syllable Practice and Alliteration Activities

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0:00 / 7:44•Watch full video

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This video features a reading coach discussing phonological awareness in the early years, including modeled scenarios of word knowledge (metalinguistic awareness) development through syllable; rhyme and alliteration activities.

This video is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...​.

Attribution: © State of Queensland, (Department of Education) (unless indicated otherwise) 8 of 25 Phonological awareness, Partners in Learning project 2019

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Integrating PA throughout the learning day

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Integrating PA throughout the learning day

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REACH Workshop Series: Phonological Awareness

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In this video REACH classroom teachers model best practices for phonological awareness instruction. The activities that are integrated throughout the learning day as transitions. In order get your"Ticket" to the next station, the student must say a word that rhymes with "HAT" and then all students repeat the rhyme.  I think this can be an effective quick way to have students engage in extra practice with these foundational skills needed in order to be successful readers.