# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DataWORKS supports teachers and school administrators as instructional leaders and believes they are the keys to measurable student achievement. That’s why DataWORKS offers various professional development trainings, workshops, and tools to help educators take their classrooms, schools, and district…

# data[].attributes.headline
Designated & Integrated ELD: Kindergarten 

# data[].attributes.subject
Designated & Integrated ELD: Kindergarten 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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.

Functional Reading Levels

Independent Level

98-100% accuracy

Instructional Level

90-97% accuracy
(85-97% for Preprimer)

Frustration Level

Below 90% accuracy
(Below 85% for Preprimer)

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 is good for independent reading and for practicing reading speed and prosody. Frustration-level text can be great for comprehension instruction, but only when the teacher is doing the reading! Students should never be asked to read text that is at their frustration level.

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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning to read is a complicated process. If you teach English language learners (ELLs), however, there are a number of ways you can support their literacy and language development through targeted instruction.

This article highlights ELL instructional strategies based on the five components of reading as outlined in Teaching Children to Read by the National Reading Panel (2000). This report is a study of research-based best practices in reading instruction and it focuses on the following five instructional areas: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, Comprehension. In addition, the article includes information related to two additional important areas of instruction for ELLs, oral language and the role of the home language.

Each of these topics is explored below, and each section includes:

a definition

an explanation of why the component is important when learning to read

challenges that ELLs may face

strategies for ELL instruction

You will find references to more in-depth information about ELLs and effective reading instruction from recommended resources below.

Note: Since this article includes in-depth information on a number of topics, we encourage you to use it in professional learning communities, jigsaw activities, and other collaborative settings!

What does the research say?

Before jumping in, it's important to note that, in general, what we know about effective literacy instruction for English speakers holds true for ELLs, but modifications and adjustments may be needed (Goldenberg, 2008). Since the original National Reading Panel did not include ELLs' literacy development as part of its research review, a subsequent panel reviewed the research related to language learners and released a report authored by principal investigator Dr. Diane August and panel chair Dr. Timothy Shanahan titled Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth.

Within the executive summary of that report, the authors note that, "Instruction that provides substantial coverage in the key components of reading - identified by the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension - has clear benefits for language-minority students." They continue, "However, while approaches that are similar to those used with native-language populations are effective, the research suggests that adjustments to these approaches are needed to have maximum benefit with language-minority students." (p. 3)

For example, many practices may need modifications or scaffolds which may not be reflected in different reading programs or materials (August, 2018; Goldenberg, 2008), and in some cases, certain strategies may not be appropriate even with adjustments. In addition, the authors note the important role of two areas that were not addressed in the original National Reading Panel: students' home language and oral language.

Many examples of specific modifications are outlined in the strategies below, along with discussion of home language and oral language. You can find additional research resources at the end of the article, including a recent working paper published by Pivot Learning, Narrowing Down to Find Common Ground: Shared Agreements for Effective Literacy Instruction in California.

An in-depth video book study highlighting Literacy Foundations for English Learners by Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan is also publicly available on YouTube.

When working with ELLs, students' home languages are a powerful tool that educators can use - even if they don't speak those languages or are working in a classroom with students who speak many languages. Drs. August and Shanahan write, "Oral proficiency and literacy in the first language can be used to facilitate literacy development in English" (2006, p. 5). And in hisColorín Colorado article about the value of students' home language, Dr. Fred Genesee writes:

Extensive research, again from around the world, has found that children who are learning to read in a second language are able to transfer many skills and knowledge from their first language to facilitate their acquisition of reading skills in the second language. The best evidence of this comes from studies showing that students with strong reading skills in the home language also have strong reading skills in their second language. Much of this work has been done on ELLs in the U.S. (August & Shanahan, 2006; Riches & Genesee, 2006).

Tapping into students' home languages (also referred to as a first or native language) as a resource can take different forms:

Helping students make connections between their language and English in order to identify similarities and differences, such as English/Spanish cognates

Providing opportunities to use the home language in the classroom for reading, writing, and discussion

Encouraging students to draw on all of their language skills across languages, which is called translanguaging

Promoting biliteracy through bilingual or dual-language instruction, which can support students' future opportunities and family ties (not to mention brain health!), with initiatives such as the Seal of Biliteracy, which has been adopted in many states

It is important to keep in mind that the extent to which a student's literacy skills from their first language transfer depends on many factors, such as how similar the alphabetic systems between the two languages are and whether they share any connection in their origins, such as two languages that both derive from Latin (Nieser & Cárdenas-Hagan, 2020, p. 65). The students' levels of literacy in their home language will also have an impact on their literacy development in their new language. Learning more about the languages students speak can help educators target instruction, notice patterns among speakers of the same language, and help students understand the relationship between their language and English

You can also provide students and families with access to bilingual books and texts and encourage families to continue using and developing the home language through activities such as rhymes, storytelling, and conversation at home. You will also find specific strategies related to home language throughout the key components below.

Recommended resources

In addition, as you will see below, oral language has a role to play across all reading skills, yet it often does not receive much attention as a critical part of ELLs' language and literacy development. Drs. August and Shanahan write, "Instruction in the key components of reading is necessary - but not sufficient - for teaching language-minority students to read and write proficiently in English. Oral proficiency in English is critical as well - but student performance suggests that it is often overlooked in instruction." (2006, p. 5)

Oral language supports students' literacy skills in different ways. For example, students need to be familiar not only with the sounds and letters they are learning but also the words in which they appear in order to support their word recognition and comprehension. Other more global oral language skills, such as facility with English syntax and grammar, and the ability to navigate specific language functions like describing, predicting, and comparing, also contribute to both reading and writing development for ELLs.

In addition, strengthening oral language supports students' ability to participate in peer groups and their proficiency in speaking and writing using academic language. Students need opportunities to practice applying their emerging oral language skills through partner talk and peer work (scaffolded with supports such as sentence frames), activities such as partner reading, and responding to comprehension questions using academic language.

Dr. Carrie Simkin, the director of our sister site AdLit.org, offers the following suggestions related to oral language:

Make it a learning target for lesson planning (e.g. be intentional about planning for it).

Consider how much of the learning time in your classroom is text based vs. discussion. Do students have opportunities to discuss ideas or do they mostly respond in written formats? We want to engage students in lively discussions!

Consider if students have opportunities to work in pairs as well as small groups and not just respond to teacher-generated questions.

Have you modeled how to orally respond to questions using the question as a sentence starter? Do you have sentence starters visible for share-outs?

Our strategies related to oral language are also woven throughout the components below.

Recommended resources

Note: You can read more about the role of oral language in the foreword of Comprehension and English Language Learners.

Phonemic Awareness and ELLs

Keeping the areas of home language and oral language in mind, let's dive into the five key skill areas, starting with phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is an important indicator of how well children will learn to read. Sometimes it is difficult, however, for speakers of a second language to "hear" and say sounds in the language they are learning. If you have had a student who could not master a particular sound in English, the sound may not have been a part of the student's native language.

In her chapter of Literacy Foundations for English Learners, Dr. Virginia Lovelace-Gonzalez notes that, "Phonological awareness skills can transfer across languages when students have opportunities to build these skills in their native language and English" (2020, p. 53).

For example, there are multiple sounds in English and Spanish that will directly transfer between languages, even if the sounds are associated with different letters (p. 50). Dr. Lovelace-Gonzalez writes, "For ELs, phonemic activities in English can be complicated by having to recognize sounds in English that do not exist in their native language...Instructionally, it is important for teachers to determine some of the similarities and differences between English and the student's native language to ensure the opportunity to learn" (p. 53).

Phonemic Awareness: Considerations and Strategies

What: The ability to hear and manipulate the different sounds in our language.

Why it matters: Phonemic awareness is the foundation for spelling and word recognition skills.

Considerations for ELLs

Learn more about the students' home languages.

Start by visiting a resource such as MyLanguages.org or Omniglot.com, which shares an overview of many different global languages.

Ask bilingual colleagues about how their languages are similar or different from English and common areas that need attention when learning English. For example, a group of Ukrainian teachers shared some of the questions that Ukrainian speakers have when learning English in this Colorín Colorado article.

Identify whether there are any sounds that your students' languages share with English. Use these as a starting point in your instruction. In addition, find out which sounds might be new to your students and be sure to include explicit practice of those sounds.

Help students think about the connection between their language and English.

Ask students how their language is the same or different than English in terms of how the language is written, the sounds that letters or symbols make, and words that might be related.

Help students become familiar with sounds, letters, and symbols that are shared between languages, as well as those that are not shared between the languages. (Some examples across different languages are included in Literacy Foundations for English Learners.)

Ask students if they have words that begin with a particular sound, or if there are any words related to a particular word in English. This can work with students who have limited literacy skills in their first language too.

Help beginning readers learn to identify sounds in short words.

Have students practice identifying the sounds in the beginning, middle, and end of these words. You may wish to use words that begin with a consonant, have a short vowel, and end in a consonant (CVC words) such as mat, top, and bus.

One very effective method is having students match pictures of words that have the same beginning, middle, or ending sound.

Use words that students already know in English.

Videos

Learn how to pronounce the 44 phonemes in English.

Phonics and ELLs

Phonics instruction aims to help new readers understand that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Students benefit from learning and practicing sounds and symbols, including blended combinations. ELLs often show many strengths in mastering early phonics skills but it's important to remember that decoding while reading and correctly spelling words does not ensure good comprehension.

That's why it's important to ensure that ELLs are familiar with the words they are learning to decode in order to support their comprehension. The authors of Words Their Way with English Learners write, "English learners need structured opportunities to learn many new words to add to their repertoires so that these words can become the material of their literacy learning" (2011, p. 79).

Phonics: Considerations and Strategies

Considerations for ELLs

Use a word study approach.

Word study is a powerful approach that connects letters, sound, meaning, word parts, and usage so that students are learning explicit foundational skills within a meaningful context. For example, ELLs need lots of opportunities to connect the sounds, letters, and words they are learning.

The authors of Words Their Way with English Learners write, "What is key to literacy development for English learners in the emergent stage is that they use language with teachers and peers and see oral language they understand captured in print" (Helman et al, 2011).

Look for opportunities to reinforce phonics in context.

Using literature and content material, you can introduce and reinforce:

letter recognition

beginning and ending sounds

blends

rhyming words

silent letters

homonyms

Vocabulary and ELLs

Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read, as well as in understanding what is read.

As students learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary. For ELLs, vocabulary development is especially important as students' develop academic language - in all subjects and activities! There are numerous ways to support explicit vocabulary instruction, which is essential for developing students' vocabulary knowledge. Dr. Coleen D. Carlson writes,

For EL students, drawing attention to unknown words during the initial presentation of the text, providing appropriate levels of definitions (e.g., providing English labels for words for which concepts and labels in one's native language are understood, quick definitions or demonstrations for simple words) and tying to background knowledge is critical. No amount of simply reading and rereading words will produce knowledge of unknown vocabulary. (2020, p. 97)

Vocabulary: Considerations and Strategies

Considerations for ELLs

Draw upon students' home languages.

You can draw upon students' home languages to build vocabulary by:

It is important to give students as much exposure and experience with new vocabulary words as possible before asking students to use them in a lesson or activity.

Select words that will support the reader's understanding of the story or text, as well as for other phrases and connectors that affect comprehension (even though, except, etc.). You can pre-teach vocabulary by using English as a second language (ESL) methods such as:

Role playing or pantomiming

Using gestures

Showing real objects

Pointing to pictures

Doing quick drawings on the board

Using the equivalent in students' languages and then asking students to say the word in English

Providing a student-friendly definition

Using graphic organizers

Cognates are words in different languages that are derived from the same original word or root. About 40% of all English words have cognates in Spanish (such as the English/Spanish cognate "family/familia"). This is an obvious bridge to the English language for Spanish speakers if the student is made aware of how to use this resource.

Teach students to recognize and use cognates, or words that are related across languages, and encourage students to be on the lookout for cognates from other languages as well.

Give students an opportunity to practice using new words.

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

The ability to use different definitions word accurately in different contexts

Ensure students understand a new word by asking them to produce it themselves either orally or in writing.

I taught a summer school unit on habitats and healthy environments, and every student had to learn the phrase, "Reduce, reuse, recycle." Over the course of four weeks I gave students many opportunities to use those words to describe what we were doing: "We are reusing the grocery bag," or "We reused the scratch paper."

Build students' academic vocabulary.

You can increase students' academic vocabulary by teaching common structures and terms used in a specific content area. For example, sentence frames are a great way to get students familiar with these structures and can be used in writing and speaking:

You can learn more strategies in this related article.

The _____ is ______ than the _____.

I can conclude ______ because _______.

Videos

ESOL Specialist Sheila Majdi: Using sentence frames with ELLs

ESOL specialist Sheila Majdi from Arlington, VA explains what a sentence frame is and how she might use this strategy with ELLs.

Interactive reading of a story

In this classroom clip, first-grade teacher Albuquerque teacher Ali Nava leads her students through an interactive reading of Burro's Tortillas, a Southwestern adaptation of "The Little Red Hen."

Focusing on language in literacy instruction

In this classroom clip, fifth-grade teacher Clara Gonzales-Espinoza helps her students expand their understanding of the way language is used in a picture book version of Cinderella.

Instruction of key academic vocabulary with high school ELLs

In this lesson, students read a letter that Captain John Smith of the English Army wrote to Queen Anne in 1616. You can see lesson materials and reflection interviews from ELL teacher Anne Formato in our related classroom module.

Fluency and ELLs

Fluency is a tricky area when it comes to ELL reading instruction. For native English speakers, fluency and reading comprehension often share a strong correlation because fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time. This is not always the case for ELLs.

Many ELLs can be deceptively fast and accurate in their reading because they are good readers in their primary language and have strong decoding skills. Yet they may demonstrate little understanding of the text, and hearing the text out loud may not necessarily provide a step towards comprehension as it is likely to do for native speakers. One important factor in the connection between fluency and comprehension is ELLs' oral language skills, which Dr. Carlson describes as "an important foundation that supports the role of fluency as a bridge to comprehension" (p. 93).

Fluency: Considerations and Strategies

Inaccurate indicator of ELLs' comprehension

It is not unusual for an ELL student to read a passage beautifully and then not be able answer more than a couple of comprehension questions correctly. Decoding skills (sounding out words) and comprehending the text are two different skills.

Limited benefit from hearing texts read aloud

Native speakers who are not strong decoders can often comprehend text that is read to them better than text that they read themselves. That's because when someone else is doing the reading, they can focus on meaning without having to struggle to get the words off the page.

With ELLs, however, comprehension problems tend to be associated with limited vocabulary and limited background knowledge. Thus, listening to text read by someone else won't enhance comprehension.

Comprehension and ELLs

Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to 1) decode what they read; 2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and 3) think deeply about what they have read. Comprehension can be the most difficult skill to master, however, and can elude students who have mastered word-level skills. According to the executive summary of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth,

An important finding that emerges from the research is that word-level skills in literacy - such as decoding, word recognition and spelling - are often taught well enough to allow language-minority students to attain levels of performance equal to those of native English speakers. However, this is not the case for text-level skills - reading comprehension and writing. (p. 4)

ELLs at all levels of English proficiency, and literacy development, will benefit from explicit instruction in comprehension skills along with other skills because improved comprehension will not only help them in language arts and ESL classes - it will help them in content-area classes and in daily activities. It will also improve the chances of their interest in reading for pleasure.

Learn more from the following articles:

Comprehension: Considerations and Strategies

Considerations for ELLs

ELLs who struggle with comprehension may read more slowly, have a hard time following a text or story, have a hard time picking out important events, and feel frustrated. They may also have problems mastering new concepts in their content-area classes or completing assignments and assessments because they cannot comprehend the texts and tests for these subjects.

Check comprehension frequently.

As students read, ask them open-ended questions about what they are reading, and informally test students' ability to sequence material from sentences or a story by printing sentences from a section of the story on paper strips, mixing the strips or word order, and having students put them in order.

Use questions after reading.

After the ELLs and/or whole class have completed the reading, you can 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:

Videos

This video showcases a 5 th-grade team planning a science lesson about the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants. ESOL specialist Katy Padilla plays a key role in advocating for ELLs throughout the lesson planning process and sharing her strategies for engaging and supporting students.

Making Dual-Language Immersion Work

This video provides an introduction to Claremont Immersion School's dual language model and shows how teachers collaborating to develop a language arts language in English and Spanish.

Assessment for ELLs

Learn how third-grade teacher Samantha Kirch uses informal assessment in her classroom to better evaluate ELLs and their progress.

Story setup: Pre-reading strategies for comprehension

Learn about pre-reading strategies that will lay the groundwork before high school newcomer ELLs tackle a new text.

Teaching ELLs in upper elementary, middle school, and high school

Older ELLs bring a lot of valuable experience and interests to the classroom. At the same time, they face the double challenge of needing to learn content and a new language at the same time, which is further complicated if their literacy skills are limited. While they may still need foundational skills work, it can be hard to find materials that are age-appropriate. You can learn more about specific tips for supporting this diverse population from the following resources:

For great classroom videos at the secondary level, see our classroom video library!

Concluding Thoughts

This is a lot of information, but we hope that these resources and recommendations can inform your work with students as well as the conversations about literacy in your setting. The more familiar your team is with best practices for ELLs, the more effectively you can determine which practices and resources will best support your students in their ongoing literacy development - and future successes!

Recommend Resources

This new working paper released by Pivot Learning reflects collective consensus among literacy experts on key topics concerning (1) literacy and multilingual and English learner students; (2) early screening and assessment; and (3) foundational skills.

To learn more about the paper and how it was developed, see Can common ground be found on teaching reading in California? (EdSource)

Research articles and chapters

Books

Literacy Foundations for English Learners by Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan (You can see the related book study on YouTube.)

Words Their Way with English Learners: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling (2nd Ed.) by Dr. Lori Helman, Dr. Donald R. Bear, Dr. Shane Templeton, Dr. Marcia Invernizzi, and Dr. Francine Johnston

Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners by Dr. Nancy Cloud, Dr. Fred Genesee, and Dr. Else Hamayan

Dual Language Instruction from A to Z: Practical Guidance for Teachers and Administrators by Dr. Else Hamayan, Dr. Fred Genesee, and Dr. Nancy Cloud

Webcasts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading 101 for English Language Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning to read is a complicated process. If you teach English language learners (ELLs), however, there are a number of ways you can support their literacy and language development through targeted instruction. This article highlights ELL instructional strategies based on the five components of reading as outlined in Teaching Children to Read by the National Reading Panel (2000).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Fairfax Network - Fairfax County Public Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Best Practices: High School Reading Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Sylvia Linan-Thompson and Sharon Vaughn

In a recent conversation, teachers of English language learners (ELLS) voiced concerns about the teaching of phonics to students in their classes who have several levels of English proficiency."English is so irregular, it doesn't make sense to teach students all the rules because there are so many exceptions."
"True," continued another teacher, "but students have to learn the relationship between letters and sounds to learn to read and spell." "But does it make sense," wondered another teacher, "to teach students the rules if they don't know what many of the words mean? What concerns me is that one of the principles of English as a second language instruction is that we should teach in context to support student learning, but phonics is often taught in isolation and is very decontextualized." "How can we make instruction more meaningful?" asked the fourth teacher.
The above points are valid and worthy of consideration in planning phonics instruction for ELLs. In this chapter we discuss what we know about teaching phonics to English language learners and provide some activities that have been effective in schools. We describe a phonics approach to instruction that includes a range of skills from alphabetic knowledge to reading in decodable books-everything you need to know for word study.

What Is Phonics and Word Study Instruction?

Gough and Tumner (1986) identified two basic processes necessary to learn to read: learning to convert letters into recognizable words and comprehending the meaning of print. Learning to convert letters to recognizable words requires knowledge of the relationship between sounds and the letters or other symbols that represent them, then remembering the exact patterns and sequences that may represent various speech sounds (Goswami, 2006; Moats, 2000). The orthographic system of a language consists of the relationship among the visual symbols used in the writing system, the mapping of these symbols onto speech, and meaning (Seymour, 2006). As children map sounds to print, they are also accessing the words in their vocabularies. They use this knowledge to support them in identifying the word they are reading. Although there are similarities in learning to read across languages, differences in the orthography of the language lead to differences in how long it takes to learn to read and how much difficulty some children may have. In some languages, like Finnish, Italian, and Spanish, the relationship between letters or symbols and sounds is fairly consistent-that is, there are few exceptions and fewer relationships to learn. Other languages, like Kanji, English, and Danish, are not as consistent. There are many inconsistencies in English that puzzle English language learners.

Children have to learn which letters have consistent relationships and which do not, and when to apply the rules that govern them. For children learning English as a second language, understanding the relationship between letters and sounds is critical, since some of the sounds will be new to them-sounds they have not heard or spoken as meaningful units of speech. They may be applying a phoneme (sound) from their home language to a different grapheme (letter) or using letters alone or in combinations that do not exist in their home language. In addition, they lose the advantage provided by accessing their knowledge of words, since their English vocabularies may be limited.

Converting letters to recognizable print can be taught through phonics instruction and can lead to students comprehending the meaning of text. Phonics is an approach in which children are taught to decode words by using and applying their knowledge of the relationship between letters and individual sounds to read. In planning phonics instruction for ELLs, you will have to decide among several forms of phonics instruction. All the approaches include instruction in letter-sound relationships but vary in the explicitness of the instruction and how systematic the process is in determining the sequence of instruction. In synthetic approaches to instruction, students are taught the individual letter-sound relationships and then taught explicitly to blend the letters into words. Teachers who use embedded phonics teach letter-sound relationships during the reading of connected text. Embedded phonics is less explicit than synthetic phonics instruction.

An effective phonics program for English language learners uses a synthetic approach that follows a defined sequence and includes direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships. Each instructional set includes major sound-spelling relationships of both consonants and vowels. This sequencing arrangement provides students opportunities not only to begin to learn the relationship between letters and sounds but also to use that knowledge to begin blending these sounds to read words and to segregate the sounds to write words even before they have learned all the letter-sound correspondences. For ELLs, who are learning to read in an inconsistent orthography like English, instruction using analogy-based phonics provides children an additional strategy for reading a larger number of words as they are building their English oral language skills. In addition, the program should include books and stories that contain a large number of words that children can decode by using the letter-sound relationships they have learned and are learning. Finally, programs should provide ELLs opportunities to spell words and write their own stories with the letter-sound relationships they are learning (Blevins, 1998; Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement [CIERA], 2001; NRP, 2000; Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2000). English language learners struggling with reading acquisition who receive explicit phonics instruction as part of comprehensive literacy instruction tend to develop stronger foundational reading skills (Denton, Anthony, & Parker, 2004; Linan-Thompson & Hickman-Davis, 2002; Vaughn et al., 2006). Even students with limited English proficiency made gains in reading skills, indicating that a wide range of ELLs benefit from explicit instruction.

Good readers rely primarily on letter-sound correspondences in words rather than context or pictures to identify words; use reliable strategies to decode words; and read words enough times so that they become automatic. Phonics instruction provides ELLs the knowledge needed to develop those same skills effectively and efficiently by providing a road map for making sense of how English works as well as effective decoding strategies. However, phonics instruction should not be the entire reading program, but rather it should be integrated into other elements of reading instruction, such as language activities, story time, and small-group tutoring to create a balanced reading program. Learning to read in languages with less-consistent orthographies like English takes longer than learning to read in languages with more consistent orthographies (Seymour, 2006). For most students, two years of phonics is sufficient; other students may require more instruction. English language learners whose initial reading instruction is in English may require more time, since they are learning both a new language and a new process. Older ELLs or those who learned to read in their home language will still need phonics instruction to learn the structure of English but may acquire the knowledge more quickly. Use assessment information to adapt phonics programs to meet the needs of individual students (NRP, 2000). Most important, starting early is key: "Early and systematic instruction in phonics seems to lead to better achievement in reading than later and less systematic instruction" (Stahl, 2001, p. 333).

Why Should I Teach Phonics and Word Study?

Imagine trying to put together a 1,000-piece puzzle without a picture for reference. You might begin using strategies such as finding all the pieces that have a straight edge to form the perimeter and then grouping pieces by color. Through trial and error, you would begin to form the picture. Children learning to read in English are faced with the same situation when they are given bits and pieces of information about English orthography, but not a systematic way of learning, applying, and practicing the spelling patterns and rules they are learning.

Children learning to read in English have to learn the letter-sound relationships among 44 speech sounds and more than 100 spellings used to represent them (Blevins, 1998; Bos & Vaughn, 2006). In addition, students have to apply this knowledge to read both known and unknown words in isolation and in context, and they need to be able to read irregular words. Although it might seem that English is too irregular to teach systematically, there are enough regularities to make a systematic approach to phonics instruction appropriate. For example, the teaching of vowels is often identified as an area for concern in teaching English language learners, but we can see from the table that the exceptions account for fewer than one-third of the words (see Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1. Phonics Rules and the Percentage of Exceptions to Them

Phonics and word study instruction provide an opportunity to teach children that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds, that written words are composed of letter patterns that represent the sounds of spoken words, and that recognizing words quickly and accurately is a way of obtaining meaning from what is read. In addition, children learn that they can blend the sounds to read words and segment words into sounds to spell (Adams, 1990; Chard & Osborn, 1999; NRP, 2000).

What Elements Should I Include in My Phonics and Word Study Instruction?

We know that ELLs can learn to read in English even when their oral skills in English are not fully developed (Gunn et al., 2000; Hudelson, 1984), but this instruction is more effective if it is accompanied by development of their oral language skills (Gersten & Baker, 2003). Most important, given that it takes longer to learn to read in English than it does in most languages, reading instruction should not be withheld until children have attained oral language proficiency in English (Quiroga et al., 2002). Because the development of reading processes for ELLs is essentially the same as that for native English speakers, you can use the same instructional sequence (Edelsky, 1981a, 1981b; Hudelson, 1984). Therefore, provide instruction that includes print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, phonological and phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, decoding, irregular/high-frequency words, reading practice with decodable text, and reading fluency when children enter school. The exception would be for children who speak no English at all. Two of these elements, phonological and phonemic awareness and reading fluency, are covered in depth in Chapters 3 and 5, respectively.

How much time you spend on each of these elements will depend on the age, level, English proficiency, and previous reading experience of your students. As children participate in phonics and word study activities, their understanding of the conventions that govern spoken and written language will increase. These elements do not have to be taught sequentially, and the rate at which students acquire these skills will vary. In general, however, kindergarten students benefit from instruction that teaches prerequisite skills for strong word recognition, the communicative function of print, alphabetic knowledge, phonemic awareness, and the alphabetic principle (Chard, Simmons, and Kame'enui, 1998). Most students who have had effective phonics instruction can read quickly and easily and have an effective decoding strategy for reading unknown words. English language learners will also need to develop their oral language skills as they are acquiring reading skills.

For each of the crucial elements, a brief description and characteristics of effective programs are provided.

Print Awareness

Students who understand that written language is related to oral language and that printed language carries messages have print awareness. They also know that the structures of written language are different from spoken language and know the difference between words and nonwords (Blevins, 1998; Reutzel & Cooter, 1999; TEA, 2000). This awareness of the forms and functions of printed language is a reliable predictor of future reading achievement.

Children develop print awareness when they have opportunities to hear books and participate in read-aloud activities. To help students develop print awareness, you can reinforce the forms and functions of print found in classroom signs, labels, posters, calendars, etc.; teach and reinforce print conventions, such as print directionality, word boundaries, capital letters, and end punctuation; and teach and reinforce book awareness and book handling. These activities will be critical for students who come from home languages that use right-to-left or up-and-down directionality in reading, such as Hebrew or some Asian languages. You can also allow children to practice what they are learning by listening to and participating in the reading of predictable and patterned stories and books, and you can provide opportunities to practice with predictable and patterned books (Reutzel & Cooter, 1999; TEA, 2000). These activities help ELLs not only develop print awareness but also gain knowledge of English vocabulary. However, students will be less likely to be able to use context and picture clues if they are in the beginning stages of English development. Use books and stories that have illustrations that are highly correlated to the story to explicitly build vocabulary.

Alphabetic Knowledge

The goal of instruction that develops alphabet knowledge is to get children to recognize and name letters quickly and accurately (Adams, 1990). Knowledge of letter names is strongly related to children's ability to remember the forms of written words, to treat words as sequences of letters, and to develop the alphabetic principle: the association of letters with their corresponding sounds. Alphabetic knowledge progresses from letter names to letter shapes (the form) to letter sounds. Learning letter names and sounds seems straightforward; however, children whose home language is logographic will also be learning a new alphabet system, while children from other alphabetic languages may only be learning new names and sounds for letters they have seen before. You may need to provide more explicit instruction and more opportunities to practice those sounds and letters that have no equivalent in children's home language, since they may have difficulty hearing and pronouncing them. Their inability to pronounce some sounds does not necessarily indicate lack of knowledge. While you want to support children in pronouncing the sounds correctly by demonstrating how to position the mouth, teeth, and tongue, be careful not to turn the lesson into a speech lesson or to stop instruction of new letters until they master one that is difficult to pronounce. Figure 3.2 provides an example of some of the sounds that may be difficult for children from some language groups.

Figure 3.2. Sounds That Are Difficult for ELLs

Children who do not know letter names and sounds, whether due to lack of instruction or because they are just learning English, need planned instruction that provides many opportunities to see, play with, and compare letters. Some children can learn several letters each week, while others may only learn one. Include games, songs, and other activities that help children identify and name letters, provide activities in which children learn uppercase and lowercase forms of letters, and point out differences and similarities among the letters. In addition, plan writing activities that encourage children to practice making the letters they are learning and provide them opportunities to experiment with and manipulate letters to make words and messages (Blevins, 1998; TEA, 2000).

Alphabetic Understanding

Alphabetic principle refers to the systematic relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters). In particular, English language learners need to know that in English

Some letters represent more than one sound

Different letters can represent the same sound

Sounds can be represented by a single letter or combinations of letters

To help children understand the alphabetic principle, include the following practices in your teaching:

1. Teach letter-sound correspondences explicitly and in isolation initially; then provide multiple opportunities daily to practice using this new knowledge to read and write.

2. Provide practice opportunities with new letter-sound relationships as well as previously taught relationships.

3. Give your ELLs opportunities to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to the reading of phonetically spelled words that are familiar in meaning (TEA, 2000).

4. Provide additional practice in the sounds that are not part of a student's home language.

Remember, effective instruction in the alphabetic principle requires that teachers plan and sequence instruction to avoid teaching words that have a similar look or sound, since they might be confusing for ELLs. Once you start phonics and word study instruction, some students will begin to make connections between letters and sounds on their own. However, many of your students will need even more explicit instruction to learn all the letter-sounds correspondences they will need to know.
Decoding and Reading Practice with Decodable Text

Decoding is the understanding of how to read letter or letter patterns in a word to determine the word and its meaning. English language learners who can decode words have a strategy for reading unknown words. Furthermore, once children have developed this understanding and can apply it to read words, they can begin to read words rapidly, automatically, and effortlessly. This will allow them to focus on getting meaning from what they are reading (NRP, 2000; TEA, 2000). For ELLs, the level of their knowledge of English will impact meaning. Many children will learn to decode but will not be able to gain meaning from text until they have sufficient vocabulary. Chapters 5 and 6 provide many activities for building children's vocabulary and comprehension.

Initially, provide opportunities to work with word families, spelling patterns, and onsets and rimes. The use of analogy-based phonics will be useful at this point. Once students are familiar with letter-sound correspondences, teach students to use that knowledge to read unknown words. In analogy-based phonics, students use their knowledge of a word they know-for example, night-to read similar words, such as light or plight.

As students become more sophisticated readers, they will need more advanced decoding strategies that focus on the structure of words. This knowledge provides ELLs a strategy for segmenting multisyllable words into decodable parts and for determining the meaning of the word (Henry, 1997). In particular, teaching affixes shows children that there are word parts that are common across words. This will help them with reading, spelling, and accessing meaning because it highlights the regularities in the language. Learning to analyze the structure of words provides students knowledge of letter combinations, derivatives. and affixes.

Instruction should include the meaning of word parts, such as the following:

Inflectional ending-a meaningful word part (morpheme), such as -ed or -es, that indicates tense, number, person, or gender when added to a base word

Prefix-a word part, such as pre-, in-, orun-, at the beginning of a base word

Suffix-a word part, such as -ful or -ly, at the end of a base word

When teaching structural analysis, teach the meanings along with recognition and model how to look for word parts. Teaching students to use structural analysis will increase the number of words they can decode easily. Consider the following. The most common affixes in the primary grades are re-, un-, con-, -ness, -ful, and -ion. The prefixes un-, re-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, and dis- are used in 58 percent of all prefixed words. Three inflectional endings, -s/-es, -ed, and -ing are found in 65 percent of words that have inflectional endings and suffixes (White, Sowell, & Yanagihara, 1989). In addition, many prefixes and inflectional endings are common across languages.
Effective programs provide students opportunities to use their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences to practice decoding words in isolation and in text and teach students the meaning of unknown words to provide context for their reading. Instruction in the meaning of words should not be time-consuming when the focus of instruction is phonics, but should rather be a quick introduction with a picture or other visual or easy definitions-just enough to give the students context. More in-depth vocabulary instruction can take place in a preview or review session. The use of decodable text lets teachers model how to blend and segment sounds, sound out words when unknown, and use onset-rimes or word chunks to decode words.

Reading decodable text should include discussions about the text to promote comprehension and reinforce the idea that the purpose of reading is to get meaning (TEA, 2000). While decodable books offer students opportunities to expand their new skills in decoding, gradually introduce them to books and stories that are less controlled to extend both their reading skills and exposure to new vocabulary.

Irregular Words

Not all words can be read completely using a decoding strategy. Irregular words are less phonetically regular, that is, some or all the letters in the word do not represent their most commonly used sound. Irregular words may be the most difficult for English language learners, because students have to learn these words by sight and in many cases the words will not be a part of either their receptive or expressive vocabularies.

These elements are important components in beginning reading instruction, whether students are just learning to read or have just immigrated to the United States and are learning to read in English. Systematically teaching children the structure of English beginning with letter-sound correspondences through the reading of connected text gives students a framework for making sense of English orthography. Daily, integrated lessons that include explicit introduction of letter-sound relationships and provide opportunities to blend the sounds to read words, to build words, to read decodable texts, and to practice spelling words will enhance students' beginning reading experience (Blevins, 1998).

The rate at which children move through the stages described above will depend on their age, knowledge of the reading process, and level of English proficiency. Older students with limited English proficiency may need only minimal instruction in the elements that are different from those in their home language. Younger students will need instruction similar to that which is provided to English monolingual children.

How Can I Teach Phonics and Word Study?

By emphasizing all of the processes that contribute to growth in reading, teachers will have the best chance of making every child a reader. (NRP, 2000, p. 2-92)

In this section, we focus on the sequence of instruction and provide guidelines for integrating the four subprocesses essential in teaching phonics and word study to beginning readers: letter-sound knowledge or alphabetic understanding; regular word reading; irregular word reading; and reading in decodable text.

Instructional Factors

Letter-sound knowledge helps English language learners understand that individual letters or clusters of letters that make up words represent the separate sounds of spoken language. Students who have alphabetic understanding know that to read a word they must first identify the most common sound of each letter and then blend the sounds together to form the word. Figure 3.3 provides the most frequent spellings of the 44 sounds of English and a key word to guide pronunciation. Remember, teach the most common sound for each letter first, and highlight to the extent possible the similarities or differences between students' home language and English when appropriate.

Figure 3.3. Guide to Pronunciation of English Sounds

In introducing letters, a combination of a vowel and a few consonants allows ELLs to form a number of words. These combinations might include /m/, /s/, /a/, and /t/, so students can form words even if they only know a few letter-sound correspondences. In addition, teach new learners sounds that are easier to articulate first. Continuous sounds such as /m/ and /s/ are easy to articulate and hear because the sound can be held without distortion. Stop sounds such as /p/ and /b/ are easily distorted when the sound is held. Use your judgment and knowledge of students' ability. If a student is experiencing great difficulty remembering the letter-sound associations, limit the number of lettersound relationships taught and focus on correspondences that are easier to pronounce. However, if the difficulty is in pronunciation, give the student more explicit instruction on how to pronounce the word, focusing on how to form the sound, but keep the instruction moving.

In addition, separate confusing letter-sound associations during initial instruction and be sure your students are comfortable with the first one before teaching the second. Characteristics that might cause confusion are visual similarity and auditory similarity. Visually similar letters can differ in the vertical direction of their extension ( b/p, d/q), their left-right orientation ( b/d, p/q), or their top-bottom orientation ( w/m, u/n) (Blevins, 1998). Auditorily similar sounds can also cause some student difficulty. For example, some students may have difficulty hearing the differences among /b/, /p/, and /d/. In addition, students may confuse the sound of letters if the sound of a letter in English is similar to the sound of a different letter in another language. For example, the /long e/ sound in English is the same as the sound for i in Spanish. While it would be difficult to know all the letter-sound correspondences for all the language groups represented in your class, if you notice that students from the same language group are having similar problems with particular letter-sound correspondences, it would be worth investigating the source of confusion by asking an adult speaker of the language.

A basic lesson to introduce letter-sound correspondences to ELLs once they are familiar with the names and forms follows:

1. Present the letter and tell students the sound. Hold up a letter card. Say, "This letter is m. The sound for m is /mmm/."

2. Ask students to tell you the name and then the sound. Be sure they know the difference between the name and the sound.

3. Ask students to write the letter as they say the sound.

If students at the beginning of 1st grade still do not know any letter names or only know a few, or if you are teaching older students who are new to English, teach letter names and letter sounds simultaneously. In particular, with older ELLs, move the introduction of letter-sound correspondences at a quicker pace so students can apply them to the texts they are reading.

Once children know three or four lettersound associations, begin regular word-reading and word-building activities. For example, if students have learned the letter-sound correspondences for i, t, p, n, and s, they can begin to apply this knowledge to read words such as it, in, pit, pin, sit, sip, and tip. Teaching them the short sound for a can more than double the number of words they can read and write. Older students who know how to read in their home language may not need explicit instruction in word reading. It is more likely that they will need opportunities to apply the lettersound correspondences they are learning in context.

After students have learned enough lettersound correspondences to form words, integrate regular word reading into the lesson. A basic regular word-reading lesson to teach students to blend the sounds follows:

1. Sound out words without stopping between sounds. If you use words with letters that have continuous sounds at the beginning of the word, like sit, this step will be easier.

2. After students have sounded out the word, ask them to read it quickly. For example, present the word sit. Students say each sound without stopping, ssssiiit, then say the whole word quickly: sit.

3. Transition students from sounding out words aloud to sounding out words silently before saying them quickly.

General guidelines for planning and teaching regular word reading follow:

During initial instruction, first choose words that are short vowel-consonant words and consonant-short vowel-consonant words: it to sit and pit; in to pin and tin; at to sat andpat. Then go on to patterns that include blends and digraphs: CCVC (stop), CVCC (mast), CVC silent e (bike), CCVCC (truck).

Progress from simple to more complex sound spellings.

Teach consonant sounds (/b/, /m/, /s/) before blends (br, cl, sn) or digraphs (sh, ch).

Teach short vowel sounds, then long vowel sounds followed by variant vowels (ea, oa) and diphthongs (oi, oy).

Select words that have stop sounds at the end of the word.

Select words that represent vocabulary familiar to the children and that they are likely to encounter in their reading (Blevins, 1998; Chard & Osborn, 1999).

Clarify or review the meanings of all words used in the lesson.

Students who are taught to apply their letter-sound knowledge and are given opportunities to practice using them will be able to read and write sentences even before they learn all the letter-sound correspondences. This procedure not only allows ELLs to practice the skills they are learning in isolation and in context, but it also introduces the elements of English gradually and systematically so they can internalize the structure of English.

As not all words can be completely sounded out, include instruction in irregular word reading, because about a fourth of the most frequently used words in children's writing and texts are irregular (Moats, 2000). The list includes words such as the, to, was, do, they, you, and is. Since students cannot apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to these words, they will have to learn them as whole words. Guidelines for selecting and teaching irregular words follow:

Select and teach words that appear frequently in stories and informational texts.

Teach students the meanings of the words, as they are not likely to encounter them in either their receptive or expressive vocabularies.

Determine the number of words taught in each lesson based on the abilities of the student.

Teach new irregular words before they appear in a story. Discuss the word and any special features and point out parts of the word that are regular.

Review previously taught words on a daily basis.

Provide students with opportunities to use these words in their reading and writing activities (Blevins, 1998; Chard & Osborn, 1999).

Learning letter-sound relationships in isolation is necessary but not enough for English language learners. They also need to apply their knowledge to reading text. Provide students with opportunities to practice reading connected text. Begin with decodable text and gradually move to less-controlled text as students' ability and confidence grow. Because most decodable texts contain irregular words, be sure to teach those in advance if students do not know them. After reading as a group, give students opportunities to reread the text.

Several activities to teach these elements are provided in the instructional activities section of this chapter.

Progress Monitoring

Monitoring student progress will help you plan instruction and alert you if a student is falling behind. You can then use the information to group students for instruction and to modify the pace of instruction based on the level of students in each group. You can monitor student progress in each area informally. To assess the acquisition of letter-sound relationships, you can maintain a list of letter-sound associations that have been taught and mastered. About every two weeks, ask your ELLs to identify the sounds of letters or to give the letter name of the sound provided. You can also give students a letter dictation. You provide a letter name or sound, and they write the corresponding letter.

Monitor regular and irregular words separately, but use the same process for each type of word. Monitor word reading in isolation by asking students to read a set of words that have been taught. The goal is for students to read the words automatically. In most instances, that will be within three seconds. You can also keep a record of the words students miss repeatedly while reading connected text. Progress monitoring will also help you get a sense of how students are doing in terms of learning and applying the structure of English orthography in their reading and writing. Research with English language learners representing various language groups demonstrates that progress-monitoring measures in basic phonics skills such as letter naming and regular and irregular word reading are valid predictors of later reading ability. These measures let you know what students know and do not know but do not necessarily indicate that the student will have trouble learning. How they respond to well-thought-out instruction will be a better indicator of how well they are able to learn.

What Are Some Useful Phonics and Word Study Activities?

Basic Lesson in Letter-Sound Knowledge: Fish for Letters

Objective. Given a letter, students will identify the letter name and sound.

Materials. Multiple copies of letters students have learned on cards, fishbowl

Sequence. Introduce one vowel and three to four consonants initially. As students master letters, add new letters.

1. After reviewing letters learned, tell students that they will pick a card from the fish bowl and say the name and sound.

2. Model for the students. Pick a card, show it to the students, and say the letter name and then the sound.

3. Ask students to take a turn.

4. If students give the incorrect name or sound, provide it. Ask all students to repeat and have student return card to the bowl.

5. If the student gives the correct name and sound, he or she keeps the card.

6. Continue until all cards are gone.

Scaffold. Give only letter names or sounds.

Regular Word Reading: Read the Word (Phoneme Level)

Objective. Given a regular word, students will read the word.

Materials. Word cards
Sequence.

VC: in, at, am, it, up, ox

CVC: mat, hop, cut, sit, pin, can, ten, get, not, cup, cut, tap, red, him, cob, run, gum, ham, mad, hid, dip, box, bug, big

CCVC: stop, flap, snap, trip

CVCC: mast, jump, bunk, fall, hand, will, bend, rock, told, dash, back, duck

CVC silent e: bike, take, joke, made, time, more, cape, kite, five, name

CCVCC: truck, sport, blast, small

1. Tell students they will be reading new words.

2. Tell students that when shown a word card, they will first sound out each lettersound correspondence and then read the word quickly.

3. Show students a word card. Model saying each sound continuously as you point to each letter, for example, iiiinnnn.

4. After sounding out the word, read the word fast: in.

5. Show a word and ask the students to say each sound. Make sure each sound is correct. If a student makes an error, review the correct letter-sound correspondence and repeat.

6. After students have sounded out the word, ask them to read the word fast. If a student reads the word incorrectly, ask him or her to sound it out and then read the word fast.

7. Review the meaning of the word. Ask if anyone knows what the word means. If no one gives a definition, give a quick definition using a picture, gesture, synonym, or short description.

8. Continue with the remaining word cards.

Scaffolds. (1) Review the individual lettersound correspondences for the letters used to form the words. (2) Students point to each sound as it is pronounced and sweep their fingers under the word when they read it fast. (3) Students use letter tiles and pull down each letter tile as they say the sound and then sweep their finger under the tiles when they say the word fast.

Regular Word Reading: Read the Word (Onset-Rime Level)

Objective. The student will identify a particular word pattern given a group of words (see Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4. Most Common Rimes

Materials. Blank index cards, marker
Sequence.

VC: in, at, am, it, up, ox

CVC: mat, hop, cut, sit, pin, can, ten, get, not, cup, cut, tap, red, him, cob, run, gum, ham, mad, hid, dip, box, bug, big

CCVC: stop, flap, snap, trip

CVCC: mast, jump, bunk, fall, hand, will, bend, rock, told, dash, back, duck

CVC silent e: bike, take, joke, made, time, more, cape, kite, five, name

CCVCC: truck, sport, blast, small

1. Tell students that many English words contain a group of letters that look and sound the same. Explain that learning to read this group of letters or the pattern of the word will help them read other words.

2. Introduce the pattern for the lesson. "Today we will learn the ending pattern -ap. The sounds are /a/ /p/. When you blend them together, they say /ap/."

3. Ask students to tell you other words with the ending pattern /ap/.

4. Write student contributions on the index cards, one word per card.

5. If students give a nonsense word, acknowledge that the pattern is correct but that it is not a real word in English. Write the word.

6. When students cannot provide any more words, ask students to read the word cards. Have them segment the word at the onset-rime level. Then blend them together to read the word.

7. Review all the cards again; this time ask student to read the entire word when it is shown.

8. Review the meaning of all the words.

Source. Adapted from Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader: Activities for an Accelerated Reading Program-Expanded Edition, by University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts, 2001, Austin, TX: Author.

Regular Word Reading: Building Words

Objective. Students will practice reading words containing rime patterns.

Materials. A set of cards of previously studied onsets and a set of cards with previously studied rime patterns

Sequence. Onsets: single letter, blends ( bl, fl, sn, st), digraphs ( gr, br)

Rimes:

VC: -an, -ap, -at, -aw, -in, -ip, -ir, -op, -or, -ug, -it, -et, -ot, -up, -ut

VCV: -ake, -ale, -ame, -ate, -ice, -ide, -ine, -ore, -oke, -ade, -ike, -ime

VVC: -ail, -ain, -eat, -eek, -een, -oot, -eed, -eep, -ait, -eet, -eem, -oop

VCC: -ack, -ank, -ash, -ell, -est, -ick, -ill, -ing, -ink, -ock, -unk, -ump, -uck

1. Review the onset and rime cards.

2. Place the two sets of cards face down in the middle of the table.

3. Explain to the students that they will pick the top card from each pile, put them together, and read the word.

4. Model the activity.

5. Ask each student to take a turn. If all students can do the activity, have students take turns picking cards and reading the words. After the word is read, the student identifies it as a real or made-up word.

Scaffolds. (1) Limit the number of rimes used-either rimes with the same vowels or the set of rimes. (2) Limit the number of onsets used. (3) Ask all students to read each word formed.

Regular Word Reading: Changing Word

Objective. Students will practice reading previously taught regular words.

Materials. Chart paper or chalkboard with a ladder drawn on it, marker or chalk

Sequence. Change only the onset, change only letters in the rime, change letters in both the onset and rime

1. Tell students they will be making new words by changing one letter at a time.

2. On the bottom rung, write a word with a pattern they have learned.

3. Model how you will change one letter to form a new word. Ask students to read the word.

4. Ask a student to change one letter to make a new word. Move up the ladder.

5. Students will continue providing new words until they reach the top rung.

6. Ask students to review the meanings of the words on their board.

Variation. Accept both real and nonsense words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit to read the word.

Irregular Word Reading: What's the Word?

Objective. Students will learn irregular words

Materials. Word cards (three to five per lesson), pocket chart, notebook with each page marked with one letter of the alphabet, pencils

Sequence. Begin with most common irregular words

1. Tell students they will be learning some words that do not follow the letter-sound correspondences they have been learning, so they have to learn these words as a whole.

2. Show students the first word card and read the word. Ask students to repeat the word in unison.

3. Spell the word as you point to each letter and then ask the students to spell the word in unison.

4. Ask the students to read the word again. Then students write it in their notebooks on the appropriate page. Monitor to make sure they spell the words correctly.

5. Ask students if anyone knows the meaning of the word. If no one knows the meaning of the word, provide a quick definition.

6. Ask students to make a quick note in their notebooks to help them remember the meaning. Students may want to write the meaning in their home language.

7. Place the word card in the pocket chart.

8. Follow steps 2-7 with the other words.

9. Review the words taught. Point to each word in the pocket chart and ask the students to read it in unison. Then ask individual students to read the word and provide the meaning.

Variation. Use words that will appear in text that students will be reading.

Analogy-Based Phonics: What Do I Already Know?

Objective. Students will use analogy to sound out unknown words.

Materials. Words with patterns students know written on cards (three to four per student)

Sequence. CVC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( bat), CCVC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( stop), CVCC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( bump), words with irregular rimes ( night)

1. Tell students they will be reading new words using what they know about spelling patterns to help them sound out the words.

2. Review the clue word (night) by showing the students the word card and asking, "What is our clue word?"

3. After students respond, ask, "What are the letters in night?"

4. After students respond, underline the -ight and tell students that the new words they will be reading also end in -ight.

5. Ask students to repeat the ending.

6. Ask students to read the words as you present them one at a time. Remind them to sound out the initial sound or sounds and then use what they know about the ending to read the word.

7. Ask students to tell you the strategy they used to read the new words.

8. Review the meanings of the new words in the lesson.

Scaffolds. (1) Begin with simple rimes and syllable patterns such as -VC and new words that have a one-letter onset. (2) Use new words with onsets that are blends or digraphs. (3) Use rimes and word-spelling patterns that are irregular.

Analogy-Based Phonics: Strategy Use in Context

Objective. Students will use analogy to sound out unknown words they encounter in texts.

Materials. Texts that have several words with a rime or spelling pattern students know

Sequence. Texts that have only one or two patterns; texts with more patterns for which students will have to use their knowledge of various rimes and patterns

1. Tell students they will be reading a book that has words they have not read before.

2. Remind them to look for the part of the word they can already read.

3. Tell students to sound out the first part of the word and add the part they know to read the word.

4. Remind them that you will review the meaning of the words after you read the story.

Irregular Word Reading: Irregular Word Road Race

Objective. Students will practice reading irregular words that have been previously taught.

Materials. For each student: a game board, word cards matched to game board, a chip or game piece (see Figure 3.5)

1. Explain the game to students. Tell them: "You will place a chip in the start box, read the word in the first box, then read each word card aloud until you find the card with the word that matches the word in the first box. Now, you move the chip into the box containing the first word." Explain that they then go on to read the word in the second box, and read the word cards again until they find its matching word card. Continue to the end of the game board. Note that cards are not discarded but are placed in the back of the pile.

2. Model the procedures in step 1 for students.

3. Review the meanings of the words.

4. Give each student a game board, a set of cards, and a chip. Remind students to read each card in the set aloud.

5. Monitor students.

Figure 3.5. Road Race Game Board

Source: Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader: Activities for an Accelerated Reading Program-Expanded Edition

Variations. Fill the squares with regular words or specific onset-rime patterns; for kindergarten students and struggling 1st graders, fill each square with a letter (students provide either the name or sound as directed).

Scaffolds. (1) Pair a more able reader with a struggling reader. Students take turns so the more able student reads the word cards until finding the first word. Then the second student reads the word cards for the second word. (2) Limit the number of words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit to read the word.

Lesson for Learning the Doubling Rule (-ing and -ed)

Objective. Students will learn the doubling rule for adding -ing or -ed to CVC verbs and will practice writing CVC + -ing or -ed words independently.

Materials. Flip chart, blackboard, or dry-erase board; writing notebooks and pencils; marker

1. Tell students they will learn the doubling rule for adding endings to CVC words. Explain that in English, when we add -ing or -ed to a CVC word, we double the last consonant then add the ending. Model the process using only one of the endings and a pattern that students know well.

2. Give students a word. Ask them to write the word in their notebooks. Then ask them to add the ending.

3. Ask a student to write the word on the chart.

4. Ask students to check their work.

5. Give students several more words.

6. Review the meanings of all the words.

Review Lesson for the Doubling Rule

Objective. Review the doubling rule for adding -ing or -ed to a CVC verb.

Materials. Flip chart, blackboard, or dry-erase board; writing notebooks and pencils; marker

Sequence. Complete the activity as a group, complete activity in pairs, add CVCC words

1. Review the doubling rule with students. Remind them that in English when they add an ending to a CVC word they must double the last letter.

2. Write a CVC verb on board. Ask students what they must do to add an ending. Rewrite the word with the ending.

3. Tell students that they will have a tick-tack-toe tournament.

4. Draw a tick-tack-toe board, and write a CVC verb in each square.

5. Tell students that to gain a square, they have to change the verb by adding either -ing or -ed correctly. If the new word is written correctly, the student may draw an X or O. If the student does not add the ending correctly, the square remains open. In the first round, students play against the teacher.

6. Have students determine whether an answer is correct or not by showing thumbs up or thumbs down. Continue until someone wins the game by getting three in a row.

Variation. Students play in pairs.

Scaffold. Use only one type of ending.

Structural Analysis: Let's Add Word Parts

Objective. Students learn that affixes (prefixes and suffixes) change the word meaning.

Materials. Chart paper, marker, a list of root words students can read and give the meaning for each

Sequence. Most-common prefixes, most-common suffixes, less-common prefixes, less-common suffixes

1. Tell students that adding word parts to a word will change the meaning of the word. Tell students that prefixes appear at the beginning of the word and that they will learn the meaning of the prefix and then add it to root words.

2. Write a prefix on the chart paper. Read the prefix and tell students its meaning.

3. Ask students to read the prefix and tell its meaning.

4. Write a root word on the chart paper. Ask students to read the word and give its meaning. If students do not know the meaning, provide it.

5. Write the root word with the prefix. Ask students to read the word.

6. Model how to determine the meaning of the new word. For example, un- means "not"; happy means "with joy"; so unhappy means "not happy" or "without joy."

7. Provide additional root words and ask students to read and define the prefix, read the root word, read the word with prefix added, and define the new word.

8. Repeat steps 2-7 with the second prefix.

Variation. Use suffixes.

Scaffold. Limit the number of prefixes introduced.

Advanced Word Analysis: Make a New Word

Objective. Students will add previously taught prefixes or suffixes to a root word and will give the meaning of the new word.

Materials. Root words written on cards (three to four per student), small sticky notes with a prefix or suffix written on them

Sequence. Most-common prefixes, most-common suffixes, less-common prefixes, less-common suffixes

1. Tell students they will be reviewing the meaning of prefixes and suffixes they have learned and will practice reading words with prefixes and suffixes.

2. Review the prefixes and suffixes written on the sticky notes. Ask students to read them in unison and provide the meaning.

3. Ask students to read the root words in unison. Then give each student three to four root word cards.

4. Tell students you will pick an affix from the pile; each one in turn will add it to one of his or her root word cards, read the new word, and say its meaning.

5. If a student has difficulty providing the meaning, ask the student the meaning of the affix, then the meaning of the root word. If the student still cannot provide the meaning, model the process. For example, un- means "not" and happy means "with joy"; unhappy means "not happy" or "without joy."

6. Continue with the other affixes.

Scaffolds. (1) Limit the number of affixes used. (2) Use only prefixes or suffixes.

Advanced Word Analysis: Word Part Jeopardy!

Objective. Students will identify prefixes, suffixes, and roots in words and their meanings.

Materials. Category cards for each of the three categories: prefixes, suffixes, and root words; answer cards for each category; dollar amount cards (for sample Q&A see Figure 3.6)

1. Place game pieces on the board as you explain the game.

2. Tell students they will be playing Jeopardy! to test their knowledge of word parts and their meanings.

3. Divide students into teams.

4. Tell them that under each dollar amount there is an answer to a question related to its subject category card.

5. They will pick a category and dollar amount, expose and read the answer, then give the question to the answer.

6. If they get the answer correct, they get the dollar card. If they answer incorrectly, another team gets a chance to answer.

7. Game continues until all the cards are exposed.

Advanced Word Analysis: Is It Real?

Objective. Students will use the prefixes they have been studying to make words.

Materials. Word cards using prefixes from previous lessons; game board with words that combine with prefix cards to make real words, and some that combine to make nonsense words; dice or spinner; game pieces

1. Review what a prefix is. Review the prefixes from the previous lessons. Make sure that students can read, spell, and define each prefix.

2. Ask students to read the word cards in unison. Periodically ask a student to define the word or to use it in a sentence.

3. Introduce the game and explain the rules.

4. Distribute a prefix card to each student or pair of students. Tell students they will take turns rolling the dice or spinning and then moving their game piece the appropriate number of spaces. Then they combine the prefix on their card with the word on the space and read the new word. The students must decide if it is a real word or a nonsense word. If it is a real word, they must define it and use it in a sentence. If unable to complete all steps correctly, they can ask a peer for help. If it is not a real word, the student tells what it would mean if the prefix were used correctly.

5. Continue until one of the students reaches the end.

Scaffold. Pair students of high and low levels of English proficiency.

Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., Ivernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
This book gives information on how to provide word study instruction to students based on their spelling developmental stages. The text provides a description of the basis for this approach to instruction, instructions for assessing students prior to beginning instruction, and activities for students in each of the stages of development.

Blevins, W. (1998). Phonics from A to Z: A practical guide. New York: Scholastic Professional Books.
This guide provides a wealth of information for teachers in an easy-to-read and easy-to-use format. The book begins with a brief description of phonics and then provides activities, lists, and teaching guidelines for alphabet recognition, phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondences, and regular and irregular word reading.

Cunningham, P. M. (2004). Phonics they use: Words for reading and writing (4th ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
This research integrates the strategic approaches needed to help students develop reading and spelling skills using a coherent collection of practical, hands-on activities that provide a framework for teaching phonics. It emphasizes the importance of students using phonics for decoding, reading, and spelling a new word, and for writing. Rather than subscribe to a single theory, the book stresses a balanced reading program-incorporating a variety of strategic approaches-tied to the individual needs of children.

Diaz-Rico, L. T. (2004). Teaching English learners: Methods and strategies, my lab school edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Chapter 8 provides activities for teaching grammar through integrated language skills and gives a history of English to help explain the peculiarities of the language.

Donat, D. J. (2003). Reading their way: A balance of phonics and whole language. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
This book fulfills the goal of increasing reading achievement with a balanced literacy program for kindergarten and beyond, using the best of phonics and whole-language approaches. Donat presents reading-instruction strategies, scheduling and grouping options, assessments, evaluations, and sound and spelling patterns for each grade level. Teachers will find an abundance of ideas for immediate implementation in their classrooms, and school administrators will appreciate the guidance in developing quality literacy programs. Supplemented by an appendix of suggested resources and a reference section.

Henry, M. K. (2003). Unlocking literacy: Effective decoding and spelling instruction. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Designed for general and special educators of students from prekindergarten to middle school, this book offers a range of creative strategies for helping students learn and a refresher course on language skills. The text is filled with classroom activities; lesson plans incorporating multisensory, language-based instruction; samples of student work; explanations of current research; and extensive word lists.

Kress, J. (1993). The ESL book of lists. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
This book provides useful lists for teachers on a number of topics, including the identification of difficult English sounds for specific language groups and word lists for a variety of objectives.

McCormick, C. E., Throneburg, R., & Smitley, J. (2002). A sound start: Phonemic awareness lessons for reading success. New York: Guilford Press.
One volume provides three separate sets of phonemic awareness lessons, complete with scripted directions and reproducible learning materials and assessment tools. Incorporating a variety of activities, each set is field-tested and research based and the lessons may be used independently or in conjunction with one another.

Moats, L. C. (2000). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing Co.
This comprehensive book on the English language will help you understand the organization of written and spoken language, make the connection between language structure and how children learn to read, and provide sample lesson plans and adaptations. This information is essential for teachers of English language learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Sylvia Linan-Thompson and Sharon Vaughn In a recent conversation, teachers of English language learners (ELLS) voiced concerns about the teaching of phonics to students in their classes who have several levels of English proficiency. "English is so irregular, it doesn't make sense to teach students all the rules because there are so many exceptions."