Reading Comprehension and Multilingual Learners by Claudia von Nostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo SPED781.50 Final Project en-us 2022-05-14 22:56:19 UTC 2025-06-04 19:45:20 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f4da.png New Thinking on the Pillars of Reading claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184136396 The traditional Five Pillars of Effective Reading Instruction are (1) phonemic awareness, (2) phonics, (3) fluency, (4) vocabulary, and (5) comprehension. But Sharon Taberski's New Thinking on the Pillars of Reading re-envision the framework to reflect comprehension as the overarching goal of learning to read. Accurate reading is just part of the puzzle, with background knowledge, vocabulary, writing, and talking having a huge impact on the overall literacy goal of comprehension. 

This Padlet will address teaching Multilingual Learners or English Language Learners how to read and comprehend texts. It is organized by Taberski's reimagined pillars, which include (1) accurate fluent reading, (2) background knowledge, (3) oral language and vocabulary (4) reading-writing connections and (4) repertoire of strategies. 

Click through each section to learn more! ]]> 2022-05-14 23:10:04 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184136396 Multilingual Learners claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184139181 Why Reading Comprehension and Multilingual Learners? 

This Padlet will supply the reader with resources about teaching reading comprehension to Multilingual Learners/English Language Learners. 

This is a relevant topic because in the New York City Department of Education, 16% of students, accounting for 147,287 children were Multilingual Learners (MLs)  or English Language Learners (ELLs). ELLs are "student whose primary home language is not English and has scored below a cut score on the New York State Identification Test for ELLs." Furthermore, these students are a subsection of the 42% of all NYCDOE students who have home languages other than English. 

See the next section on how this Padlet is organized!]]> 2022-05-14 23:20:59 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184139181 Automaticity claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184142178 What is automaticity? Reading Rockets defines it as "the fast, effortless word recognition that comes with a great deal of reading practice. In the early stages of learning to read, readers may be accurate but slow and inefficient at recognizing words. Continued reading practice helps word recognition become more automatic, rapid, and effortless."

]]> 2022-05-14 23:31:59 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184142178 Phonics Instruction claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184142666 The section above explained the relationship between fluency and automaticity. This resource explains how this is also linked to phonics. I'm going to embed phonics instruction under fluency, because in order to have automaticity in reading and good prosody, a reader must be able to decode quickly and confidently. The CORE Reader also explains this link between phonics, decoding, fluency and automaticity. Phonics instruction teaches the alphabetic principle and phonemic awareness which in turn reduces time spent decoding and strengthens automaticity. 

When teaching MLs and ELLs phonics, we are equipping them with the specific rules for English grapheme-to-phoneme relationships. This is essential for students who may have different sounds associated with the Latin/Roman alphabet (e.g. Spanish has different associated phonemes for certain letters). Or, some languages might simply not have the same phonemes that we have in English. ]]> 2022-05-14 23:33:47 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184142666 Where to Begin? claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184143495 I love this resource: Colorín Colorado. It offers resources for families and educators for bilingual education. It's research-backed and supported by the National Education Association. As you'll see, I'll reference it often in this Padlet.

One of the biggest themes that you'll see woven through this guide is the importance of strong pedagogical strategies combined with an inherent trust and celebration of the ML's home language and culture. Both are essential elements into supporting reading comprehension.This means having strong phonics instruction along with a goal to differentiate and meet each student at their particular level. ]]> 2022-05-14 23:36:43 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184143495 Culturally Competent Libraries & Some of My Favorite Picks! claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184152206 It's so important for educators to create inclusive libraries that show diversity in identity. In this case, I am referring to having books that are either entirely written in the home languages of students or that include phrases of the home languages of students. It important to have books in other languages because it supports translanguaging practices. It also allows children to openly access all languages in their repertoire.

As we've learned throughout this course, representation matters. Classroom libraries play a big role in creating an inclusive environment for diverse learners because representative literature can be mirrors for children in which they recognize their own identities, supporting self-affirmation, positive self-worth, and access to knowledge. They can also be windows, offering new insights and perspectives that might be unfamiliar, different and new.  (Suoto-Manning and Martell, 2016). Therefore, we are not  including a so-called "diverse representation" to simply check a box, but we are fostering a mindset where children can take into account and hold different views and perspectives simultaneously.

Some of my picks include Abuela; Quinito, Day and Night; 我们去远足吧!/Let's Go on a Hike!; From North to South / Del Norte al Sur; and Nabeel's New Pants.

Of course, it can be very helpful to have copies of books written in English translated into other languages. ]]> 2022-05-15 00:07:48 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184152206 Translanguaging claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184153991 Translanguaging is the process when a multilingual speaker uses their full linguistic repertoire (in this case meaning English as well as other languages spoken). In the classroom, the use of all language is accepted and and honored in order to accept the speaker as a holistic being and avoiding a narrow or simplified standard of only English.

How is this important to background knowledge? Translanguaging allows MLs to access their entire background knowledge using all the linguistic tools they have. As summarized quite succinctly in this article, "The term translanguaging comes from a holistic view of bilinguals. This view recognizes that bilinguals have just one language system, not two or more, and that effective instruction involves finding ways to help students draw on all their linguistic resources, their full repertoire, to learn academic content in a new language. While students do need solid and extended instruction in English to acquire English, strategic use of their home language can accelerate both their acquisition of English and their understanding of math, science, social studies, and language arts being taught in the new language."]]> 2022-05-15 00:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184153991 BICS & CALP claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184161566 It's important to talk about the process of language acquisition for Multilingual Learners because it gives a lot of insight on why they might excel in some areas and struggle in others. It provides another piece of the puzzle when contextualizing how they learn and absorb material. 

BICS or Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills refers to the language we use for social interactions. English Language Learners begin with acquiring basic interpersonal communication skills which take about a year or two to obtain. This includes commonly used social phrases that are used more informally or casually. On the other hand CALP or Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency is a lot harder to obtain because it takes about five to seven years for students to acquire. This is because the content is less dependent on social cues and require more specific vocabulary. This discrepancy can explain why children can talk with their peers with ease yet struggle to understand, verbalize, or discuss academic concepts. 

When working with MLs in highly academic and content specific contexts, it's important to be intentional on how you will introduce new vocabulary words. This resource breaks down strategies by tiers and includes a link to pre-teaching relevant vocabulary before they come up mid-lesson. 
]]> 2022-05-15 00:42:27 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184161566 Video from the Archives... claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184183749 The following video is from 2018 when I was working at Reading Partners, an organization that provides tutoring to struggling readers. In this video, I was working with a first grader using the "Emerging Readers" curriculum. The student was an ML whose family came from Yemen and spoke Arabic at home. As you can see, this book followed a very repetitive pattern and had children identify sight words (I, am, in, the) and use context clues to figure out the object of the sentence. You can't see it on the screen, but the child had a word ring of common sight words to reference. 

I thought this clip was a good example of how one might use visual literacy strategies such as using picture reading. This lesson required the student to synthesize a few different skills she was working on: identifying sight words, learning vocabulary words, considering text structure and syntax, and accessing prior knowledge.  

I wonder how I might change this lesson were I to "redo" it today. For example, I might choose to preview some of the words beforehand. I also might ask more questions to check the student's comprehension and bring a bit more meaning to the book. Although it's a simple beginner reader, we can always encourage children to make connections to foster comprehension. ]]> 2022-05-15 01:53:24 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184183749 Teaching Strategies claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184185230 As you can probably tell, I love Reading Rockets! This is such a good resource for concrete skills we can bring to the classroom. This article discusses working with ELLs and making sure to incorporate pre-reading, discuss cognates (and false-cognates), integrate multimodal learning, and incorporate oral communication (see Taberski's note on the importance of talking in building comprehension). ]]> 2022-05-15 01:56:50 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184185230 Lesson Plan from the Archives... claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184188521 As part of a previous course, I wrote this ELA lesson plan with the intention of incorporating phonics, multiculturalism, and multiple languages for a hypothetical ICT class that included Multilingual Learners. 

I thought it was relevant here because it shows the bridge between reading and writing. It is intended for children who are multilingual learners who are learning phonics and grapheme to phoneme correspondence. It also incorporates sensorial and multimodal learning as well as universal design for learning to supports all learners, including MLs/ELLs.]]> 2022-05-15 02:06:25 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184188521 Work Sample from the Archives... claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184193382 This is a work sample from a preschool student that shows the reading-writing connection. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage month, this student's mother came to school and showed us how to make papel picado, a traditional Mexican craft that features colorful paper sheets with intricate cut-out details. She read a book and then had children try their hand at the craft. 

Afterwards, the student wanted to write a thank you note to her mom! Teachers worked with her to write her message, sound out the letters, and then she copied them down on her own paper. ]]> 2022-05-15 02:21:42 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184193382 Teaching Strategies claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184194513 I thought this article aligned nicely with Taberski's reimagined pillars. The author seeks to provide tips for teachers to promote MLs to (1) read more closely, (2) develop reading independence, (3) cultivate critical thinking skills through deeper reading, and (4) follow a process to construct meaning from text. It discusses the importance of background knowledge and child-centered learning in teaching children how to bring meaning to what they read. It also talks about the importance of talk, writing, and reading towards fostering comprehension. ]]> 2022-05-15 02:24:35 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184194513 Paired Reading claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184579578 Paired reading supports fluency and comprehension through peer learning. Not only are children developing oral skills through socialization, but they can build confidence with their peers, practice modeling the skill, and enhance overall understanding. It's recommended that an ELL is paired with a peer with a higher proficiency level.

This video is an excellent example of what paired reading can look like. I love how students have a choice in their text and also have scaffolded questions to support comprehension.

I think this quote sums it up well: "Shared reading creates an inclusive literacy experience, strengthens peer relationships and supports a welcoming classroom environment. Readers on all levels contribute, bringing multiple perspectives into text analysis. The centrality of text-dependent questioning develops the habit of mind necessary for becoming a critical consumer of information and an aware member of society."]]> 2022-05-15 16:20:36 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184579578 What's the Connection? claudiavonnostitz https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184598337 Taberski says, "Reading and writing. Writing and reading. When the two of them work together, children consolidate their understanding of what it means to be a reader who writes and a writer who reads. I can't think of anything more important or more empowering for children to experience. Teachers who help children recognize the synergy between reading and writing have an easier task of teaching both sets of skills and strategies."]]> 2022-05-15 16:48:29 UTC https://padlet.com/claudiavonnostitz/lz08n7kc1dpgy5uo/wish/2184598337