Literacy Learning Possibilities for English Language Learners

As a teacher the most important thing to acknowledge is that all students can learn to read and write. After recognizing the importance of literacy and having expectations that all students will display growth over time, seek to understand the literacy possibilities that can arise. Assess a student's current knowledge and then select the appropriate resources to ensure students have an abundance of literacy possibilities. Monitor their progress over time and make the necessary changes for student engagement and motivation. Consider targeted skills and activities that will help students become engaged and motivated to learn in your literacy classroom. English as a Second Language (ESL) students should be provided with an abundance of opportunities to grow and develop their vocabulary in order to properly reach the end goal of reading, efficiently comprehending text. 

Assessing Student Literacy Understanding

Assessments take place in order to help guide the decisions that teachers make for the students in their classroom. When working with English learners there are a variety of skills and background knowledge they may or may not have. They come to school with a foundation of knowledge from their homes and communities that is supposed to help them succeed in literacy learning. However, the challenge for students with literacy and language development is complex, they must achieve in a language other than their native language (Kapoyannis, 2019). It is important to examine more aspects of the students literacy abilities other than their ability to speak or understand English, such as writing and visual skills. Consider using assessments that are based on visual aspects, use some technology, or can be used repeatedly to show growth over time (Gupta, 2019). When choosing assessments, acknowledge that the student may or may not be on level with other students. Aiming to choose assessments that will cover multiple aspects of their reading and writing skills, such as comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, or decoding. Teachers should also feel comfortable reaching out to an ESL professional for resources that are bilingual to assess what the student knows in both languages. 

The goal is to understand where the students are, in order to provide explicit instruction that targets the gaps in knowledge that student has. Assessments are also an essential component to evaluate the indebtedness of strategies and instructional practices (Gorman, 2012). Teachers should maintain an informal record of the students interactions and abilities as well as use formal test data resources provided by the school or district. Using multiple ways to assess the student will help ensure teachers are able to adjust accommodations and use professional judgement to help develop the knowledge of the student further. It will be important to make modifications as students learn, to ensure that students continue to show progress over time, as well as maintain quality and fair instruction for all students in the classroom (Schlaman, 2018). The benefits of assessment go beyond helping the students become a better learner and improve their knowledge. When teachers take a moment to reflect on assessment data and instructional progress, they objectively view how effective the progress of instruction is going. Understanding that each English learner is unique and that no two students are alike or will need the same needs. Methods may need to change depending on each student and the data reviewed showing student progress or a lack of growth (Gorman, 2012). 

Literacy Learning for English Language Learners

Assessments should aim to help you distinguish what English learners literacy possibilities are and how to start them on a successful journey. Utilize the data to select specific activities and interventions that will activate ESL students’ prior knowledge and build new background knowledge to increase literacy development. The purpose is to start where the student is and help them build up their knowledge. Do not assume that students will not catch up to students in the classroom or assume they will have a large amount of growth, students will show progress at their own pace. Often, teachers may simply expect students who are learning English to receive explicit instruction from ESL classes (Gupta, 2019). It is important for teachers to understand that these classes also teach students about the new cultural norms they have been introduced to or better ways to communicate with their classmates and teachers. It is important to not assume that instructional activities targeting literacy skills will always be provided in additional classroom settings. Use assessment data and professional judgement to select materials that will help aid in students vocabulary, comprehension, and literacy development overall. 

When selecting activities, utilize small group time to help students fill in the gaps of knowledge they have and approach students with practices that include hands-on activities (Gorman, 2012). Anticipate possible concepts and skills students may struggle with and prepare guided strategies that will help support literacy engagement. Kapoyannis (2019) mentioned that many educators feel challenged in being responsive to the linguistic and cultural diversity in their classrooms. To support literacy understanding, include multicultural representations of texts and activities. Aspire to provide students with as much exposure to different types of texts in a variety of ways, it is normal to feel challenged, but teachers must remember that all students have the ability to learn to read and be successful readers no matter their culture or native languages. There is a need for teachers to understand the characteristics and cultural aspects of ESL students. Teachers should make their verbal communication more understandable based on the student’s linguistic needs in order to help the student make literacy progress (Gorman, 2012). If you have students that have little language capabilities, provide them activities that will focus on enhancing their English vocabulary. It is the teacher’s responsibility to expose students to a considerable amount of vocabulary (Tamimi & Rajabi, 2018). 

Just like students who are native English speakers, vocabulary directly affects the students comprehension and understanding of reading material as well as the English language (Mancilla-Martinez, 2020). Students need to understand the vocabulary that will be utilized in order to respond to the material to the best of their ability. English learners must learn English and they must learn academic content through English since they are still tested for leveled skills based on students who are native English speakers (Gorman, 2012). Extend the students academic and social vocabulary across the curriculum, it is purposeful, meaning it is essential in supporting ELLs literacy and language skills (Kapoyannis, 2019). As well as the fact that according to Lipka & Siegel (2011), there are different linguistic and cognitive factors that can have an influence on the reading comprehension possibility for English learners. Learning the vocabulary will aid in students increasing literacy learning skills and reaching the goal of comprehending what they are reading. English learners have an untapped and often overlooked range of possibilities that may seem limited due to their vocabulary. 

When students understand the words they are reading they will begin to comprehend and retain the information. Teachers should not misunderstand the student’s ability to call out words from a text, word reading does not mean a student comprehends the text. Mancilla-Martinez (2020) states teachers should understand the difference between word reading, language comprehension, as well as reading comprehension. English learners may show fast progress in recognizing common words and how they should be pronounced, or have the ability to recite meaning from oral texts.  However, if a student cannot read the printed words in text but can understand their meanings in oral language, this does not represent reading comprehension (Mancilla-Martinez, 2020). English language learners perform lower in comprehension but may perform at the same level as native speakers in word calling or fluency. Few studies have examined the comprehension skills of children who are English learners, but some demonstrate that reading comprehension is an area of academic difficulty (Lipka & Siegel, 2011). Reading comprehension is the goal of literacy learning and it is documented that many ELLs face challenges in achieving high literacy levels (Kapoyannis, 2019). 

Motivating English Language Learners

Know your students motivation to learn or learn more about their interest, the more a student knows on a topic the easier it is to read, understand, and retain information from the content (Gorman, 2012). Provide students with lessons that are multimodal and have visual enhancements such as pictures or graphic organizers. Use multiple learning modalities that can be easily integrated and allow students to talk about it, see it, hear it, or even interact with the content. Multimedia technologies in a lesson provide the possibility to provide meaningful and authentic engagement activities that employ different cognitive and audio-visual senses, the ability to interact, and can motivate students to learn. Communicate with parents about their literacy needs and progress. All students are capable of learning and having support from home has the chance of helping students make consistent progress (Kapoyannis, 2019). The infographic below provides great ways to engage ELL families, the best system to support English learners learning possibilities and keep them motivated is one that is consistent and united.  

English language learners are unique and require instruction that is targeted. Take the time to assess the students and learn about their needs. This will help create a plan to improve their literacy learning and show they have the possibility of becoming great readers. Motivate the students to learn by providing them opportunities to be exposed to multicultural content and interact with others. Grow their vocabulary and fluency to help them learn to do more than read the words, but actually comprehend the text. Understand that students will face challenges and may struggle, but providing them with the environment and support will engage them in learning. 

References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QiDv1ChGVm6HnyUuATyThGvF_mBEvWeLE0xnvAmro9A/edit?usp=sharing