Chapter 6 Teaching Older ESL/ELL/ EFL Students to Read LLED 360: Classroom Discourses and English Language Learners Ivy, Jordan, Shamilla, Nathalie, Dominique
Chapter 6 Teaching Older ESL/ELL/
EFL Students to Read LLED 360: Classroom Discourses and English Language Learners
Ivy, Jordan, Shamilla, Nathalie, Dominique
Non-English Speakers & Limited-fluency Students:
Ways to Make Vocabulary Comprehensible
Illustrations and Environmental Vocabulary Scaffolding
personal environment
learning environment
community environment
general environment
connected discourse
wriCen discourse
Incorporating the following can enhance comprehension:
*more on Page 182
Real Objects Drawings Graphs OpportuniIes for InteracIon
InstrucIonal Strategies Maps
Rob Marzano's Six Step Process of Vocabulary Instruction
Resources The Academic Word List 570 most frequent words in academic reading New Academic Word List A downloadable version as well as supplemental vocabulary words General Service List of English Words High frequency words that are good for 100 most frequent words Most frequent words found wriCen globally
English Speakers vs English Speakers:
European English vs American English
You Alright?
How are you?
Basal Reading Instruction Basal readers designed for naIve English speakers are inappropriate for several reasons:
1. many high frequency words that may not be in the student’s vocabulary 2. irregular past tense verbs (e.g. take –> took, not ending in -‐ed) 3. usage of words in a strange, out-‐of context fashion (video) 4. unnatural sentences 5. unfamiliar L2 cultural context 6. lexical morphemes (e.g. -‐ing)
each of these generates a roadblock to beginning ESL students → therefore, students not be included in basal acIviIes unless they are both L1 literate and L2 limited-‐fluency speakers
Individualized Reading 3 ObjecIves:
a) allow students to select their own reading material from a wide selecIon of appropriate sources b) to provide students w/ material suitable for their abiliIes, skills, needs, interests, moIvaIons (Language Experience Approach -‐ LEA -‐ ‘low vocabulary, high interest’) c) to provide teachers with the opportunity to monitor, assess, and measure progress so that they can plan/maintain the program Teachers should guide, not interfere with student’s reading choices
Managing an individualized whole-‐language program:
• online log • conferences • USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading)
Intermediate Students • students in 4th to 8th grade
→ parIIoned into two categories (new & beginning readers)
• teaching to read ogen more difficult than primary (locate non-‐childish, yet elementary material)
• L2 reading must reach “instrucIonal level” ≥ 75% comprehension before students aCempt reading/learning from the class texts (by 4th grade, students are expected to ‘read to learn’)
• otherwise, teachers should provide sheltered content instruc8on -‐ present academic content tailored to their reading level
Teaching Secondary Students to Read • Students must be acIvely engaged in learning Important Considera8on: • Secondary ESL students need to learn to read as quickly as possible
→ their success depends on their ability to comprehend and learn from text
Scaffolding Methods
Survival Vocabulary
• Must learn survival reading skills • School survival vocabulary • General survival words
Sight Word Approach Being able to recognize high-‐frequency
words • reading tasks will be eased if they are equipped to recognize on sight high-‐frequency words
• speeds up the decoding process Words printed onto flashcards • students can pracIce recognizing these words in isolaIon and matching the illustraIons with them (what are the similar/dissimilar features)
Resources • Good Picture DicIonary • The Visual Thesaurus
Behaviors of Students with Learning Problems
• persistent inability to remember sight words
• persistent bizarre spellings • persistent reversal of leEers and/or words
• inability to maintain aCenIon to tasks
• emoIonal liability • easily frustrated by reading tasks
• consistent failure to learn to read
• slow, laborious, word-‐by-‐word reading
• hyperkineIc behavior in the classroom
• persistent avoidance of language arts acIviIes
• persistent inaEen8on in class
Special Reading Programs • created around the needs and interests of students
• best results if designed and developed by teachers
• appropriate for students with limited or limited-‐fluency with no L1 background and students with 6+ years of literacy training
General Reading Programs • more general in scope than special reading programs
• ogen more difficult than the level indicates
• appropriate for students with literacy backgrounds and at least limited-‐fluency
Teaching Adults to Read: Zero Level/ Very Limited English/
No L1 Literacy Background
• survival vocabulary (sight skills) • do not associate print with language • ogen most difficult to teach
Teaching Adults to Read: Students with L1 Background
1. ExperienIal Programs • involve students in acIviIes rather than decontextualized classroom lessons
• construct acIviIes that have social relevant / socio-‐cultural aspects
• students are introduced to a theme and relevant vocabulary
Teaching Adults to Read: Students with L1 Background
2. Directed Reading Thinking AcIviIes (DRTA) • promote predicIon in reading instead of trying to understand what every single word in a sentence means
• more successful in comprehending inferenIal quesIons • helps in reading wriIng and speaking • very adaptable, can be used in newspaper arIcles, movies, film strips, oral stories
Storylords | Directed Reading-Thinking Activity:
YouTube Video