English Language Learners: How Do They Acquire Literacy Skills

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English Language Learners How Do They Acquire
Literacy Skills?

• Andrea Honigsfeld, Ed.D.
• ahonigsfeld_at_molloy.edu
• Molloy College

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The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled
Reading (Scarborough, 2001)
Source Neuman, Susan B. and Dickinson, David K.,
Handbook of Early Literacy Research
Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually
acquired over years of instruction and practice.
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Children with reading difficulties
Children from diverse backgrounds
Children from low-income backgrounds
Lesaux (2006)
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What do teachers need to work effectively with
ELLs? (Rojas, 2001)
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Krashen's Theories of Second Language Acquisition

• Natural order hypothesis
• Input hypothesis
• Affective filter hypothesis

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Stages of Second Language Acquisition
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Cummins Theories of Second Language Acquisition
BICS vs CALP

• Takes 5-7 years
• Specific vocabulary
• Complex sentence structure
• Higher level thinking skills
• School language

• Takes up to 2 years
• Face-to-face communication
• Survival English
• Playground language

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Factors resulting in individual variances

• Motivation (Extrinsic and Intrinsic)
• First Language Development
• Prior Schooling
• Language Distance and Attitude
• Access to the Target Language
• Age
• Personality and Learning Style
• Peers and Role Models
• Quality of Instruction
• Cultural Background
• Others
• Adapted from Using the SIOP Model (2002). Center
  for Applied Linguistics.

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Normal processes of second-language acquisition

• Language Interference or Transfer
• Silent Period
• Code-switching
• Language Loss
• Dysfluency (associated with lack of vocabulary,
  word finding difficulties and/or anxiety)
• Fossilization

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Four Corners Activity

• Good teaching is good teaching.
• Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree, Strongly
  Disagree
• Literacy instruction for ELLs should mirror
  literacy instruction for native English speakers
  
• Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree, Strongly
  Disagree

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Essential Components of Reading

• National Reading Panel
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary development
• Text comprehension

http//www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publicat
ions/reading_first1.html
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A Cautionary Tale

• What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading
  to English Language Learners?
• By Suzanne Irujo (2007)

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CAUTION Phonological Awareness for ELLs

• 1. ELLs cannot develop phonological awareness in
  English until they are familiar with the sounds
  of English.
• 2. Once explicit instruction has begun,
  modifications must be made to allow for more
  practice with sounds that can potentially cause
  confusion.

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CAUTION Phonics for ELLs

• ELLs often have difficulty discriminating between
  similar sounds because the English language does
  not have a regular system of correspondence
  between letters and sounds.
• Advanced decoding skills may develop, while
  reading comprehension will not if students' oral
  language proficiency is not developed to the
  level of the texts they are expected to read. For
  this reason, reading instruction should be
  combined with intensive development of the oral
  language.
• Practicing skills must be embedded in meaningful
  texts helps ensure that decoding skills don't
  progress beyond students' ability to comprehend
  the text.

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CAUTION Fluency for ELLs

• ELLs cannot achieve fluency in oral reading
  before they have achieved fluency in
  speaking.Students' own language experience
  stories are a very good choice, as are
  read-alouds that students have heard several
  times and discussed.
• ELLs' normal self-consciousness about accents and
  errors can affect their reading fluency,
  especially if they are asked to read aloud in
  front of the entire class.
• Decoding skills, fluency in oral reading, and
  reading comprehension interact in various
  ways.Effective instruction for ELLs integrates
  these three elements of reading (plus vocabulary
  learning) into the same lessons using the same
  text, as each element helps build and reinforce
  the others, producing a multiplier effect.

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CAUTION Vocabulary for ELLs

• 1. Failure to understand even a few words of a
  text can have negative effects on comprehension.
• 2. ELLs need more vocabulary instruction than
  their native-speaking peers.
• 3. ELLs need instruction in different vocabulary
  words than their native-speaking peers.
• 4. ELLs need different vocabulary teaching
  techniques and strategies than their
  native-speaking peers.

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CAUTION Vocabulary for ELLs

• What ELLs need
• words that are crucial for understanding a text
• words that are encountered in a wide variety of
  contexts
• frequently used words that contain word parts
  (roots, prefixes, suffixes) that can help
  students analyze other unknown words
• words with multiple meanings, whether spelled
  differently (homophones such as to, two, and too)
  or spelled the same (such as a dining room table
  and a multiplication table)
• figurative language and idiomatic expressions
• academic words that indicate relationships among
  other words (such as because, therefore, and
  since to indicate cause and effect).

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Vocabulary What ELLs Need

• Avoid simply handing out lists of definitions or
  asking ELLs to put the words into sentences
• ELLs who are literate in a language should be
  taught to recognize cognates and use them to
  create meaning.
• The meanings of words are acquired through
  multiple opportunities to hear, say, read, and
  write the words in slightly different meaningful
  contexts.
• Explicit explanations of unknown words should
  include contextual support through real objects,
  pictures or drawings, gestures, examples,
  demonstrations, or experiments that accompany the
  verbal explanations.
• The use of context clues to infer meaning is not
  always successful with ELLs because they may not
  understand the context well enough to infer an
  accurate meaning.

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What might beginner ELLs understand?

• ___________ cars are _____ __ ___ top __ ___
  first ____ __ _ _____. ____ ______ _____ ___ car
  ___ ___ ____ __ ___ ____. ___ ______ down ___
  first ____ ______ __ ______ _____ ___ ___ cars __
  ___ __ ___ ____ ____ ___ __ __ _____ ___ end ___
  ___ ____.

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What Might Intermediate ELLs Understand in
English?

• Roller-coaster cars ___ ______ __ ___ top of the
  first hill ___ _ _____. Then _______ moves the
  car for the rest of the ____. The _____ down the
  first hill ______ __ enough speed for the cars __
  ___ __ the next hill ___ ___ __ _____ the end of
  the ____.

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What Might Advanced ELLs Understand in English?

• Roller-coaster cars ___ pulled ___ the top of
  the first hill ___ a chain. Then gravity moves
  the car for the rest of the ride. The _____ down
  the first hill _____ __ enough speed ___ the cars
  to ___ __ the next hill and __ __ until the end
  of the ride.

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CAUTION Reading Comprehension for ELLs

• Asking ELLs to read the same texts and do the
  same activities as everybody else will only
  result in frustration for teachers and failure
  for students.
• Implement the curriculum at a language level that
  makes it accessible to ELLs, while at the same
  time working to develop their oral language so
  they will be able to comprehend texts at higher
  levels.
• Provide as much nonverbal support for reading
  comprehension as possible, including pictures,
  diagrams, real objects, gestures, acting, and
  graphic organizers.
• Explicitly teach comprehension strategies, such
  as reader-generated questions, summarizing, and
  monitoring comprehension. Teaching strategies is
  not enough students must practice them with
  texts that are accessible at their level of
  language proficiency. If students don't
  experience successful application of the
  strategies, they won't even try to use them with
  other texts.
• Plan interactive activities around reading and
  interpreting texts.

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CAUTION Reading Comprehension for ELLs

• ELLs are more likely than native speakers to lack
  the background knowledge necessary for
  understanding texts.
• The language level of the text to be read,
  compared with ELLs' language proficiency, is a
  major factor in how much they will understand of
  the text.Even advanced ELLs will experience
  difficulty with unusual vocabulary, figurative
  language, very complex sentence structures, or
  unfamiliar styles and genres. For this reason,
  the integration of intensive language development
  with reading instruction is highly recommended
  for ELLs at all levels of language proficiency.

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Summary of Key Issues

• Research on ELLs and literacy
• Second language acquisition and multiliteracy
  development
• Cultural, socio-economic, affective, and
  academic challenges ELLs face
• Meaning at the CENTER of all literacy instruction
• Differentiated instruction for all ELLs