Developing English Language and Literacy

Demographics

Who are the English Language Learners? Recent immigrants with low education and first language literacy “Generation 1.5” - educated in the U.S. schools but need better English proficiency for work and higher education Some highly educated immigrants, literate in their native language but not in English

Learner Factors to Consider Language(s) spoken Education levels Literacy skills in the first language Existing knowledge of English Goals for developing English proficiencies

Factors Influencing Language and Literacy Development First language knowledge and education level Existing English proficiency (especially vocabulary) Age Aptitude for language Familiarity with U.S. culture Disabilities

Differences Between Language Learners and Native Speakers weaker vocabulary, passage comprehension, and sight word reading skills better phonological processing (e.g., decoding nonwords) and somewhat better phonological awareness

With good instruction, decoding skills can develop rapidly, especially if literacy in the first language is strong. Vocabulary and comprehension skills are more difficult to improve. Conversational proficiency is not always indicative of academic language proficiency.

Approaches to Second Language Literacy Instruction Limited systematic research, hence relied on these three resources: research on teaching second/foreign language in high schools and colleges research on young language learners in elementary/middle schools good practices reported by adult ESL educators (in the US and around the world)

Practices to Apply and Study with English Language Learners understanding the cognitive and affective characteristics of learners and integrating explicit instruction and opportunities for the implicit learning of language and literacy, with a focus on:

both linguistic form and meaning with extensive, explicit feedback rich input, development of vocabulary and content knowledge for learning and reading comprehension, integrating language and content teaching extensive practice outside the classroom

leveraging knowledge of the first language multimodal instruction (speaking, listening, reading, writing; visual, digital presentations; utilizing technology) an example: sound assessment of literacy skills and affective and psychological outcomes of instruction

Oral language proficiency is quite relevant for literacy development (e.g., vocabulary) hence it is important to note that such effective practices also apply to native speakers with low language skills

Research Priorities develop and evaluate effective instructional methods for diverse populations of English language learners develop adequate assessment methods identify or develop the technologies that can facilitate the learning of language and literacy skills for diverse learners specify the training and support that the instructors need