Research must guide how we teach English learners to read

Link to a ppt presentation

I recently did a presentation where I’d submitted the slide deck weeks ahead. Wouldn’t you know, I had to fiddle with it before the actual presentation. Nothing major but there was at least one new slide I was excited to use. Turns out the deck I had sent in was already loaded onto the presentation computer, which made it smooth logistically, but I couldn’t show off my new slide and fancy transition. I told the audience I’d post here, so here’s the link.

Feel free to view (or not) however you’d like. But if you do, I suggest you download it and watch in presentation mode to get the full cinematic effect. You can see my presenter notes in different view options. Apologies for spelling errors etc. Since I’m the only one who usually see them I’m a bit careless.

As always, if you have trouble accessing please email me or put it in the comments. Or put it in the comments, and then email me.

Here’s the big picture which I think is pretty straightforward to summarize:

ELs (aka EBs, aka MLs) in the US are typically learning to read in a language they’re simultaneously learning to speak and understand. Even in bilingual education programs, where initial literacy will be in the students’ home language, ELs will still learn to become literate in English as they’re increasing their abilities to understand and speak it. (There is information about bilingual education in the deck, but it’s not a strong focus. It’s a topic worthy of discussing in its own right, so stay tuned.)

It turns out that learning to read in a language you’re learning to speak and understand is basically the same as learning to read in language you already know. To be sure, learning to read as a beginning reader in a language you’re simultaneously learning is more challenging, and if it’s more challenging for the learner it will be more challenging for the teacher. But it’s basically the same thing, although with an important difference.

I describe and illustrate what I mean by “same thing” in the slides. In brief, it’s that learning to read involves connecting the sounds and meanings (phonemes and semantics, respectively) in oral language with the written version of the language (the orthography, in other words, how the oral language is represented in print). You need to accomplish this whether you already know the language you’re learning to read or you’re learning it as you learn to read it. This might sound a bit abstract; I hope the explanations and illustrations will de-mystify. (You might also do a little refresher on the differences between the oral and written language, discussed in previous posts, here and here.)

The important difference, though, is that when teaching students to read (and write) in a language they are simultaneously learning to speak and understand, teachers need to provide English oral language development instruction that directly supports the acquisition of literacy skills. This will help enable English learners to connect oral English, which they are learning, with written English, which they are also learning. As I said, it’s a bigger challenge for the students and the teacher. There’s more to learn when learning to read in a language you’re at the same time learning.

We have some useful roadmaps to guide us, conceptually and operationally, which I present and describe in the deck. But we’ve got a long ways to go before English learners in our schools are achieving fully to their potential. Some are, certainly. But not nearly enough. I hope the information here will help us move further along that path.

I’m interested in your thoughts, even—actually especially—if you disagree. Feel free to comment, or you can email if you’re shy.