Supporting+English+Language+Learners

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**Meeting the Literacy Needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) **


=Literacy Needs Specific to ELLs=

According to the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), 73% of ELL fourth graders scored below the basic level in English Language Arts compared to 25% of white test takers in their age group. This gap widens as the grade level increases possibly due to the higher performing ELLs reclassification to fluent English groups (Fry, 2007).

**__Background Knowledge and Peer Discussion__**
O’Day (2009) investigated the effectiveness of San Diego’s instructional reform to a balanced literacy approach for their high population of ELLs. The school district had previously undergone six years of reform effort to emphasize reader interaction with text to create meaning, explicit instruction of comprehension skills, differentiation, and accountable talk. This observational study focused on two classrooms from each grade level representing nine case study schools across the district. Results indicated higher-level questioning, writing instruction, and accountable talk to have the highest impact on non-ELLs’ reading comprehension. However, the same instructional strategies proved to have significantly less of an impact on ELL students. O’Dell Conversely, the data revealed other activities that showed a high positive impact on ELLs’ reading comprehension that did not appear when the entire sample population was analyzed. O’Dell (2009) proposed the two strategies that were necessary in ELL literacy instruction were “teacher telling” and peer discussion. She argues the possibility of the observed classroom discussion to be at a level too high for ELLs to benefit from without the background knowledge afforded by teacher telling. Furthermore, O’Dell hypothesized that where accountable talk may have been at too high a level for ELL engagement, peer discussion afforded opportunities for ELLs’ language development, interactions, and increased motivation. Thus, teacher talk and peer discussion may help build confidence and enhance reading comprehension of ELLs.

**__Literature Logs and Instructional Conversations__**
Saunders and Goldenberg (1999) worked with a Southern California school district to develop a successful transition program for Spanish-speaking students into mainstream classrooms. The main goal of their study was to evaluate the effects of literature logs and instructional conversations, two specific components of the program’s literacy instruction. The main thrust of the literature studies promoted reading comprehension through discussion and writing about the relationship between personal experiences and a central theme of the text. Five teachers from fourth and fifth grade classrooms developed and taught four groups of students; (1) read and study, (2) literature logs, (3) literature logs and instructional conversation, (4) instructional conversation only. Results indicated that for fluent-English speakers and ELLs, the combined effect of instructional conversation and literature logs improved factual comprehension as well as thematic interpretation though more so for ELLs. When Saunders and Goldenberg (1999) analyzed conditions separately they found instructional conversation had a more significant impact than literature logs alone confirming the previous study’s hypothesis of teacher telling.

=Technology and ELLs=

__**Web 2.0 & ELLs **__
According to Black (2009), Web 2.0 technologies provide effective instructional approaches for English Language Learners which involve peer-to-peer cooperative learning as well as teacher scaffolding ( p. 695). English Language Learners need that support when developing language, literacy, and social skills. Black (2009) suggested that new technologies “allow for a flexible range of expertise in which all participants are able to take up the roles of both teacher and learner” (p. 694). Therefore, English Language Learners should be immersed in a technology-rich learning environment where they collaborate in building their knowledge in which “authorship, teaching, and learning is distributed across community members” (Black, 2009, p. 694). Such skills are associated with Web 2.0, in which technology users actively contribute to the content of online environments, such as wikis.

__**Wikis & ELLs**__
According to Bradley (2010), “interactive web environments such as wikis are potentially beneficial for foreign language learning” due to its interactive and collaborative nature of constructing knowledge. In regards to literacy enhancement, wikis environments allow for “more user generated content” which has “opened up new ways of working and learning” (Bradley, 2010, p. 248). English Language Learners are interacting with each other through this interactive tool which allows for “unlimited participation and collective language production” (Bradley, 2010, p. 248). Students who are learning the English language especially need that support through the process of knowledge construction in order to further develop their literacy. The teacher can model the structure of content for students and in turn the students can add, construct, revise, and edit content within a designated interactive online environment.

The English Language Learners will benefit from using the wiki because it will serve as a model for student writing. On the wiki, the teacher can model correct sentence structure and linguistics. In this collaborative forum, the students can view each other’s work, reflect on the content, and share their own knowledge. By reading the text, viewing others’ insights, seeing how to model sentences, looking at the vocabulary words, reading the definitions, and discussion questions, English Language Learners are building specific literacy skills in the areas of reading, writing, comprehension, and vocabulary. The students are active contributors in this environment by learning through participating in a collective activity. Wikis allow for language learning, content and structure development, and fostering revising skills which are valuable skills for English Language Learners.

__**Collaborative Online Project****s & ELLs**__
According to Karchmer-Klein and Layton (2006), literature-based collaborative Internet projects “provided opportunities to foster learning by helping students make connections between new content and their background knowledge, actively participate in their own learning, and recognize and appreciate differences among their peers” (p. 261). In regards to literacy enhancement, authors reported that collaborative Internet projects support the literacy curriculum standards and align with a constructivist approach to teaching and learning by providing authentic, real-world experiences (Karchmer-Klein & Layton, 2006, p. 287). The constructivist approach to learning is especially effective for English Language Learners in that they work with others to impose meaning of text. Ormrod (2008) mentioned that by sharing various interpretations, students “jointly constructed a better understanding of the subject matter” (p. 235). English Language Learners especially need that support through the process of knowledge construction in order to further develop their literacy.