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1. Using a  balanced approach to reading instruction​

 

• Specifically, this may entail:

  • Providing support in meaning-making while reading texts​

  • Balanced instruction with phonics-based and whole-word approaches

  • Teaching as many as words as possible before, during, and after reading a new text

  • Teaching "everyday words" to demonstrate practical uses

  • Providing definitions or contexts when encountering new vocabulary

  • Teaching "learning tools", such as lexical units, in order for students to understand how language "works"

    • For example, pointing out an aspect of a "tricky word" (such as a homophone) and teaching about those types of words​

  • Having students engage in using language orally with peers​

  • Use visuals in reading instruction

    • Posters​/Digital Presentations

    • Graphic organizers

    • Outlines

    • "Word Bank" with definitions 

    • Assessments that are suitable for their abilities

  • Having students make connections to prior knowledge and experiences (or connect instruction to what they know)

  • Reteach concepts and allow more time and opportunities for practice

  • Provide open-ended questions and ask for students to elaborate on their responses

  • Clarify and have students expand upon responses

2. Creating an enriching Literacy Environment in the classroom

• Label classroom items in English 

• Provide visuals such:

  • Posters​/Digital Presentations

  • Interactive visuals (such as a daily weather chart)

  • Instructions for things in the classroom written in English (for example, directions for logging into TypingPals)

• Provide multimedia resources in English, such as audio recordings or videos

• Stocking a classroom library with books written in English in a wide variety of genres and reading levels to be suitable for a range of abilities

3. Engaging students in meaningful and purposeful literacy activities

• Interactive games and quizzes in English ​

• Creativity-based projects in English

  • ​Creative writing

    • Stories​

    • Poems

  • Creating quizzes or word puzzles

  • Making posters

  • Greeting cards, postcards

  • Creativity-based activities could be used to assess understanding of a text they read or concept that was taught

• Reading and engaging with books and other texts written in English

  • Books and texts in a wide variety of genres or geared toward specific interests 

  • Books and texts of differing reading levels to be suitable for a range of abilities in language

4. Literature can have a powerful effect on English-language learners

• Literature is a medium that:

  • Contextualizes English for young language learners​

  • Engages them in the process of predicting, which helps young language learners to apply their learned knowledge of English to process and make sense of the story as they read it on their own or listen to it during a read-aloud

• Criteria to consider when selecting literature for young language learners:

  • Is this book accessible to the students?​

  • Can I use this book to create a memorable and enriching read-aloud experience for my students?

  • Do the illustrations in the book provide a visual to help language-learners understand the story?  

• Read-alouds of books are beneficial to young language-learners by strengthening their abilities to process the new language. Specifically, during read-alouds, they engage in:

  • Making associations​

  • Visualizing the story

  • Using the pictures or teacher's gestures as support for language or comprehension

  • Understanding the key language being used

  • Making sense  of the story by listening

• During or after read-alouds, it is suggested that teachers scaffold in strategies such as:

  • Allowing time for students to process and think during the read-aloud

  •  ​Accommodate to a range of abilities and learner types

  • Have students engage in retelling the story:

    • Orally​

    • Drawing

    • Acting it out

    • Etc.

  • Engaging students in meaningful learning activities after the read-aloud

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5. Allow for students to "hypothesize" about language

• It is theorized that students either consciously or subconsciously "experience" new language by engaging in the Language-Learning Hypothesizing Cycle:

  1. The student forms a hypothesis about an aspect of the new language, and applies prior knowledge of language to look for patterns in the language to support the hypothesis​

  2. The learner looks for any clues around them to support their hypothesis (reactions of classmates, teacher's gestures, etc.)

  3. The learner tests the hypothesis in a variety of strategies such as listening or questioning, and then adjusts the hypothesis based on the results

  4. The child uses observed results to establish his or her own rules about the language, and then internalizes them to memory to be recalled later.

• This idea of the cycle reinforces the importance of meaningful learning activities in which language-learners can make observations and create "hypotheses".​

 

Source: (Hughes, 2011)