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Audience School practitioners such as administra-tors, curriculum specialists, coaches, sta developmentspecialists and teachers who face the challenge of providingeective literacy instruction for English language learners.District-level administrators who develop practice andpolicy options for their schools.

Grade level K5.

Link http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice-guides/20074011.pdf

Introduction

Major problems in eective instruction of English learn-ers are persistent. Te 2005 achievement gap of 35 points inreading between grade 4 English learners and non-Englishlearners was greater than the gap between black and whitestudents. While there have been some signicant recentadvances in the body of scientic research on eectiveinstructional strategies for teaching English learners, theresearch is still limited. Several examples in the literature

illustrate success storiesboth for individual English learn-ers and for schools. Tese students, despite having to learnEnglish while mastering a typical school curriculum, havebeaten the odds in academic achievement.

One major theme of the recommendations in this guide isthe importance of intensive, interactive English languagedevelopment instruction for all English learners. Tisinstruction needs to focus on developing academic lan-guage (i.e., the decontextualized language of the schools,the language of academic discourse, of texts, and of formalargument).

Recommendations

1. Screen for reading problems and monitorprogress.

Districts should establish procedures forand providetraining forschools to screen English learners forreading problems. Te same measures and assessmentapproaches can be used with English learners and nativeEnglish speakers.

Depending on resources, districts should consider col-lecting progress monitoring data more than three times ayear for English learners at risk for reading problems.

Data from screening and progress monitoring assess-ments should be used to make decisions about theinstructional support English learners need to learn toread.

Schools with performance benchmarks in reading in theearly grades can use the same standards for English learn-

ers and for native English speakers to make adjustmentsin instruction when progress is not sucient.

Provide training on how teachers are to use formativeassessment data to guide instruction.

2. Provide intensive small-group readingintervention.

Use an intervention program with students who enter therst grade with weak reading and prereading skills, orwith older elementary students with reading problems.

Ensure that the program is implemented daily for at least

30 minutes in small, homogeneous groups of three to sixstudents.

Provide training and ongo-ing support for the teachersand interventionists (readingcoaches, itle I personnel, orparaeducators) who provide thesmall-group instruction.

raining should also focuson how to deliver instructioneectively, independent of theparticular program emphasized. It is important that thistraining include the use of the specic program materi-als the teachers will use during the school year. But,the training should also explicitly emphasize that theseinstructional techniques can be used in other programsand across other subject areas.

3. Provide extensive and varied vocabularyinstruction.

Adopt an evidence-based approach to vocabularyinstruction.

IES PRACTICE GUIDE

Effective Literacy and

English Language Instruction

for English Learners

in the Elementary Grades

IES PRACTICE GUIDE

Effective Literacy and

English Language Instruction

for English Learners

in the Elementary Grades

NCEE2007-4011

U.S.DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION

NCEE2007-4011

U.S.DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION

WHATWORKS CLEARINGHOUSE

I E S P r a c t i c e G u i d e S u m m a r y

Effective Literacy and English LanguageInstruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades

8/22/2019 Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners

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Develop districtwide lists of essential words for vocabu-lary instruction. Tese words should be drawn from thecore reading program and from the textbooks used in keycontent areas, such as science and history.

Vocabulary instruction for English learners should alsoemphasize the acquisition of meanings of everyday wordsthat native speakers know and that are not necessarily

part of the academic curriculum.

4. Develop academic English.

Adopt a plan that focuses on ways and means to helpteachers understand that instruction to English learnersmust include time devoted to development of academicEnglish. Daily academic English instruction should alsobe integrated into the core curriculum.

each academic English in the earliest grades.

Provide teachers with appropriate professional develop-ment to help them learn how to teach academic English.

Consider asking teachers to devote a specic block (orblocks) of time each day to building English learnersacademic English.

5. Schedule regular peer-assisted learningopportunities.

Develop plans that encourage teachers to schedule about90 minutes a week with activities in reading and lan-guage arts that entail students working in structured pairactivities.

Also consider the use of partnering for English languagedevelopment instruction.

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Related REL PublicationsImproving Reading

Comprehension

in Kindergarten

through Third Grade

(September 2010)

Students who read withunderstanding at an

early age gain access to a broader range oftexts, knowledge, and educational oppor-

tunities, making early reading comprehen-sion instruction particularly critical. Tis

guide recommends ve specic steps thatteachers, reading coaches, and principals

can take to successfully improve readingcomprehension for young readers.http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/

rti_reading_pg_021809.pdf

Assisting Students

Struggling with

Reading: Response

to Intervention

(RtI) and Multi-Tier

Intervention in the

Elementary Grades

(February 2009)

Tis guide oers ve specic recommen-

dations to help educators identify strug-gling readers and implement evidence-

based strategies to promote their readingachievement. eachers and reading

specialists can utilize these strategies toimplement RtI and multi-tier interventionmethods and frameworks at the classroom

or school level. Recommendations coverhow to screen students for reading prob-

lems, design a multi-tier intervention pro-gram, adjust instruction to help struggling

readers, and monitor student progress.http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/

rti_reading_pg_021809.pdf

Doing What Works:

Teaching Literacy

in English to K-5

English Learners

Te Doing What Works

website provides practi-cal tools for implement-

ing recommendations from IES practiceguides.http://dww.ed.gov/topic/?T_ID=13

IES PRACTICE GUIDE WHAT WORKSCLEARI NGHOUSE

Improving Reading Comprehension

in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade

NCEE2010-4038

U.S.DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading:

Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier

Intervention in the Primary Grades

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading:

Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier

Intervention in the Primary Grades

IES PRACTICE GUIDE

NCEE2009-4045

U.S.DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION

WHATWORKS CLEARINGHOUSE