Adapting Educational Standards for ELLs

ESL Learners Need Targeted Word-Text Based Reading Activities

Aug 28, 2009

When English language learners struggle with the reading proficiency standard, teachers need to rethink how to adapt educational standards to feasible reading activities.

Teachers of English language learners can apply their knowledge of educational standards from their general education classes to help identify and incorporate specific skill sets that are relevant to supporting English language learners. For example, expecting students to skim a paragraph in order to find out the main idea may be a common educational standard for both ESL and general education teachers, but in order for it to be achievable, it must also be feasible.

By taking time to map educational standards that strengthen their instruction, teachers of English language learners can provided targeted reading activities, mainly word-text activities, for the skills that cause new and transitioning English language learners great difficulty.

Adapting Educational Standards in Reading Lessons for ELLs

Teachers decide on the content of each standard, and what type of exercise they will use to evaluate each educational standard. In reading lessons for example, teachers can ask themselves which type of exercise functions best and incorporates contextual and relevant information (ie. multiple choice items, matching items, open-ended questions, closes, true and false questions).

The process of adjusting educational standards should naturally develop into different instructional practices and methods. For example, teachers can extend read-alouds to include more fluency-based activities. As teachers experiment with new activities, they can take notes as they reflect on the activity. Alternatively, if teachers see a need to reinforce phonics using a decodable text, they can first expose sounds via word families then allow students to hear those as a read-aloud, or they can read the story on their own. As a final stage, the teacher can provide additional opportunities for practice.

Ongoing Assessments Ensure Progress

Teachers can also choose to implement a variety of informal assessments, ongoing check-ups, and oral fluency tests, such as timed readings, where the immediate goal is to improve performance, rather than to emphasize standardization. Teachers may also decide to conduct individual tutorials in order to address progress from word to text based skills. According to Rebecca Simmons, "Assessment is not something [teachers] tack onto learning; it is an essential ongoing component of instruction that guides the process of learning" (Culham, 2003, p.11). Since word-text building skills are the most difficult for ELLs to acquire, teachers should work consistently to build an interactive continuum between learning and assessment opportunities (Shanahan and August, 2006).

Once teachers identify significant areas that are at-risk, or areas of difficulty, they can use their knowledge of educational standards for English language learners and target educational goals to reflect classroom learning and assessment that reflect learner independence and growth.

August, Diane, and Timothy, Shanahan (Eds.) Executive Summary. Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Litearcy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Mahweh: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006. Accessed: 8 January 2009.

Culham, R. 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. Jefferson City, MO: Scholastic Professional Books. 2003.

The copyright of the article Adapting Educational Standards for ELLs in English as a Second Language is owned by Dorit Sasson. Permission to republish Adapting Educational Standards for ELLs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.