Reading Strategies for English Language Learners

In classrooms today, the rapidly growing numbers of non-English speakers present a challenge to teachers of reading comprehension. However, there are strategies that will help make text comprehensible to English Language Learners (ELL). Browse the following webcasts at the link below to discover many effective ways to reach and support ELL students in your class.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/videos/webcasts

Summary

Reading research provides educators with the knowledge to effectively teach students to read. The National Reading Panel Report and Reading First have identified the five big ideas which are critical to learning to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. The articles you have read in this section provide many strategies and best practices to implement in your classroom.

You have also learned about the developmental stages of reading. Each reader progresses through these stages. It is important to keep the characteristics of the reader in each stage in mind when selecting texts on an appropriate level and choosing scaffolding strategies for reader independence. From oral language to decoding to critical analysis of text, students develop into proficient, independent, lifelong readers because of the carefully designed instruction they have received and the modeling of other good readers who show them a love for reading.