Improving Education for English Learners: Research Based Approaches:

1. Improving Education for English Learners: Research Based Approaches: Chapter 2 English Language Development: Foundations and Implementation Kindergarten through Grade 5

2. Main Goal of ELD • Ensure students develop the levels of English proficiency required to succeedacademically “Regardless of the instructional configuration, a specified ELD time allows teachers to deliver explicit English instruction designed specifically for English learners’ levels of proficiency.” (p. 85)

3. 1. Foundations for ELD Instruction for Young Learners • Primary Language • Sociocultural Considerations and Parental and Community Support • Second-Language Acquisition Processes

4. 2. Designing ELDInstruction and Assessment Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment (pp. 98-99) • Plan for instruction must take into account relevant standards because they outline core content of instruction • Components of standards-based reform model • Standards • Assessments • Accountability

5. Designing ELD Instruction and Assessment , continued Role of Academic Language • Students need to be able to transition from ELD to ELA • Teachers should teach the academic language in a directed but interactive manner • One researcher (Gibbons) suggests that teachers create a “language inventory” or list of academic language features found in a unit of instruction

6. Applying Instructional Strategies for Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing pp. 112-122 • Importance of utilizing protracted language events, situated within a context and for the construction of meaning • ELD instruction includes a focus on particular forms and patterns of their construction and use

7. How To Teach Effectively? Six Components of Language Learning • Input • Output • Interaction • Feedback • Rehearsal • Language Understanding

8. Applying Instructional Strategies for Reading • ELs who have some literacy development in their first language tend to transfer those skills to reading in English • Teachers should provide as many authentic sources and purposes for reading as possible in addition to the required reading text. • Label items in classroom • Students read lists, announcements, notes to parents, etc.

9. Applying Instructional Strategies for Reading (cont.) • Introduce academic reading skills to prepare ELs for reading in the content area • Prereading • During reading • Postreading

10. Applying Instructional Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary Underlying proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing is vocabulary. The three categories of words are: • High-frequency general words used regularly in everyday contexts • Nonspecialized academic words that are used across content areas and not specific to any content area • Specialized content-area words that are unique to specific disciplines

11. 3. Examples of Effective ELD InstructionElements of Lesson Plan • ELA and ELD Standards • Content and Language Objectives • Learning Strategy Objective • Materials/Resources • Assessment (self-evaluation) • Explicit Instruction • Practice • Grouping Patterns • Closure • Homework/Extension

12. 4. Professional DevelopmentImplications for Practice • To develop lessons for instructed ELD, teachers need to draw on a variety of resources to deliberately plan for instruction that incorporates components to ensure they maximize student learning. • Districts need to build a comprehensive system that promotes and sustains high quality ELD instruction.

13. A final thought…. “Perhaps most important, it is our hope that teachers of ELD K-5 will become passionate advocates for English learners in their school communities.” p. 137