ELL Reading - Final Exam

Jennifer Abbatiello

5/2/05

ELL Reading - Final Exam

I. DEFINITIONS

1. Interference – Interference occurs when a person learning a second language transfers something from his/her first language that doesn’t work in the target language. The interference in the second language is actually caused by the knowledge of another language. Generally second language learners try to make grammatical rules based on their primary languages – sometimes these concepts work and are referred to as transfer. Other times, the concepts transferred are incorrect for the target language, causing interference.

2. K-W-L – The KWL chart works as a pre-, during, and post-reading activity. It carries through the entire process of reading. The first step is to activate prior knowledge by listing all the things the students think they know about a topic. Then they come up with questions they want find out. When they have completed the reading, they fill out what they learned through the reading. The last part is sometimes forgotten, but it is really important for summarizing what the students learned.

3. Learning Logs – Learning logs are used in the classroom to help students process what they are learning in class. Students can take notes, ask questions, point out confusion, define and illustrate important vocabulary terms, and record important concepts. It is a metacognitive approach that helps students figure out what they are learning and discern what they need more work with. Also, writing these important concepts down helps the students remember them a little better.

4. Aesthetic Reading – Aesthetic reading is reading for the purpose of feeling or experiencing the story. Normally, literary texts, such as novels, fairy tales, etc. fall under the category of aesthetic reading. There is a story, characters, a setting, a problem and solution. The reader’s purpose is to feel what the characters are experiencing, as opposed to learning something as is done in Efferent Reading.

5. TPR – TPR (Total Physical Response) was a method of teaching popular in the 1970s. This method is designed for beginning English Language Learners, and predominantly utilizes commands as a means of learning English. The teacher gives commands, which are acted upon by the students. For example, the teacher might say, “Close the door.” The student would then close the door to show his/her comprehension. TPR does not require production from the student, creating a lower anxiety setting. However, the students learn the form of commands and not much more.

II. SHORT ANSWERS

1. Pre-reading and post-reading activities are equally important in second language reading. Pre-reading strategies are used to activate the readers’ prior knowledge and start them thinking about the topic they will read about it. This way, they have retrieved the important “files” in their brains that pertain to the reading they will tackle. This sets them up for more success than simply trying to undertake it cold. Pre-reading strategies are also meant to prepare students for the vocabulary that they will face in the reading. It may require learning new words or simply retrieving words that are important for comprehension. Pre-reading strategies are designed to prepare the students for what they are about to read and help them make sense of the reading by interacting with it.

Conversely, the goal of post-reading strategies is to organize the information that the reader has learned. Graphic organizers that help organize ideas, categorize vocabulary, and strengthen comprehension are useful following a reading. Post-reading strategies are also intended to help the reader retain the information they have acquired. Reflecting on the material and organizing it help make it more easily accessible in the future. Post-reading strategies act as the storing of the new information, allowing for easy access to it and connecting it to future lessons and readings.

In order for ELLs to find success in reading, they need to utilize pre-, during-, and post-reading activities. These strategies will help support them in their attempts to comprehend what they are reading, while making connections to other material, life experiences, and the world, and then storing the information in ways that make sense. All three phases of reading are vital to the reading process.

2. Sustained Silent Reading is one of the most important parts of my third graders’ school day. When the National Reading Panel came out with its report, indicating that SSR had no real value in learning to read, I was absolutely shocked. I was not yet teaching at the time, so I wasn’t sure what I would do when I had my own class. My first day of school – we had an Ice Cream Social for the new third graders – one of my student’s mothers came up to me and said, “I don’t like to read. My son doesn’t like to read. I don’t make ‘em read.” Again, total shock! What was less shocking was that the boy was one of my lower readers. Right then I decided that SSR certainly has a place in the classroom, even if its purpose is simply to make students enjoy reading. I see it this way – I hate to play golf, so I will never become a better golfer simply because I have no interest in it and I don’t want to even try. Kids and reading are the exact same. If they don’t like to read or are intimidated by reading (as some ELLs may be), they are never going to put forth the effort to improve. SSR has had an important place in my classroom ever since. Luckily, I haven’t had an administrator who supports the National Reading Panel. I was greatly relieved to see that highly respected and well-known researchers such as Stephen Krashen provide evidence in strong support of the benefits of independent reading. Through my ELL studies, I have acquired a greater conviction for independent reading and now insist on it occurring every single day. I can honestly say that my students would be lost without SSR time – it’s their favorite time of the day (next to good old recess and P.E.) I have seen the benefits every day. By the end of that first year, that same boy who hated reading said to me, “Miss Abbatiello, I really like to read now.”

III. ANALYSIS

3a. In this particular situation, the most important component to the children’s success is a strong collaboration and cooperation among the students’ other teachers and me. I would use the daily ESL time to incorporate what the children are learning in the other classes into our instruction. Topics they may be studying in social studies or science, we could explore more in-depth through a reading passage. This way, students are practicing their reading skills and strategies, while simultaneously setting them up for more success in their other rooms. Close teamwork with the ELLs’ other teachers will allow me to introduce topics to them before they reach them in their regular class. This way, the students have a better chance of understanding and doing well in the other classes and thus creating a more even playing field. Math, too, would be explored in our ESL classroom to help provide the students with the necessary vocabulary. I would make sure that the students use authentic, hands-on materials to help teach them about topics they will be studying, while simultaneously integrating those topics into our reading and writing instruction.

3b. I would try to employ hands-on activities as often as possible in my classroom, especially in terms of developing a concept or defining a vocabulary term. Acting out something or actually being able to touch the item no doubt increases the students’ motivation, interest, and interaction with the word or concept associated with it. I would also provide activities that promote the use of reading strategies. After all, practice makes permanent. The more a child practices a strategy, the more apt he/she is to apply it to independent reading. Strategies like predicting, previewing, monitoring, and summarizing are important skills for every reader to have.

3c. Giving feedback to students on their reading performance all depends on the child and the problems he/she is facing. I think that conferencing works best in most situations, both with the student and maybe with the parent, so that he/she could make sure his/her child is practicing such skills at home (even if he/she may not be able to help.) I would also encourage parents to read with the child in their native language – reading strategies transfer across the languages, so learning to read well in their primary language will help their reading skills improve in the target language as well. I would provide the students with activities that they could practice at home in order to help their “weaker” areas. For example, a student whose fluency is lacking would receive books and tapes to listen and practice reading along until their speed and accuracy increases. Students who struggle with vocabulary would be given a journal to write down words they are not familiar with, along with what they think the word means based on the clues in the story. We would then discuss those words in small groups and use the clues to help create a definition and illustrate the word. Feedback is important for students to receive – but what’s more important is that the feedback is appropriate for the individual learning needs of the student.

3d. Conferencing is an important part of teaching. Not only does it provide students with one-on-one time with the teacher, in which they have all the attention and focus of their teacher, but it also provides individual, tailored instruction. Students learn differently, which makes it that much more important to teach them differently and reach their individual needs. Conferencing can be time-consuming, but it is worth the time invested in it.

IV. RESEARCH ESSAY

An effective way to teach reading and writing is to integrate the content areas into language arts instruction. This is beneficial for ELLs, but also works well for native English speakers as well. Integrating the content areas into literacy instruction makes for better teaching, more authentic materials, and a higher level of interest from the students and the teacher.

Resources like Britannica and the FCPS site provide a variety of resources to reach a variety of students. The Britannica site features a plethora of topics which will appeal to different students’ interests. The daily biographies and “This Date in History” give a brief overview that familiarizes students with people and topics that their native peers may have background in. in something piques the students’ interests, the class can study it more thoroughly.

Motivation will greatly be increased if teachers allow the students to choose some of the topics to read about. This will satisfy their curiosity about certain subjects while encouraging them to use their reading and writing skills to make sense of the information.

The FCPS site is chockfull of lesson ideas and ways to incorporate the content areas into literacy instruction. This source is a great resource for teachers that are just beginning to integrate their lessons, as it gives a jumping off point. One of my favorite aspects is the number of suggested ways to implement content area vocabulary development – an important area of ELL instruction.

Since academic language takes more time for English Language Learners to acquire, it is important to focus on it. One of the best ways to increase the student’s content vocabulary is to introduce them to these terms repeatedly. If they read them and hear them over and over, they will eventually begin to use them. Simply reading books and stories that include sight words and everyday communicative terms will not help widen the students’ academic language proficiency. Through using content area material in their literacy instruction, the ELLs will learn more terms that will help them increase their Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency.

Standards-based instruction is a concern for all teachers and is increasingly being pushed in the classroom. As standardized tests become a regular component of education, so does the need to meet standards in daily activities. This is especially important for ELL teachers. The ELLs are expected to meet the same standards as the native English speakers, and so must work twice as hard to catch up. ELL teachers need to maintain their students’ content area instruction while simultaneously teaching them to read, write, listen, and speak in English. An integrative program will help tackle this seemingly impossible task through hitting “two birds with one stone.”

V. ESSAY

2. Literacy is such a broad term. It encompasses so many factors and practices and is different for every single person. It is dependent upon both cognitive and social factors, a concept that is only recently being explored. English Language Learners are people, and therefore social factors are very much a part of their success in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The cognitive factors are more obvious – how a student thinks and how much education he/she has no doubt affects his/her literacy. The social factors that affect literacy development may be less apparent, but nonetheless essential for students’ success.

This social aspect pertains to a number of factors – how the new culture is viewed in the native culture, how the native culture is embraced in the new culture, what the native culture values and places importance on, customs and habits of the native culture, family values of the native culture, educational values of that culture…the list is endless. What is important is that teachers realize that these factors do play a major role in the students’ literacy development. Teachers need to be aware of this and remember to value the native cultures in the American classrooms – read multicultural books, celebrate holidays around the world, compare/contrast customs and rules of different cultures. The more the native culture is embraced, the more success the ELLs will find in their new culture.