Far too many English learners have developed speaking and listening skills but remain grades behind in reading, a skill that is critical for academic success. Last month’s guest post about helping English learners read well generated a fair amount of discussion, so I thought it might be useful to continue the conversation.
In the post, Katie Topple made the statement that, “It is also important to carefully balance time dedicated to independent reading with the appropriate amount of reading instruction.”
Absolutely. But the key to this statement is “careful balance.”
Independent reading is an important and necessary part of school. Not only does it provide much-needed practice for building reading stamina, if done well it can ignite in students a love of reading. But it is doubtful that independent reading alone, with occasional teacher guidance, will help English learners become fluent readers who can exit from English learner status, do well in school, and become literate individuals.
Research is clear that explicit teaching of foundational skills is essential. Teachers need to systematically work with students daily on aspects of reading such as
- building vocabulary
- providing feedback to students on their reading
- use of reading strategies
- asking questions to check for understanding and reinforce learning
- engaging in text discussion or other post-reading response activities.
Explicit instruction is made meaningful for English learners when teachers use specific supports and scaffolds such as making word meaning and ideas visual through demonstrations, illustrations, and multimedia; reading text in chunks, asking questions and eliciting discussion, and clarifying before reading the next section; using structural analysis of words to help students organize new words in meaningful ways; differentiating instruction based on language proficiency or skill level; and tapping into what students already know and have experienced and link it to the topic. There are many other scaffolds, techniques, and strategies for making reading instruction understandable and engaging for English learners.
The take-away is that during ELA (English language arts) instruction, English learners need multiple opportunities to interact with words and the kind of text that represents the language they will encounter in academic tasks and on tests, the language that will allow them to express themselves fully in school and beyond, and the language that will prepare them for college and careers. It’s unlikely this will happen without explicit teaching.
Students Need Teachers
Literacy expert Tim Shanahan writes in one of his blog posts, “Given the importance of literacy in our society it is essential that we teach students to read well. With regard to the learning impact of independent reading, the research findings are pretty commonsense: Kids learn something from practicing reading on their own, but they usually learn more when reading under teacher guidance. If kids really learned as much or more from reading on their own as they do from instruction, then we wouldn’t need teachers.” (emphasis mine)
I couldn’t agree more, based on my own experience in classrooms.
In conducting observations over the past few years in urban schools, there have been many times where students, including English learners, were sitting with a book or other reading material for extended periods of time but did not appear to be engaged in actual reading. In recent observation notes I wrote in the margin, Are teachers even necessary?
The thought came to me as a reaction to seeing dozens of classes where virtually no teaching was happening. The majority of the ELA block involved students reading independently, an activity that would be difficult for English learners to sustain given that most don’t have the word knowledge in English to read with comprehension for an extended period of time. Research tells us that students need to understand approximately 95-98% of words to make sense of text.
Yes, English learners need to practice reading. Full stop. But the adage, Practice makes perfect, is only true when the practice is done correctly. In order for skills and knowledge to become automatic, practice must be accurate. It’s unclear what type of practice English learners are engaging in when they are left to “read” on their own for long periods without teacher guidance.
Lack of teacher instruction likely contributes to low literacy levels for English learners. For these students to become competent, independent readers they must be taught how to read and should meet with the teacher for instruction daily. (Typically, we think about reading instruction in the lower grades, but English learners may enter school at any grade and some older students may also require literacy instruction.)
While the reading skills of some English learners may be sufficiently strong to benefit from independent reading, for those students whose reading is below proficient levels, providing explicit instruction might be a better use of their time. Find the appropriate balance for each student, based on his or her reading skill level.
The same is true in bilingual settings. We need to teach students how to read well in both their home language and their second language. Biliteracy is a valuable gift we can give to students, but it needs to be a gift intentionally given — not a wish or a dream.