Tag: Biliteracy

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

June 28, 2023 2:09 pm

The Science of Learning a Second Language

Learning a new language is not easy. Trading outdated instruction for science of reading-backed techniques can help give English language learners the skills they need for biliteracy.

“English is HARD.”

This was my students’ (and my) mantra whenever we encountered something about the language that just didn’t make sense. I was teaching English language development, or ELD, for newcomers in grades 9–12, most of whom were native Spanish speakers.

As anyone who’s taken a language class in high school or college knows, it gets more difficult to learn a language the older you get. That’s what I always assumed was the reason behind my students’ struggle to acquire English. That, and the fact that I agreed that English is “HARD.”

I agreed that

English is “HARD.”

Without a background in linguistics (and as a first-year teacher), I couldn’t quite explain why it was hard, though. I just knew there were exceptions to every rule I taught.

But 10 years later, the science of reading is helping me understand — both why it was so challenging for my students and what kind of instruction would have helped them. The science of reading is “the converging evidence of what matters and what works in literacy instruction, organized around models that describe how and why.” Research tells us that systematic instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary, combined with fluency and comprehension is what builds foundational literacy skills and sets students up for a lifetime of reading success.

Here are 3 ways the science of reading can help improve instruction for ELs:

What I did:
Encouraged (okay, begged) my students to only speak English in the classroom
My district’s ELD curriculum recommended only allowing students to speak English in the classroom. Though I knew it would be a tough sell, I found some merit to it. If there were students with different native languages, English became the unifying language in the class — keeping students from feeling excluded. And the more you immerse yourself in a language, the faster you learn it.

Why that didn’t work:
At any given point, 90 to 100% of my students were from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, and that was how they communicated with each other — regardless of how convincing I thought I was. As teenagers feeling singled out in remedial ELD classes at a high school in a new country, it made sense that they defaulted to the language they felt comfortable speaking.

But the main reason this didn’t work wasn’t because of their noncompliance. It was because what made learning English especially hard for my students was a lack of literacy skills in any language. Inconsistent schooling led to their Spanish reading and writing skills being far below grade level.

1

What the science tells us: language skills transfer from one language to another

In my professional development for the ELD curriculum, the trainers assured teachers that a student’s proficiency in their first language had no bearing on their ability to learn English. Though that felt wrong to me, I didn’t have the confidence to question it as a new teacher. We now know this isn’t accurate.

Because research shows that students use the same sound/letter correspondence skills within and across languages, we can assume that their ability to map letters with sounds transfers from literacy instruction in one language to another. So, while the intention to focus on acquiring English via complete immersion was logical, it was unrealistic for my students who needed a basic foundation of language skills in their first language. Without that, learning another language would require more than just avoiding Spanish (actually, quite the opposite).

What I did:
Focused on grammar over vocabulary. My grammar-based direct instruction curriculum emphasized understanding the structure and syntax of English over the meanings of individual words. I was teaching my students to identify the parts of speech of words they didn’t know based on their placement in a sentence they also didn’t understand. It was frustrating for all of us.

Why that didn’t work:
When you’re first learning a new language, you naturally gravitate to the words and phrases that are important to you. If you’re traveling, “please” and “thank you” are useful. If you are learning a new style of cooking, you’ll want to learn the names of foods. And if you’re a baby, your first word will be the most important object in your world (usually ‘dada’ or ‘mama,’ or in my son’s case, ‘panda’). Once you learn those words, you can then build the understanding needed to notice how they are placed in a sentence.

My students showed me this as they repeatedly asked me what words meant, while I unsuccessfully tried to reroute them back to the grammar concept we were learning. Finally, I gave in and started “What does it mean” Wednesdays. They collected English words and phrases they encountered in their daily lives — at work, on the bus, at the doctor’s office — and we spent 30 minutes crowdsourcing the definitions. This was easily the most engaged my students were all week — because it mattered to them.

2

What the science tells us: vocabulary supports comprehension and fluency, especially when incorporating syntax instruction

In other words, if grammar and syntax are the structure of language, vocabulary is the building blocks. This is not to say we should throw out grammar instruction entirely (though students might celebrate). Evidence shows that increasing vocabulary boosts students’ reading comprehension and fluency, requiring less decoding and allowing them to read for meaning. But when you combine that vocabulary practice with explicit syntax instruction, emerging bilinguals show increased comprehension — able to unlock meaning not just from the words themselves but also from how they are organized in the sentence.

What I did:
Practiced English letter sounds individually. During our daily language warm-up, we practiced “saying” a few different letters at a time. Without much more direction than that in the teacher’s guide, this was challenging. When faced with the letter “a,” it seemed like I discovered another pronunciation with each practice attempt. There are the long and short sounds like “make” and “cat,” of course, but then also “want” and “many.”

Why that didn’t work:
Decoding demands are different in English and Spanish. Focusing on single letter sounds in English was confusing for my students whose first language was Spanish. That’s because Spanish is a phonetically regular language, with 27 letters mapping to 22-24 phonemes, while English, with 26 letters and 44 possible phonemes, is not. Native Spanish speakers expect the letters to make the same sounds wherever they are placed in a word, and that’s just not the case.

3

What the science tells us: English requires more intense explicit phonemic awareness

Learning to read in Spanish requires an emphasis on syllable awareness. In fact, once students learn the basic sound-symbol correspondences, they can easily decode and read most Spanish words with a high degree of accuracy. But in English, phonemic awareness is crucial — especially when coming from a language where sounds and letters make more “sense.” Activities like rhyming, segmentation, and blending help students to understand all the different sounds English letters can make, by themselves and when combined with others.

While it’s hard to look back at all the things I should have done differently as a teacher, it’s promising to know that first-year language arts teachers now will start teaching with all of my science of reading hindsight as their basis of instruction. But I would still love to travel back in time and give my students exactly what they needed: English language instruction grounded in the science of reading combined with high-quality Spanish language arts (SLA) to reinforce literacy in their first language. Maybe then our class mantra could have been more like “English is hard, but we have the skills and support to learn it.” (Even if the last part was just in my head because high schoolers would never say that.)

About the Author – Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.

The Science of Reading Applied

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August 8, 2022 8:00 am

Multilingual Learners: Designing for Meaningful Interaction

Empower language learners to participate in classroom discussions with opportunities for observation and an environment that welcomes mistakes.

My teaching assignment in my first year was primarily English language learners from newcomer to almost reclassified in both EL-specific and ELA classes. As an idealistic new teacher having just read all the books and soaked up all that my student teaching had to offer, I thought that if I supplied them with the words, via labels and sentence frames, my students would have what they needed to participate in the lively classroom discussions I envisioned. I quickly learned that was not the case.  


The first time I asked my students an open-ended question, I was met with a silence so enduring that the touted “7-second pause” wasn’t nearly enough. Rewording my question didn’t change the response either. Perplexed and frustrated, I continued with our beginning-of-the-year activities. It wasn’t until later, when I had more success with eliciting answers, that I realized my students didn’t feel safe speaking up yet. That’s because research shows  “if English language learners (ELLs) are going to productively engage in classroom discourse and express their thinking related to content learning goals, teachers must create a trusting classroom culture in which students feel that whatever level of language they can produce, their contributions will be valued by their teacher and peers and will never be subject to ridicule, sanctions, or negative comparisons.” While this research (and my experience) speaks to English language learners specifically, we can also apply the recommendations to dual language programs — where every student is a language learner. 

“If English language learners (ELLs) are going to productively engage in classroom discourse and express their thinking related to content learning goals, teachers must create a trusting classroom culture in which students feel that whatever level of language they can produce, their contributions will be valued by their teacher and peers and will never be subject to ridicule, sanctions, or negative comparisons.”

Aída Walqui & Margaret Heritage

I hadn’t yet proven to them that our classroom met these criteria. It took many cheesy icebreakers, games, and showing time and time again that mistakes were a welcome part of learning to establish our room as a safe space. But despite the comfort we felt together and what I believed were thought-provoking questions, the room was still mostly silent (or off topic) during small-group academic discussions. What was I missing? 

I decided to go back to the basics because it seemed logical that before they’re comfortable participating in academic discussions, students need to feel confident in basic communication in the classroom. I decided to try a few things. 

Labeling the room 

As a high school teacher, this felt a little weird to me. But I grabbed a permanent marker and index cards and labeled everything I could think of around the classroom. Whiteboard, computer, pencil sharpener – you name it, it got a label. At first, my students thought it was strange too, but then it just became part of our classroom.  

The students who didn’t need them didn’t really pay attention to them after the initial wonderment, but I soon noticed students referencing the labels when asking me a question or talking to classmates. While primarily useful linguistically for my EL students, the mere existence of the labels continued my work of normalizing the various language acquisition levels within our class and maintaining an environment where anyone could get the help they needed without feeling embarrassed.  

Supplying sentence frames – or “formulaic expressions”  

The next level up from labeling the room, I started including what I called sentence frames with my discussion questions. Walqui and Heritage call these “formulaic expressions” because they “help start or link ideas and can be used in many situations,” whereas sentence frames are more specific and often lead to a single correct answer. 

Where the labels around the room were used almost exclusively by ELs, I quickly noticed that most (if not all) of my students used the formulaic expressions. Academic discourse doesn’t come naturally, native English speaker or not, so having the language to frame their ideas helped students feel more confident. They could then use these phrases, like “One example from the text is…” or “I agree with what ____ said about…” in other classes or sometimes even their writing. 

Turning on the closed captions 

This might be controversial, but I think movies can be legitimate language-learning tools. Before I lose all ethos as you picture me popping on a movie for my students every day in the name of “learning,” this statement comes with two caveats: first, we watch movies sparingly (and not all in one sitting); second, the closed captions must be on – in English (or whichever language students are learning). 

My newcomer students hated that last bit, but I never gave in to their pleas to change the language to Spanish (the majority native language in my class). While watching a movie in English was pretty far out of their comfort zones, being able to both hear and read the words not only improved their comprehension of the movie but helped supply them with real-life examples of conversation.   

——————————– 

At this point I felt like I had established a safe learning environment and provided my students with the language scaffolds they needed. So why were we still struggling with academic discussions? What was still missing? 

Low-stakes opportunities for discussion 

Even though we had a classroom culture where mistakes were welcomed and I reiterated that academic discussions should still feel like regular conversations, students naturally became nervous and stiff when it came time to discuss. EL students in particular would be noticeably more reserved.  

Knowing that “by some estimates, ELLs spend less than 2 percent of their school day in oral interaction,” I was determined to get my students speaking. That’s when I started doing something almost painfully simple. After our daily independent reading time, I would say, “turn to your partner and tell them what’s happening in your book right now.” These casual conversations didn’t feel academic to students and got them speaking – to the point where I usually had to cut them off.  

a group of students sitting around a table listening to the teacher

Modeling (fishbowl discussion) 

To bring the level of comfort they showed when talking about their books to the more “high stakes” types of conversations, I turned to a tried-and-true method: modeling. I found, especially for language learners, that seeing and hearing a model almost always resulted in more plentiful and confident interactions. In fact, if I didn’t provide an example for an activity, they always asked for one. 

So, to model a discussion, I wrote two scripts – one not-so-fruitful discussion and one more substantive. Student volunteers sat in the middle of the room and acted out each discussion, leaving time in between and afterwards to talk about the differences between the two. I was amazed at how observant the students were. Together, we listed what could improve in the first conversation and the qualities that made the second more effective. 

Opportunities to evaluate (discussion tracking) 

While the fishbowl model demonstrated that my students could identify the ideal characteristics of an academic discussion, it still had only minor effects on their own. That’s when I decided to turn their small-group discussions into mini fishbowls.  

I created a small checklist of the effective discussion “moves” that we identified in our whole-group fishbowl activity – asking a question, incorporating evidence, etc.— plus formulaic expressions they might use. Everyone got a checklist, but only half the students were speaking participants in the discussions that day. The other half were sitting on the outside of the group, listening to one specific person and keeping track of their participation.  

Having the opportunity to observe a real discussion before participating was equal parts eye-opening and comforting for my EL students. Then, they were able to follow along on the checklist with sentence starters when it was their turn to participate. Our classroom culture where students felt safe making mistakes was key as they were able to hold each other accountable for the checklist without judgment. 

It certainly wasn’t perfect. At one point I even incorporated a whole-class fishbowl version of the discussion tracking so that we could go over the dos and don’ts of each role. But academic discussions, and ensuring everyone benefited from them, became another aspect of our classroom dynamic that was always a work in progress. Ultimately, increasing the amount of time ELs spend interacting in the classroom is not just about giving them a seat at the table with the tools they might need, but about ensuring that they know their voice is valued in the room. That is truly the key that unlocks all the other strategies because students must feel safe to take the necessary risks that open the door to learning.  

About the Author – Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.  

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May 16, 2022 12:00 am

Key Components of Authentic Spanish Language Arts Instruction

Imagine Learning created a Cultural Advisory Board of Spanish Language Arts experts to seek feedback for constant improvement in authenticity of content and pedagogy. Here are their suggestions.

Map of United States showing the 2021 DLI Programs

There is a growing consensus among educators that dual-language programs are essential to student success, especially as we prepare them for a global economy. In fact, there has been substantial growth in dual language programs from 300 in 2001 to 3600 in 2021, an 1100% increase. Additionally, Spanish accounts for 80% of these language immersion programs in the U.S., so there is a massive demand for Spanish Language Arts (SLA) programs. A significant challenge, however, is providing authentic Spanish instruction. Imagine Español draws upon the expertise of a Cultural Advisory Board to understand the key components of an effective SLA program. The board consists of directors of dual language programs, district administrators, instructional coaches, and educators from our customer base. Here’s what we learned:

1. Authentic Spanish content drives student engagement

Board members shared that students are less engaged, and it is challenging to maintain their interest when they learn Spanish from trans-adapted rather than authentic content. According to Market Research, “The growing population of such students presents an opportunity to provide them with materials to address their needs. Some educators complain that materials offered for students are simply translations of standard materials, lacking the authenticity of content developed in the language. As schools become more diverse — with some large districts reporting more than 100 different languages spoken —educators say they cannot find resources for some English-language learners.” What teachers are looking for is content that is specifically created to support SLA instruction. This authentic content should provide rich language support through vocabulary practice, independent reading, and assessments while also inspiring cultural appreciation and a love for the Spanish language.

Screenshot from Imagine Español showing the vocabulary word agitar
Group of people watching a street performance

2. Representation in Spanish instruction is key

It’s common for SLA programs to focus primarily on content from Mexico, but providing content that embraces the diversity of Latin American culture promotes inclusivity. “‘If we can make children feel more whole and more ready and more accepted and welcomed and validate their prior knowledge and prior learning experiences, then we’ve gone a long way to making them ready to learn over the course of a lifetime,’ says Tara Fortune, immersion program director at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.”

3. Instruction should be standards-aligned

As dual-language program adoption is expanding across schools in the U.S., there is greater demand for standards-aligned SLA education, particularly at the elementary level. Many states have their own SLA-specific standards, such as California. WIDA (World Class Instructional Design and Assessment) is a consortium of states with common SLA standards created in the early 2000s.

Because the creation and expansion of SLA programs and standards across the United States is more recent, there are not many SLA programs to choose from, let alone programs that are aligned with standards. The Center on Standards & Assessment Implementation described the important relationship between standards and curriculum: “Standards indicate what students should know and be able to do within a particular content area, while curriculum shapes how students will gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities as described in the standards.” A standards-aligned curriculum ensures teachers that students will focus on the skills they need, like accents, to be language proficient. SLA standards ask students to not only learn syllable emphasis but also to classify words by types of accents, such as agudas, graves, and esdrújulas, and also to spell words by placing accents correctly.

Laptop showing the Spanish Language Arts program

4. Digital instruction needs to be accessible to all students

The pandemic has brought to light the need for learning solutions to be accessible to students of all abilities, as well as for students who may be completing work on a smaller device, like a smartphone. Certain functions, like dragging and dropping, can be challenging, so providing multiple ways to respond to questions improves accessibility. Additionally, audio supports that read buttons or features allowed when students hover over them help to ensure all students can successfully complete the activity. This video shows an Imagine Español activity where students can use the different audio and video supports to learn vocabulary in multiple ways.

As dual-language programs become more prevalent, SLA curriculums evolve from their previous supplemental roles to be more front and center. And the experts all agree — to reach students, authenticity is key.

About the Author — Deviki Gupta

Product Marketing Manager, Imagine Español and Imagine Reading

Deviki Gupta is a Product Marketing Manager for Imagine Español and Imagine Reading. She leverages her six-year experience in EdTech and Big Data research to integrate customer insights into the product development and marketing roadmaps for Imagine Learning’s suite of dual-language solutions. Deviki is passionate about making bilingual education inclusive, culturally representative, and accessible for all.

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March 31, 2021 8:00 am

Motivating English Learners

Read one Texas teacher’s creative strategies for keeping English-learning students energized and motivated.

Teachers across the country are finding innovative ways to engage English learners (EL) in the classroom and online.

In Austin, Texas, Webb Middle School has been incorporating Imagine Language & Literacy curriculum in their classrooms for over four years to help students learn and practice the English language.

Genoveva Zamarron, who herself was an English learner, now leads the English Language Development Academy (ELDA) for Webb Middle School. In recognition of her excellence, Genoveva was awarded the Top Imagine Language & Literacy usage teacher in February 2021!

We sat down with Genoveva to learn how she inspires and motivates her students to achieve their academic goals.

“I didn’t speak English when I was little and now, I teach English. My experience helps me motivate them. I want [students] to be a success story because I consider myself a success story!”

Genoveva Zamarron

Literacy and Language in the Classroom

For EL students at Webb Middle School, a typical day includes three to four hours working in the ELDA program before moving onto their elective or additional core classes.

In the ELDA program, Genoveva incorporates Imagine Learning content and in-person lessons so students further develop their English skills.

And in her classroom, Genoveva pairs students who speak Spanish with others who speak Arabic to encourage them to learn outside of their comfort zones and build confidence in speaking English.

To ensure that the platform is accessible to students and families who speak and read in another language, Genoveva provides instructions in various languages so students can get started on their work right away.

Additionally, students are taught how to monitor their progress and grades to drive self-discipline and accountability for their own success. Genoveva explains that “the confidence of the student is powerful,” because they need to see how their efforts directly affect their progress and grades.

As part of the curriculum, students record themselves completing oral assignments to practice their English. Genoveva has adopted the practice of sitting down with struggling students to listen to the recordings together.

This helps students understand how they are being graded on oral assignments — for comprehension, fluency, phonics, etc. — and hear the improvements in their English.

Students sitting on the floor listening to a story

Keeping Students Motivated

Genoveva reflects a lot on what it was like for her to grow up in the United States as an English learner, and shares these experiences with her students to help inspire them to become proficient English speakers.

Some of her students would be the first English speaker in their family and the first to attend schooling in the United States, so it’s important to keep them motivated and confident in their education.

One of the amazing ways students stay energized in the ELDA program is with the Imagine Learning wall (pictured above). Students note each day’s progress — including completions and successes — on activity cards, which they then add to the wall.

Seeing their progress and successes allows for some healthy competition between students, and further motivates them to work hard to reach their goals.

This is also a great way to get students active and out of their seats as they work on their online schoolwork.

Another special experience students can earn is the opportunity to attend field trips outside of the classroom.

As many of her students are new to the United States, Genoveva rewards them with short trips to practice and experience their new English skills in the outside world. Just this month, the students with the highest number of active minutes got to go to the theater to see a movie in English!

Getting Parents and Guardians On Board

We asked Genoveva what advice she would give to fellow educators, and she confirmed that building relationships with students and their families is how you can best drive success.

From day one, she expresses the importance of building those relationships so students feel supported and motivated in and out of the classroom.

She also holds her students to the same standards as her son, and expects them all to do their best.

Genoveva also sometimes shares pictures of the student’s homework so parents and guardians can help them continue working on their skills at home. This provides families with the tools they need to provide their students with that additional one-on-one support they receive in the classroom.

By building relationships with families and empowering students in and out of the classroom, Genoveva’s program has given English learners the confidence to reach their goals and set them up for success outside of the classroom.

Motivate Your English Learners

Discover how Imagine Language & Literacy can deliver targeted support to students acquiring English.

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