Chapter 6: Targeted Language Arts & Literacy Instruction

Chapter 6 addresses teaching language and literacy to English learners, focusing on:

  • Language and communication
    o   Learning through language, learning language, and learning about language
  • Naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition
    o   What they look and sound like
    o   Instructional conversations
  • When and why instructed second language acquisition is necessary
    o   Focus on form and formS
    o   Processability theory
    o   Fossilization/stabilization
  • Individual factors and second language acquisition
    o   First language influence
    o   Age
    o   Learner language/interlanguage
  • Comparing mainstream and English language development/English as a second language (ELD/ESL) environments
  • Language form and structure in second language literacy
  • Learning to read in English—native and non-native speaker comparison
  • Role of vocabulary, word forms, and sentence structure in second language reading
  • Describing and measuring English proficiency
    o   WIDA/TESOL levels of proficiency
    o   WIDA Can Do Descriptors
  • Targeting language arts and literacy instruction to English learners’ WIDA levels of proficiency
  • Assessing the gap between Common Core State Standards grade-level language arts and literacy instruction and an EL’s WIDA proficiency level
  • What scaffolding English learners’ language arts and literacy instruction means and how it is done
    o   Pitch, Pace, Portion, and Perspective/Point
  • Use of technology for scaffolding language arts and literacy instruction
  • Protocol for scaffolding language arts and literacy instruction specific to an English learner’s WIDA proficiency level—The Language Arts Protocol
Below we provide additional information on major topics addressed in or relevant to the content of Chapter 6, with links to each topic’s webpage that includes a brief narrative overview of the topic, followed by headings of subtopics with categorized, annotated links to freely available resources that can be used for further study or to activities that can be viewed or conducted in classes or workshops. At the bottom of this page, we share links to online resources for classroom use with English learners K-12.
 

Assessment of English Proficiency

Common Core State Standards

Components of Language

Comparing First and Second Language Acquisition

Historical Language Teaching Methodologies

Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Language Arts Instruction for English Learners

Language Arts Lesson Plans Before and After Application of the Language Arts Protocol

Language Learning Strategies

Literacy Development for Adolescent English Learners

Literacy Development for English Learners with Low Level Literacy in the L1

Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Literacy

WIDA Standards