Educating English Language Learners

Genesee, Fred; Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn J.; Saunders, Bill; Christian, Donna

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511499913

Cited by 408 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…Second, it is crucial to have intensive reading program that explicitly teach students important reading skills in both the native and target languages. This lends support to the developmental interdependence theory, which hypothesizes that reading across all languages is associated with common abilities that can be transferred from the native language to the target language when an L1 reader's reading abilities reach a certain level (Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, & Christian, 2006). This also supports the language threshold theory, which holds that a certain level (threshold) of linguistic proficiency in L2 needs to be attained before L1 linguistic skills can be transferred to facilitate L2 reading (Lems, Miller, & Soro, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Why Do Saudi EFL Readers Exhibit Poor Reading Abilities?

Al-Qahtani¹

2016

ELLS

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The aim of the current study was to investigate the reasons behind Saudi learners' poor reading skills. To this end, the objectives were to identify the reading habits of Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) middle school learners, to understand the extent to which Saudi EFL middle school learners use reading comprehension skills and to explore the perceptions of learners, teachers and supervisors regarding Saudi EFL learners' reading abilities. The study sample consisted of 90 Saudi EFL middle school students, eight EFL teachers and six supervisors. The students were surveyed and interviewed about their reading habits and use of reading skills, while the teachers and supervisors were interviewed to explore their perceptions about reading instruction in the Saudi context. The results revealed that most Saudi EFL students lack the necessary reading habits in L1 and L2. In addition, they rarely make use of important reading skills when they read English texts. This study identified "lack of exposure to target language", "poor teaching skills and teacher training programs", "little attention to comprehension and more attention to reading aloud", "students' lack of motivation", "little emphasis on reading skills in textbooks", "unfamiliar and unsuitable reading topics", "lack of reading skills training for students", "students' limited vocabulary" and "lack of parental involvement" as the most important factors behind Saudi students' poor reading abilities. The study concluded with important recommendations and suggestions for future research.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Why Do Saudi EFL Readers Exhibit Poor Reading Abilities?

Al-Qahtani¹

2016

ELLS

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“…Research to support a bilingual framework for assessing students is virtually nonexistent (August & Shanahan, 2006;Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, & Christian, 2006). Despite the dearth of research, it is important to recognize that of the little research that exists, there is a growing body that supports the notion that EB children draw on all of their linguistic resources as they learn to read and write in two languages (Bedore, Peña, García, & Cortez, 2005;García, Kleifgen, & Falchi, 2008;Gort, 2006;Martínez-Roldán & Sayer, 2006).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling Reader or Emerging Biliterate Student? Reevaluating the Criteria for Labeling Emerging Bilingual Students as Low Achieving

Hopewell

Escamilla

2013

Journal of Literacy Research

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Data systems that use monolingual language frameworks to understand the reading achievement of third-grade students provide inadequate information about emerging bilingual (EB) learners. The authors of this research study apply two competing ideologies (parallel monolingualism and holistic bilingualism) to interpret one set of data. Their findings demonstrate that the same set of scores tells an entirely different story depending on the frames of reference and that these differences are statistically significant. Specifically, they use their analyses to problematize the impact of the Colorado Basic Literacy Act (CBLA) on the categorization of third-grade EB learners. Generalizing from the Colorado data, the authors consider the implications of their findings in a national context of increasing numbers of bilingual learners. Finally, they offer suggestions for site-based school district responses and broader state level policy implications by highlighting one school district's response to their findings. KeywordsBilingual, ESL, biliteracy, assessment, diagnosis, at risk, struggling, diversity, minority, SES issues There are two fundamentally divergent paradigms that drive the discussion about how best to assess bilingual students' competencies. The core difference is whether or not a person who lives life regularly through two languages should be compared with monolingual speakers of either language or should be considered a fundamentally

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“…We suggest that this standard deserves particular consideration since many school reform efforts purport to be dedicated to this goal, without specifying exactly how this would happen and the additional resources that would be required beyond those to reach the previous goals. The research on second language acquisition suggests that the closing of achievement gaps is most likely to occur in the context of a biliteracy curriculum (August & Shanahan, 2006;Genesee et al, 2006;Slavin & Cheung, 2004). However, there are many who argue that it is impossible to reach such a standard given U.S. social policy and the paradigm of public schooling (see, for example, Rothstein, 2004).…”

Section: Goals Of Instructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining an Adequate Education for English Learners

Gándara

Rumberger

2008

Education Finance and Policy

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This article explores the components of an “adequate” education for linguistic minority students in California and attempts to distinguish these from the components of an adequate education for low-income students who are native English speakers. About 1.6 million students were classified as English learners (ELs) in California in 2006. We argue that in order to determine the costs of educating these students, it is necessary to specify the goals of instruction. Four possible goals are: (1) reclassification to fluent English proficient (FEP) only; (2) reclassification to FEP and maintenance of academic proficiency; (3) reclassification with biliteracy; and (4) reclassification and closing of achievement gaps. Each goal implies different resource needs. We conclude that most additional resources needed by EL students are similar to those for other low-income children; some specific areas of need that differ are English language development (ELD) materials and additional skills for teachers. Biliteracy can be achieved with modest additional investment.

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Educating English Language Learners

Cited by 408 publications

References 105 publications

Why Do Saudi EFL Readers Exhibit Poor Reading Abilities?

Why Do Saudi EFL Readers Exhibit Poor Reading Abilities?

Struggling Reader or Emerging Biliterate Student? Reevaluating the Criteria for Labeling Emerging Bilingual Students as Low Achieving

Defining an Adequate Education for English Learners

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