Transformational Opportunities: Language and Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners in the Common Core Era in the United States

Abstract

New demands of the Common Core State Standards imply instructional transformations for all classrooms in the United States, but teachers of students designated as English language learners (ELLs) are among those most likely to feel the impact in their daily professional lives. Language is an integral part of classroom learning in all subject areas, and this article addresses the new and special demands made by the English language arts Common Core Standards that are particularly relevant for the education of ELLs in mainstream and sheltered language arts and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classrooms. The authors propose three key reconceptualizations for teachers of ELLs in English language arts, outlining what is necessary to realize opportunities provided in the standards for these students' linguistic development and academic achievement. They illustrate these reconceptualizations with examples from an instructional unit that has been designed for linguistically diverse middle school Common Core classrooms and exemplifies subject‐specific instructional practices that meet the needs of ELLs.

Moving BeyondYes or No: Shifting From Over-Scaffolding to Contingent Scaffolding in Literacy Instruction With Emergent Bilingual Students

“…This CAP program design was informed by research on teacher‐led scaffolding as well as the recognition that providing EBs with opportunities to engage in elaborative discussion helps them develop interactional competence (Kibler et al., ), which in turn supports them in developing literacy. Discussion in literacy lessons can help all children, because “learning from text is by its very nature a constructive process, guided through feedback” (Kintsch, , p. 233).…”

“…With the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) come more demands for students and teachers in literacy classrooms, making scaffolding processes more complex. Students are expected to comprehend higher level texts, integrate knowledge across textual sources (Valencia & Wixson, ), work collaboratively, and use sophisticated linguistic functions to explain evidence‐based arguments (Hakuta, Santos, & Fang, ; Kibler, Walqui, & Bunch, ). Because the demands of new CCSS‐based curricula require students to have greater interactional competence when reasoning through texts with peers (Kibler et al., ), examining peer‐to‐peer scaffolding is an emerging need.…”

Equal educational opportunity for English learners: ESL teachers’ conceptualizations on the importance of academic language

“…Additional research and current literature strengthened the point that for academic English proficiency to develop teachers should consider both the academic content and the language necessary to communicate about the target content (Kibler, Walqui, & Bunch, ). Academic literacy development requires that teachers facilitate students’ understanding text organization and the multiple meanings of words unique to each discipline, as well as how to use the language patterns specific to each content area (Valdés, Kibler, & Walqui, ).…”

Writing Instruction for Adolescents in the Shadow of the Common Core State Standards

“…Compared with their nondisabled peers, students with disabilities frequently struggle with most aspects of composing, including quality, ideation, organization, vocabulary, sentence fluency, spelling, grammar, and genre elements (Graham & Harris, ). Concerns have been voiced about how realistic the Standards are relative to challenges faced by students who struggle with the writing process (Kibler, Walqui, & Bunch, ).…”