Barriers to Literacy for Language-Minority Children: An Argument for Change in the Literacy Education Profession

English Language Learners With Reading Disabilities: A Review of the Literature and the Foundation for a Research Agenda

“…The studies also discussed the benefits of monitoring L1 reading skills as predictors of L2 achievement and the potential for SES effects to be mediated via good instructional programs. Grant and Wong (2003) commented on the need for norms and guidelines specific to English language learning instruction, rather than simply comparing the ELLs to their monolingual English-speaking counterparts, as a measure of their efficacy. Clearly, at this time, there are still very few quality studies in this area and a very limited range of ages, grades, and issues studied.…”

[Special Issue on Hmong Newcomers to Saint Paul Public Schools] Supporting Hmong Newcomers Academic and Social Transition to Elementary School

“…In other words, while it is understandable that educators see newcomers as having many -challenges,‖ or -gaps,‖ it is important to refrain from falling into a deficit discourse. This impedes educators from seeing students' strengths and in many cases leads to low expectations for immigrant youth (Grant & Wong, 2003). The challenge for schools is to design a program that addresses newcomers' needs and at the same time allows them to thrive in their new school.…”

“…He said that if they were put in with -regular‖ kids they would be shy and risk not being understood by peers and the teacher. Unfortunately, this fear is welldocumented in educational research that shows that the ways immigrant youth often have lower academic achievement and high drop out rates (e.g., Grant & Wong, 2003;Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 1995).…”

Visual Literacies: An Ecology Arts-based Pedagogical Model

“…So, you don't need to have a strong command [of English] to go out and take photographs and express yourself in that way" (Participant two, Teacher). This alternative way to express oneself may help to avoid the grim statistics Grant and Wong (2003) write about: "Estimates are that 30-40% of school-age English-language learners fail to reach acceptable levels of English reading by the end of their elementary schooling" (p. 387). In Ontario Ministry of Education English Language Arts curriculum documents, viewing and representing are two of the main strands teachers are expected to teach all students.…”