Rethinking instructional strategies with English learners in the content areas

Abstract

The latest content standards in U.S. K-12 education are academically rigorous for all students, including a fast-growing population of English learners (ELs).

Pre‐service teachers enactment of language‐ and literacy‐integrated science instruction in linguistically diverse science classrooms

“…However, because recent critiques suggest that indiscriminate use of ESOL strategies can actually hinder language and content development (Grapin et al, 2021), teachers must also be attuned to how to appropriately integrate ESOL strategies so that they support, rather than stifle, their students' engagement in scientific meaning‐making and discourse. Thus, it is critical that teachers are familiar with a variety of ESOL and literacy strategies that can build on the language and literacy strategies EBs bring to the classroom, as well as how to employ those strategies to support EB engagement in the language‐rich practices common to science classrooms.…”

Building Kindergartener's Independence with Text‐Based Conversations

“…Additionally, teachers can create sentence frames, partial sentences that guide students in expressing their ideas, to provide additional support for students (Zwiers & Hamerla, 2018). Sentence frames can be particularly helpful to English Learners (ELs), as they “expose ELs to meaningful chunks of language that they can use independently in subsequent writings and discussions” (Grapin et al, 2021, p. 6). Sentence frames can also be constructed to more closely mirror a CCSS standard, for example “______ and ______ are similar because _______”.…”

Developing instructional materials for English learners in the content areas: An illustration of traditional and contemporary materials in science education

“…We recognize that these unit‐level descriptions do not make visible many of the lesson‐level strategies embedded within each unit that support ELs in the content areas (e.g., sentence frames, graphic organizers). However, while we acknowledge the importance of such strategies and have discussed them elsewhere on the pages of this journal (Grapin et al, 2021), the unit level has received relatively less attention than the lesson level in materials development for ELs in the content areas (Grapin, 2021). This lack of attention is problematic, since decisions made at the unit level provide the crucial foundation for lesson‐level strategies to be effective.…”

“…The need for such materials has become even more urgent with the arrival of the latest content standards that are both academically rigorous and language intensive (Hakuta, Santos, & Fang, 2013; Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, 2013). As these standards reflect new ways of thinking about content, language, and their integration (Grapin, Llosa, Haas, & Lee, 2021; Kibler, Walqui, & Bunch, 2015; Walqui & Bunch, 2019), developing materials based on the standards has necessitated shifts from traditional to contemporary approaches.…”