Matiana+Thinks

The National Literacy Panel came about because the National Reading Panel pretty much ignored second language learners in its over view of studies. The National Literacy Panel addressed the needs of the Language minority, which is a broader term than second language learner. It was based on empirical research and panel members didn’t find a lot of peer review studies. The National Literacy Panel looked for studies that addressed the same elements as the National Reading Panel. In the Literacy Panel they found tat well developed oral language proficiency was associated with reading comprehension and written language. The study showed how children who are literate in their native language have an advantage when learning a second language in the transfer of literacy skills. The panel found that 68% of the EL students came from poor backgrounds. The poor EL children did worse than EL children who were not poor. In most of the studies poor families wanted students do be literate in English. I believe that parent support and motivation is crucial for students to be successful. I have seen it over and over in my class with parents that do not speak English but they supporting their children. When they looked at phonemic awareness and phonics in the studies they showed that the interventions were small groups and pull out sessions but they didn’t say how it would look in a whole group with different levels of reading. There was no evidence that supports that students need to have a certain amount of oral language proficiency to receive phonemic awareness and phonics instruction in English. They also found that children you have phonological awareness in Spanish do not need phonological awareness in English. In the web cast Diane said that helping student hear English sounds that don’t exist in students native language is beneficial for second language learners. I am a second language learner and one thing I remember from my days in school was that it seemed that teachers hid some aspects of English that could help me figure out the language. When I became a teacher (SEI class) I knew I had to be very explicit in teaching sounds, blends, and other language elements that is not found in Spanish because I thought back to my days. I found that it not only helps my EL students. The panel found that the types of instructions English only students receive are successful for second language learners but the effects are lower (slower). It was the panels finding that there has to be adjustments to these teaching practices for them to more beneficial for language learners. Snow says that transfer is not necessary a positive effect for bilingual education. Transfer is the effect that occurs when students sees similarities in English and Spanish and utilize in reading. I would have to disagree from personal experience. As a second language learner I found myself in a similar boat. I relied heavily on the similarities between Spanish and English. Snow addresses the issue that there is a great need for revamping assessments for English-language learners. As a kindergarten teacher with students who are second language learners and who I assess in English this is a great need. My students feel frustrated because the assessments do not reflect what students can do just because they don’t have the vocabulary to express it. During reading assessment I have had several students who because of lack of vocabulary couldn’t pass the assessment even though they could tell me in Spanish.