ESL (ELL) Literacy Instruction

A Guidebook to Theory and Practice

Lee Gunderson, Reginald Arthur D'Silva, Dennis Murphy Odo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429858161
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: English Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Now in itsfourth edition, ESL (ELL) Literacy Instruction combines a comprehensive scope with practical, research-based tools and applications for reading instruction. Designed for use by pre-service and in-service teachers, this guidebook provides the context and expertise to plan and implement reading programs that match the needs and abilities of students at all ages and levels of proficiency.

The book explains different models of literacy instruction from systematic phonics to whole language instruction, discusses controversies in the field, and includes specific teaching methods within each model. Thefourth edition highlights recent developments in education policy, new models of instruction, and devotes greater attention to issues surrounding assessment. An expanded companion website integrates with the text to offer additional tools and examples, and readers are encouraged to develop their own teaching strategies within their own instructional models.

Providing a thorough overview of the history and major issues of ESL (ELL) literacy instruction, this book will be of great interest to pre-service and in-service teachers at all levels, from kindergarten to adult learners.

1Reading Programs, Practices, and Approaches

The Companion Website

Don’t forget the companion website, a valuable resource for you, at www.routledge.com/cw/gunderson. It contains interesting and valuable supplemental information and many of the figures and tables we reference in this book. We have noted, “see CW” when we refer to issues in texts that are on the companion website.

An analysis of the history of reading instruction reveals the roots of the standard reading practices used to teach ESL students in classrooms across North America. A description of the current trends and major theoretical contentions of various influential authors is presented. Different programs are described and discussed in reference to the needs and abilities of ESL students.

ESL, ELL, EAL, or ESOL?

The term “English as a second language” (ESL) has traditionally referred to students who come to school speaking languages other than English at home. The term, in many cases, is incorrect, because some who come to school have English as their third (L3), fourth (L4), fifth (L5), and so on, language. Some individuals and groups have opted for the term “teaching English to speakers of other languages” to represent better the underlying language realities. In some jurisdictions, the term “English as an additional language” (EAL) is used. “English language learners” (ELL) has gained acceptance, primarily in the United States. The difficulty with “ELL” is that, in most classrooms, everyone, regardless of their linguistic backgrounds, is learning English. The native English speaker in first grade is an English language learner, as is her classmate who speaks a language other than English as his first language. The traditional term ESL will be used, and on occasion you will be reminded that ESL is a traditional term referring broadly to ELL/ESOL/EAL. In classrooms, mostly in non-English speaking countries, “English as a foreign language” (EFL) is taught. The difference between ESL and EFL will be discussed later in this book. The distinction is an important one to make.

That a book on ESL reading instruction should contain a discussion of programs designed for native English speakers may be a surprise. Most ESL (ELL) students, however, are enrolled in mainstream classrooms in North America where they are involved in reading and writing instruction along with their native English-speaking peers. If they receive special English support, most often they do so in pull-out or sheltered content classes (Gunderson, 2007). The programs used to teach students to read English are most often those that have been developed for native English speakers. In addition, ESL learners are often being taught by teachers who are not well-prepared to work with these learners (Gándara, Maxwell-Jolly, & Driscoll, 2005). It is important to know about the different approaches designed to teach both native English speakers and those who speak a language other than English at home but who are included in English reading instruction in their classrooms. This chapter contains a discussion of the history of reading instruction over a period of about 3,000 years. It presents the major theoretical notions that led to different reading programs and approaches.

Writing and Reading Invented

Writing and reading are the inventions of multiple human beings around the world who, in the distant past, etched or drew images on cave walls or rock faces. Images, at first, were of the environment or imagination, and were likely comprehensible to individuals in the same groups or communities. In essence, it seems, the visual representation or “writing” came first. The evolution of writing and, as a consequence, reading is extremely complex. Diringer (1968) presents an informative history of the development of writing systems, including details about the Western alphabet we teach in today’s English classes. The teaching of reading and writing probably has its origins in Egypt, but our instructional history begins in early Greece.

Teaching Reading in the Greek Fashion

In ancient Greece, boys were taught to read in a simple fashion. First, they learned the names of the letters of the alphabet in order, then backwards. Then, they practiced putting consonant sounds together with vowels; that is, they practiced reading syllables. Finally, they read aloud with their teacher. Although there was some experimenting in different countries with different methods over the period of some 3,000 years, the basic reading methodology remained the same (cf. Mathews, 1966) until well into the nineteenth century. The system worked well for the Greeks because their alphabet reliably represented the phonemes of their language. However, events conspired against the students and teachers of English.

English was written using the Roman alphabet as early as the twelfth century. Of course, there were both students and teachers of English during the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, but little is known about how reading was taught. The reading program of the fifteenth century was very much the same as that of the ancient Greeks. English teachers taught with one additional aid, however — a hornbook, a paddle-shaped device that contained the letters of the alphabet, some selected syllables, and the Lord’s Prayer. It was covered with a transparent piece of horn to protect it from little fingers (see CW-Figure 1.1). Students learned the names of the letters of the alphabet in order, then backwards. They practiced syllables and read the Lord’s Prayer aloud. The student who was successful in this enterprise was given a book of religious material, a primer, to read. Learning to read English, however, was getting more and more difficult.

In the fifteenth century, the art of printing was introduced into England. This tended to fix spelling (Mathews, 1966). Unfortunately for the students of reading, while the sounds of English changed, spelling was not altered to account for the changes. Mathews (1966) notes that “today we spell about as they did in the time of James 1 (1603–25)” (p. 23). And how were students of the time taught to read?

Hoole (1660/1912) reports that students learned “by oft reading over all the letters forwards and backwards until they can say them.” Hoole notes that bright students learned quickly, but less bright ones “have been thus learning a whole year together (and though they have been much chid, and beaten too for want of heed) could scarce tell six of their letters at twelve months’ end” (p. 33).

The early schools of North America borrowed both the hornbook and the pedagogy, one essentially unchanged since the time of the ancient Greeks. The first North American schoolbook was the New England Primer, published in about 1690. Students were taught by learning to name the letters of the alphabet, practicing syllables, and reading aloud the primarily religious content of the primer. Material in the New England Primer, 1777 edition, can be seen at www.sacred-texts.com/chr/nep/1777/index.htm (accessed March 20, 2019; see CW).

In 1783, Webster’s Blue-Back Speller was published. This reading program had students memorize the names of the letters of the alphabet, learn letter-sound correspondences, and read orally. Content was primarily religious, but it also contained material related to the history and the Constitution of the United States. There were many moralistic selections to help guide the development of the youth of America. The emphasis on letter-sound correspondences makes this reading program one of the first to focus students’ attention on phonic relationships.

The beginning of the nineteenth century brought an amazing revolution to reading pedagogy. McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers, first published in 1836, were a series of books designed for different grade levels. Grade levels had not been considered important before McGuffey. “In 1847, the Boston public schools initiated its graded school approach, where students were assigned to specific grades according to their chronological age” (Osgood, 2005, p. 13). This approach became a standard feature of instruction across North America. McGuffey’s material also contained more illustrations than other reading programs. It stressed phonic relationships, syllables in isolation, and the repetition of words. The material contained moralistic and patriotic text and some literary selections at the upper levels. Producing good oral readers was a goal of the McGuffey program. In addition to providing multilevel texts, McGuffey also included a teacher’s guide with each volume to improve instruction. The guide informed the teacher how to teach good oral reading. For instance, in the revised edition of the Fifth Eclectic Reader, McGuffey’s first comment is:

The great object to be accomplished in reading, as a rhetorical exercise, is to convey to the hearer, fully and clearly, the ideas and feelings of the writer.

(McGuffey, 1896, p. 9)

The teacher’s guide contained advice on how to improve articulation and intonation. Such features of oral speech are presented as the “absolute emphasis,” “emphatic pause,” and “pitch and compass.” The following excerpt is an example of the kind of material students read.

The Venomous Worm

Who has not heard of the rattlesnake or copperhead? An unexpected sight of either of these reptiles will make even the lords of creation recoil; but there is a species of worm, found in various parts of this country, which conveys a poison of a nature so deadly that, compared with it, even the venom of the rattlesnake is harmless. To guard our readers against this foe of human kind is the object of this lesson.

(McGuffey, 1896, p. 77)

The nineteenth century also brought a great deal of public criticism to schools and to the teaching of reading. Many individuals bitterly attacked the teaching of reading. Individuals such as Gallaudet (1888), Keagy (1824), Mann (1844a), Palmer (1837), Peirce (1844), and Rice (1893) denounced the Greek-developed pedagogy as out of date and, indeed, harmful. It may be that Mann’s (1844a, 1844b) criticisms were the most influential (Mathews, 1966). Mann (1844a), in evaluating the ABC method, stated:

If the child is bright, the time which passes during this lesson is the only part of the day when he does not think. Not a single faculty of the mind is occupied except that of imitating sounds; and even the number of these imitations amounts only to twenty-six. A parrot or an idiot could do the same thing.

(Mann, 1844a)

Each of the authors mentioned above suggested an alternative to the 3,000-year-old ABC method used in the schools of North America. They suggested that “the word” should be the focus of instruction, rather than letters. However, even though the ABC method was greatly criticized, it continued to flourish in schools across North America, as measured by the sales of Webster’s old Blue-Back Speller and the McGuffey Readers.

The most famous educational innovator of the time was Colonel Francis W. Parker, who became a leader in the battle to focus reading pedagogy on the word as a unit. Mathews (1966) notes, “Although Horace Mann is commonly regarded as having played a decisive role in the initiation of this movement, what he said was far less significant than what Parker and his teachers did” (p. 204). The basic pedagogy involved having students memorize whole words and ignore letters. Letter names were not taught until later. Thus, the traditional Greek ABC system of teaching reading had been significantly altered after some 3,000 years. Parker’s career was filled with public criticism. He finally found himself with John Dewey at an elementary school attached to the University of Chicago. Students were taught to read at the university schools by focusing on the word as a unit. The word method or the “look–say” method was soon thoroughly entrenched in North American schools, as noted by Huey (1908). The basic notion was that students should be introduced to reading that contained words that were in their speaking vocabulary. Their initial reading task was to learn to recognize them in print.

The increased interest in vocabulary was associated with another force beginning to exert influence on reading and reading instruction—textbook publishers. Large publishing firms became interested in reading texts. Ginn, for instance, published the Beacon Street Readers in 1912. Scott, Foresman and Company published the Elson Readers during the same period. This was a significant reading series because it was the forerunner of one of the most famous series ever written, which will be discussed later in this chapter.

Authors became interested in controlling the vocabulary they included in their books. Gates (1926) produced a list of the top 500 words of the 1,000 words occurring in the primary school readers of the 1920s. The Wheeler–Howell list consisted of the 453 most frequent words in ten primers and ten grade 1 readers published between 1922 and 1929 (Wheeler & Howell, 1950). The International Kindergarten List, produced by the International Kindergarten Union (1928), contained 2,596 words obtained from a body of 893,256 running words spoken by a group of kindergarten children in Washington, DC. Each of these studies became important to reading instruction because they contributed to Dolch’s (1936) “A Basic Sight Vocabulary of 220 Words.”

Dolch created a list that contained all words common to each of these lists, except for nouns. He added some words not common to all lists, however, because “which belongs with ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘that’; ‘done’ and ‘goes’ belong with ‘did’ and ‘go’; and ‘start,’ belongs with ‘stop,’ and ‘write’ with ‘read’.” His initial intention was not for the list to be used to teach children basic sight vocabulary. He wanted to collect high-frequency oral vocabulary that young children used, which they could also expect to meet in their beginning reading materials (Johns & Higdon, 1972). This list is still in use in classrooms across North America. Indeed, it is a powerful list that accounts for about 70% of all the vocabulary in beginning reading texts and about 50% of the vocabulary encountered in academic texts (Dolch, 1960). Teachers often teach students to read the words on sight because they believe knowing the words helps students to learn to read more efficiently (Gunderson, 1983b). Indeed, Sullivan et al. (2013), contend that “an important part of reading instruction is teaching children to read high frequency words and irregular words, as learning to read these sight words will contribute to reading words fluently in connected text, which will aid in comprehension” (p. 102). Publishers were interested in producing reading texts, and textbook authors were interested in controlling the vocabulary they wrote in their texts. Vocabulary control became an important textbook concern.

Vocabulary Control in Textbooks

The whole-word or sight-word approach meant that students were introduced to words, not to letters. It was thought by many that they should be high-frequency words so that students would know them. Such words as “the,” “have,” “of,” and “come” are very high-frequency words. Most students have them in their speaking vocabularies when they enroll in first grade. Textbook authors selected them for use in their primary texts. (It will be shown later why this might not be such a good idea.) So, the first kind of vocabulary control involved selecting only high-frequency or common words. A second kind of control was instituted. Dolch thought only a few words should be introduced at a time so students would have a better chance of learning them. Finally, vocabulary was controlled in one last fashion. If it is the students’ task to learn new words, they should see the words often; that is, the words should be repeated. The three kinds of vocabulary control affecting primary texts, then, were: (1) include only high-frequency words; (2) introduce only a few at a time (Dolch recommended ten at a time); and (3) repeat them in text often enough so students successfully learn them. The pattern for our modern basal readers was set.

The 1920s and 1930s brought an emphasis on reading readiness. Publishing companies brought out pre-primers designed to give students a basic recognition vocabulary. Silent reading was in vogue. Indeed, there were entirely silent programs, including teacher’s instructions (see Watkins, 1922). In general, students received whole-word training, practice on phonics within the context of whole words, and comprehension exercises. Publishers produced more complete teacher’s guides to help support reading programs. Basal reading series were becoming an important part of elementary school. The well-respected Arthur Gate...