Reading Materials and
Strategies for ELLs
Applied Linguistics Winter Conference
March 1, 2014
Daryl Gordon, Wenxiu Ma, Alyssa Pinto, Yang Yang
Adelphi University
Process of Action Research
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Defining Action Research
Discussing the Process and Steps
Framing a Research Question
Scaffolding the Literature Review
Methods of Data Collection
Data Analysis Presentation
Framing Implications of Study
Agenda
• Wenxiu Ma, Culturally relevant reading materials
and strategies
• Alyssa Pinto, Selection of high interest reading
materials
• Yang Yang, Impact of reading aloud on ELL
pronunciation and comprehension.
• Q&A
The Impact of Intercultural literature on ELLs’
Reading Comprehension and Reading
Engagement
Wenxiu Ma, Adelphi University
*Research Question
What is the impact of intercultural reading materials on the first grade
ELLs’ reading comprehension and reading engagement?
Rationale
Students’ reading ability is one of the nation’s foremost concerns. However,
the majority of the research existing in the field of ESL or Bilingual
education suggested that culture gap significantly interfere ELLs’ reading
performance.
As a student teacher who worked with 32 Chinese speaking students in a first
grade dual bilingual class, I found my students were hungry for readings that
support their bilingual and bicultural identify. I want to explore how I can
increase these students’ reading performance by bridging the culture gap.
*Setting
1. Research Placement
First grade dual Chinese-English Bilingual class
2. Research Participants
6 students ( two intervention readers, two on-level readers, two advanced
students) in my intercultural group,
their parents and
the classroom teacher.
*Data
1. Data Collection Categories
1. Running records
2. Anecdotal records
3. Reading logs
4. Teacher interviews
5. Parents questionnaires
2. Running Record
Running record 1 --mainstream texts
Running record 2 –intercultural texts
Comprehension Conversation
Intervention
On-level
Score
Advanced
Score
Within
the
text
About
the
text
Beyond
the text
Reading
record 1
(intercultural
reading
materials)
1
1.5
Reading
record 2
(mainstream
reading)
1
1.5
Score
total
Within
the
text
About
the
text
Beyond
the text
total
Within
the
text
About
the
text
Beyond
the text
total
1
3/9
2
1.5
1
5/9
2.5
2
1
6/9
2
4.5/9
2.5
2.5
3
7.5/9
3
2
3
9/9
Writing about Reading
4. Reading Log
.
5. Teacher Interviews
“ I can image how my students would be excited about reading the Chinese fairy
tales which they heard from their grand parents previously.” ( First interview,
September 3rd , 2013)
“ I have never seen of these kids such engage in reading and I have never
heard of them talking so much about the books they read.” ( Second interview,
October 7th , 2013)
“ I have had a lot joy watching the kids in your intercultural group deeply
engrossed in reading those Chinese stories. ( Third interview, November 8th ,
2013)
6. Parent Questionnaires
Student reading habits
Spends
Time
reading
Concentrate to
reading
Talks about book
Write a reflection
never
less
same
more
a lot more
Intercultural
group
0%
0%
10%
50%
40%
Control
group
10%
10%
50%
20%
10%
Intercultural
group
10%
0%
0%
40%
35%
Control
group
15%
5%
55%
10%
15%
Intercultural
group
10%
0%
10%
35%
45%
Control
group
30%
10%
45%
10%
5%
Intercultural
group
0%
0%
30%
25%
45%
Control
group
20%
5%
60%
5%
10%
Some of the comments made by parents to support their observation are as
follows:
“My child is interested in those books about Chinese culture, and she often asked
me to tell her more information about the stories.”
“I saw my daughter wrote a lovely reading reflection every day, that makes me
proud of her.”
“He likes to read more than play computer in the afternoon like before. Thanks.”
*Findings
1.
2.
3.
Utilizing intercultural reading materials lead to improve students’ reading
comprehension.
Utilizing intercultural reading materials lead to improved students’ reading
engagement.
Intercultural reading materials do not benefit all students equally.
Implication and Recommendations
*Raise the Awareness
*Intercultural Literature Collection
*A Variety of Resources
*Professional Trainings
*Attend Conferences
Reading Materials in an ESL
Classroom and the English
Language Learner
Research by: Alyssa Pinto
MATESOL
Adelphi University
Research Question
• How does the reading material in an English as a
Second Language (ESL) classroom impact the English
Language Learners (ELLs) learning process?
o What genres are of interest and conducive to
learning for the ELL?
o What activities can help motivate an ELL before,
during and after reading?
Setting and Participants
•
•
•
•
•
•
6th Grade Intermediate Level ESL/ELA class
16 ESL students (11 boys, 5 girls)
15 of the students are of Hispanic decent
1 student is of Turkish decent
Sheltered ELA Instruction
84% of students in the district are receiving free or reduced lunches
Motivation for Research
• “According to Klingner and Boardman, there is a growing number of
ELLs in our country (specifically, they focused on Hispanic ELLs) and the
number of them who underachieve in English Literature is an
unfortunate amount (2012). In today’s world, it is extremely important
for any student to be able to read proficiently so that they may be
able to comprehend passages that can be on standardized tests or
even tests in their classrooms that are necessary to pass in order to
graduate.”
-Klinger and Boardman, 2012-
Data Collection
• Class questionnaire to find out how much the students enjoy/do not
enjoy reading, what genres they prefer and if they read at home or
just in school.
• Sample Question:
How much would you say you like reading?
BOYS
27%
I love it!
I don’t mind 28%
it.
I don’t like it! 45%
GIRLS
40%
60%
0
Data Collection Continued
Student interviews with four students (two boys and two girls). These
interviews were conducted one to one and allowed the student to choose
from six different books of different genres.
Main Findings
• Vocabulary Acquisition and reading comprehension skills are essential
for an ELL to fully understand reading material in the classroom (Quirk,
Beem 2012).
• Literature circles, text to talk, guided reading and cooperative groups
are all beneficial to support reading done in the classroom (Carrison,
Slavit 2005).
• Parental Involvement and outside support is correlated to the
achievement level of the ELL.
• Selecting genres of interest for an ELL to read is more beneficial for
them to learn English than books/passages of genres that are not of
interest.
Implications for the ESL Field
• The more Common Core Standards play a role in the classroom, the
less there is an option for use of different genres.
• Connecting students to the local library or bringing in story tellers is one
way to increase outside support in parents are unable to help at
home.
• Using strategies after reading such as class projects, cooperative
group projects and reflection summaries may enhance their
understanding of the text.
Reading Aloud Strategies
Yang Yang
Adelphi University
Email: yangyang@mail.adelphi.edu
Research Question
• What Reading Aloud activities and materials are the most effective in
helping ELLs develop the skills of pronunciation and reading
comprehension?
Rationale
• Self-learning experience as an ELL in China
• Common be used in different grades of school
How to Learn English: Read Aloud in China
• Read aloud after the tape or teacher
• Retell or Recite the text
• Watch American dramas
Setting of Data Collection




ESL pull-out classroom in a vocational high school in New York city
Population: Hispanic students
Numbers: 5 to 10 students
English Proficiency level: Beginners & Intermediate, or S(L)IFE students
FINDING 1 : How to Do Reading Aloud in Secondary Classroom?
Teacher
Literature Review
“To engage students, teachers can
exaggerate the dialogue and use
gestures and different voices for
different characters.
“The more interactive and fun it is, the
more comprehensible the book or
text will be for ELL students.”
— Wayne Wright, 2010
Students
Classroom Observation :






The teacher often stops to ask
questions
Utilize different tones
Imitate people’s voice
Pause
Body language
Slow down her speed
FINDING 1 : How to Do Reading Aloud in Secondary Classroom?
Students
Literature Review
“By reading aloud longer stretches of
text, prosodic features can be
focused on, with the aim of raising
awareness of these and practicing
them,
“so that the words flow in as naturalsounding a manner as possible.”
— Sally Gibson, 2008
Themselves
Classroom Observation :



Take in turn
Error corrections:
Self-correction
Peer-correction
Point out every single word by fingers
(beginners and S(L)IFE students)
Finding 2: How to Select RA Materials?
• “Teenagers at this critical age, they miss the pleasure of
getting lost in a story or discovering new information in
books. ”
— Research
• If the teacher is tutoring an English-language learner, it is
essential to learn about the student's culture.
— Baumann & Duffy (1997)
Internet resources:
“ A Just and Lasting Peace”
– President Barack Obama, 2009
“Kids Need Structure”
– TED Talk Speech, 2012
Implications
 Consider students’ background and initial learning methods
e.g. give more scaffolding to students in China
+ High: Reading & Writing
－ Low: Speaking & Listening
 Choose simple RA materials or paraphrase
“Secondary-aged students’ higher-order thinking skills sometimes out-develop
their reading skills”.
－ Ivey and Fisher , 2006
Questions?
• Methodology of action research
• Defining the research question
• Implications of action research projects for teacher
candidates and ELLs.