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Kimberly Boloven
Question: How can English Language Development support literacy and critical thinking skills?
Rationale
All students are language learners, and all students learn language differently. This makes
English Language Development (ELD) instruction challenging for the teacher and their
classroom full of diverse students. Using traditional teaching methods of direct instruction may
not always produce language proficiency growth. ELD learners come into the classroom
equipped with different language proficiency skills, background, and experiences and therefore
may require varying degrees of instructional quantity and quality. Some English Language
Learners (ELLs) are recent immigrants to the United States, but others are students who were
born in the U.S. and grew up learning a language other than English at home. As those students
developed English language skills at school, their academic language proficiency tended to lag
behind their conversational proficiency. These students are “often orally bilingual and sound
like native English speakers. However, they typically have limited literacy skills in their native
language, and their academic literacy skills are not as developed as their oral skills are” (Menken
and Kleyn, 2009, p. 1). For these reasons, teaching and learning should focus on supporting
literacy and critical thinking skills in reading and writing in order to develop and strengthen
language domains that need additional attention and support. Embedded in these literacy skills
are social, cultural, and moral expectations that are held and carried throughout society. Those
who lack the ability to understand the direction that the global world is heading, driven by
technology and media, are automatically at a disadvantage when compared to those who have
greater English language proficiency in literacy and critical thinking. From this tremendous door
of opportunity that language holds, it is imperative that the development of literacy and critical
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thinking language skills for English Language Learners is made accessible and achievable, as
Supporting and developing literacy and critical thinking skills has become my greatest
priority with English Language Learners. Their rich world experiences and their love for life
that they share with others in the classroom adds perspective and value that needs to be heard
and recognized by others in the school and the community. As much as this purpose is a priority,
it also comes with significant challenge. English Language Learners are not only expected to
learn the demands that literacy holds, but are also still in the process of learning English as a
language, and at times are still even learning the alphabet. Due to these challenges, English
Language Development should be given a special focus that allows students to learn in a visual,
multi-dimensional way, as opposed to a strict, linear trajectory of learning that will provide
opportunities for all students to engage, participate, and develop language that is appropriate,
accessible, and challenging for students at all levels of language proficiency. Students will be
able to better develop language at their own pace and grow in their language proficiency needs.
Language growth and development is something that takes place over time, and cannot be fully
expressed and understood in a single numerical score or letter grade. Students should be
implementing audio, visual, and digital sources into a lesson to support critical thinking and
extend language literacy that students may not be able to access through textual, or verbal
language alone. Throughout my journey teaching ELLs, I have found the importance of
incorporating as many multimodal language functions into my teaching and instruction in order
to support my students. An article was recently published that highlights a parallel between a
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new translating app that also uses multidimensional technology to translate text between two
different languages that connects to how multidimensional learning can be implemented in the
classroom.
The article describes how a news reporter traveled to China and was able to use a voice
translation app, Google Translate, that functions by allowing each user to speak into the app
which is translated to voice and text into the language that the other is speaking. Aarti Shahani
described how her experience using the app was “radically changed” and that she would never
have been able to receive such precise directions, or engage in such nuanced conversations trying
to translate the language on her own (Shahani, 2007). An app expert described the revolutionary
changes taking place with translation apps. Users are able to receive precise directions and
communications because of the way the app uses machine learning, algorithms, pattern
recognition, and mountains of data to learn, produce, and respond with translation, “that’s not
just phrase-by-phrase, but entire thoughts and sentences at a time” (Shahani, 2017). The
technology behind Google Translate allows one to communicate, “so that even if you (the user)
don’t quite know the words for what you want or can’t spell them, Google helps you figure it
out” (Shahani, 2017). Google Translation Chief, MacDuff Hughes describes how the translation
tool does not operate by decoding syntax and grammar, but instead it learns to understand
purpose and cultural differences. Hughes defines this translation skill as a multidimensional
analytical tool that could communicate and translate ideas more clearly by producing pictures to
substitute visual ideas instead of written explanations (Shahani, 2017). By encouraging students
to develop their multimodal language skills, students will strengthen and develop their media
literacy and critical thinking skills, too. These skill support visible thinking as students are
exposed to texts and ideas through images, words, sounds, audio, and video. By connecting
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students to real life examples, through image and technology, students are able to interact and
engage in increased discussion as well as make inferences to content learned in the classroom
and other events happening on the global stage. Students are supported in making these
connections through multidimensional, visible thinking, which can lead to deepening learning
and developing critical thinking skills across all levels of language proficiency.
achievement through measurable standards, assessment tools, and research, created Can-Do
Descriptors that guide instruction for academic language by outlining language proficiency
measures by grade level (Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, 2009). Analyzing
WIDA Can-Do Descriptors for Grade Level Cluster 9-12, one can identify parallels between
performance and proficiency standards in WIDA Can-Do Descriptors as well as literacy and
critical thinking skills that make up the building blocks of Common Core State Standards, both
of which are used as instruments to measure and assess achievement in learning for students
across inter-disciplinary subjects in English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.
Common Core State Standards “were developed based on international learning outcomes from
the highest performing countries; holding all students to the same expectations” (TESOL
International Association, 2013). WIDA’s Can-Do Descriptors and Common Core State
Standards are both performance indicating assessment tools that integrate a progression of
critical thinking action verbs into different tiers or levels of learning (Council of Chief State
School Officers & National Governors Association, 2010). WIDA’s proficiency levels combine
language standards and proficiency skills into tiered matrices that translate into measurable
goals. WIDA Standards outline a path of development to build language proficiency throughout
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all lessons by transferring student “Can Do” indicators into proficiency levels. This matrix
serves as an assessment rubric that can be used as a tool to identify and measure language
proficiency and acquisition that can be used while the students gradually increase their level and
use of literacy, critical thinking, and academic language that is required in a student’s language
performance.
A parallel connecting the mission behind both assessment tools is that their content
remains the same, but the difference driving up the skill level is the language, specifically
academic language, that is required of the student to use and produce. Academic language
extends beyond vocabulary words and grammar, and if the student is to be successful in their
critical thinking and literacy skills then they will be required to master such language so that they
can “successfully perform such CCSS-required tasks such as persuading, citing evidence, and
engaging with complex informational texts” (Fenner, 2013). Both ELLs and teachers face the
(Fenner, 2013).
Literacy and critical thinking skills are unquestionably challenging for teachers to
implement into instruction, but what ambitions my interest in engaging with these practices are
the relevance and utility they bring into and outside of the classroom. Teaching students to
question a source and challenge the viewpoint of an author is empowering to the individual
because it teaches students that they don’t need to “find the right answer” but instead, to look for
evidence that can prove or challenge the topic up for debate and discussion. This way of viewing
the world brings the student’s view and perspective in line with content objectives because it
encourages students to challenge what they are learning with their own background and
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experience. Critical thinking skills, like comparing, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing
invites students to see an idea from multiple perspectives, rather than memorize objective facts,
or the end result of a decision or the solution to an equation. Providing students with
opportunities to break down and dissect new ideas, and engage in discussion with peers will lead
to an increase in their ability to produce written language. Students need to read and speak about
text before they can comfortably and confidently write about what they have read or heard. Not
only will this provide students with practice using critical thinking skills like analyzation, but
students will be better able to fully express their comprehension as opposed to using traditional
forms of assessment like multiple-choice exams. “English Language Learners’ success in terms
of the Common Core State Standards requires a different kind of collaboration at all levels”
(TESOL International Association 2013). In order to achieve this success, the first focus should
be shifted towards implementing instructional strategies that support literacy and critical thinking
Instructional Strategies
implement into teaching and learning in order to foster language development in language
acquisition and can allow even the lowest proficiency students to engage in content and learning.
Instructional strategies can be easily aligned with linguistic accommodations for scaffolding
instruction that pair with student “Can Do” descriptors that combine to make teaching and
learning for ELL students accessible and transferable into classroom curriculum and content
able to take in any decipherable input from a lesson. Teachers may ask themselves, if this
student isn’t even able to communicate, how can they possibly “understand” anything that I am
saying? These teachers are right in that these students with extremely low language proficiency
may not be able to take in much verbal input from a teacher, but that doesn’t mean the student
cannot take in visible input. This concept is beautifully illustrated in a series of professional
development videos I recently watched with colleagues. The videos show two lessons given in
Mandarin Chinese. The first video shows a teacher delivering a lesson in a lecture-style of
instruction without any comprehensible input or without any techniques or clues that would
enable a beginner Mandarin Chinese speaker to comprehend the lesson content. The lesson is
succeeded by a follow-up activity that instructs students to complete a sorting task, all spoken in
Mandarin Chinese (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2010). For a beginner Mandarin Chinese
comprehend and impossible to decipher what the speaker is addressing, much like a beginner
ELL may feel in an English-speaking classroom. The second video shows the teacher delivering
the same lesson using techniques to make the lesson more comprehensible to beginning
Mandarin Chinese learners and includes visuals, gestures, realia, graphic organizers like a Venn
diagram, connections to background knowledge, and repetition (Center for Applied Linguistic,
2010). Without knowing any Mandarin Chinese, the learner is able to identity that the speaker is
describing a panda bear and a monkey, how they look, and what they eat. The teacher also
shows the audience a Venn diagram and models how to fill out the graphic organizer by pointing
to realia, a banana and bamboo, and writing down these words in opposite sections of the Venn
diagram to show that these animals are different based on what they eat and how they look.
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Without knowing any Mandarin Chinese, the learner is able to understand the subject, and the
task. The learner is also able to participate, be it nonverbally, by processing the information on
their own, and identifying similarities and differences between the animals. Even though the
learner is unable to participate verbally, the learner is able to engage and understand the main
idea of the lesson while being supported by visual representations of the language.
Visual thinking and learning funds English Language Development because it naturally
supports students who have a limited lexicon to draw from to explain their ideas from their
available input. Visual learning and visual thinking, provides a multimodal way to view teaching
and learning that can be applied to all leaners by affording a platform for students to draw from
consequence of thinking. Students’ understanding of content, and even their memory for
content, increases when they think through—and with—the concepts and information they are
studying” (Ritchhart and Perkins, 2008, p. 57). Visual stimulation influences how students
engage, understand, and learn with their environment. Providing visual clues, realia, scaffolds, or
graphic organizers, as done in the Mandarin lesson described above, allows the student to
generate new ideas to build from and incorporate targeted input to strengthen comprehension.
When learning new words, it is crucial that teachers support students with visual
representations to assist and extend students’ imaginative thinking to generate their own
understanding of language and words. Images, graphic organizers, and realia help students
brainstorm what words might mean if the students are unable to recognize or access the language
in their available lexicon. By using realia and other visual clues, like the Venn diagram, lower
comprehensible input that allows them to participate and engage in the lesson by expressing
knowledge of attributes and other information they are able to record and identify (Fairbarin and
Jones-Vo, 2010). The images and visual thinking strategies provide students with input they are
able to comprehend and follow along in the lesson even if they are unable to rely on the spoken
language being used in instruction. Incorporating visual thinking routines into lessons for
English language learners can provide students the opportunity to exercise both logical and
creative thinking and activate new growth in language output. By using language to reason and
imagine new ideas, students can stretch their thinking and develop new acquisition in their
second language (García and Wei, 2014). Teachers should incorporate relevant ways to use
visual thinking routines to create memorable experiences for students in order to increase their
language acquisition and output. Students will learn better when provided the opportunity to
understand how new language is applied and used to make sense of the world around them and
An instructional strategy that will support and include even the lowest proficiency student
is to activate prior and/or content knowledge by making connections between content and world
issues and events that are relative to the students and their native cultures. Students will become
interested in the content and eager to share their opinion, this can promote authentic dialogue and
allow student voice to drive discussion. Mallory and Gambrell explain this connection between
motivation and success, and describe how if a student feels confident in their ability to be
successful, they are going to have a higher percentage of actually being successful and will more
likely try harder on this type of task, than with others task they associated less with less value
and importance” (2010, p. 157). The teacher can use this opportunity to incorporate critical
thinking skills by analyzing purpose, potential audience, and author bias in a text and use these
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questions and answers to synthesize and connect content objectives in the related lesson. By
relating the lesson to world events that are familiar to the students, their self-perceived
confidence will be high, and students will feel proud and empowered that they can offer their
own perspective to makes sense, explain, and even translate the related text.
Visual thinking routines bridge gaps in language and extend opportunities for new
learning. By incorporating visual thinking skills through a digitally enhanced lecture, adapted,
related current event article, and other supplemental, abridged texts, students will have an
increased engagement and awareness to the focus of the lesson. Access to such diverse texts,
especially those found on the Internet, are fluid, current, and easier for students to engage in and
“read,” making it more accessible for students to understand the significance of the message
behind the media (Johnson, 2014, p. 3). It is just as important to include visually stimulating
texts as much as it is to include a visible display or diverse texts as access to an increased variety
of texts can support student engagement and relevance as students are more likely to participate
in discussion when they can see how the content that occurred in the past, like in a history lesson,
The classroom environment can greatly influence and direct how students interact with
and learn from their surroundings. Classroom environment is connected to the underlying
development of both habitus and sociocultural theory (Garcia and Wei, 2014). These theories
emphasize the foundation of knowledge comes from learned interactions with people and the
world. Translanguaging, accessing one’s full “linguistic repertoire,” uses that knowledge to
support metacognition and extend one’s zone of proximal development to acquire new
knowledge” (García and Wei, 2014). The physical environment strongly influences how
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individuals interact, form, and share their perspectives, and is strongly linked to language
acquisition. In order to allow students to continuously move across their zone of proximal
provides opportunities for students to engage with and be exposed to new language. Finding a
the optimal amount of challenge and support for students to succeed and increase their
incorporate into the classroom and instruction because as students learn they continue to move
across their own zone, which can vary amongst their peers and throughout the room. In order to
reach all students, no matter their zone or language proficiency, it is important for teachers to not
“make sure children do it correctly or not at all” (Au, 2012, p. 135). Developing language
acquisition, and speaking in general for some individuals, can be intimidating, especially for
students who are lower proficiency speakers, or for students who have recently arrived in the
United States and have an accent. A classroom environment that is relaxed and supportive can
help the class progress and explore in new areas of knowledge even if not all of the students have
shown mastery.
By incorporating new, current, and visually supported texts into the lesson, students will
be supported in their critical thinking and develop new vocabulary that is essential for
understanding the main idea of the lesson as well as solidifying new areas of language
development through increased literacy exposure (Neuman and Wright, 2014). This
development can only occur when students are challenged with new, unknown information that
they need to process to understand. The teacher’s support is essential for students to be able to
learn how to process this information at the instructional level. There is difficulty as well for the
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teacher that has to incorporate challenging and varied texts that appropriately balances an equal
amount of student and teacher support. In order to strike this balance with a room full of learners
cooperative learning activities that can provide students the ability to interact with language
throughout the learning process that is spoken and heard at a level that is conducive to their level
of learning (McIntyre, 2010). Providing scaffolds are a great way to increase output and to help
students create writing pieces that are near or at grade-level. Teachers should provide sentence
structures to help students create complete sentences as early as students are able to write
(Fairbairn & Jones-Vo, 2010). Through practice and support, students will learn to develop
these skills on their own and become more autonomous as they develop their own independence
Implementing visible thinking strategies, incorporating using visual aids and digital texts,
assist in critical thinking and comparative analysis enables English Language Learners to engage
and communicate using language to discuss complex ideas because they are provided with
greater than the sum of its parts, and the success of each instructional strategy will be maximized
by including as many mentioned into a lesson as appropriately possible. Teachers should make
sure that content is accessible and prior background knowledge is used and attributed to the
lesson, scaffolds should be provided to increase language output, and students should be afforded
with peers to share and exchange language in order to increase comprehension and language
acquisition.
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Performance Assessments
Academic content tests are linguistically complex, using words likely unknown by an
ELL, which clarifies why testing poses unique challenges for this student population” (Menken,
2010, p. 121). “Nationally, ELLs score an average of 20-50 percentage points below native
English speakers on state assessments of English language arts and other content-area subjects,
and thus the majority of ELLs fail to achieve a score of proficient or meet adequate yearly
progress goals (Abedi & Dietal, 2004; Government Accountability Office, 2006; Sullivan et all.,
2005, as cited in Menken, 2010, p. 125). This data affirms that language is posing a barrier
assessments to measure learning and growth, it is possible that this could “lead to narrower
curriculum and teaching to the test” (Miller & Linn, 2000, as cited in Abedi, 2010, p. 6). English
language learners compose a special population of students with diverse language learning
needs. ELLs should be given assessments that can adjust to maximize their strengths and
support their weaknesses. Teachers should focus on accommodating their individual differences
to try to find new assessment strategies to help their students succeed (McMillan, 2003, as cited
choice assessments because they engage English Language Learners in cognitively stimulating
focusing on what students can broadly express and achieve, as opposed to assessing students
An alternative summative assessment option that is more conducive to ELLs other than
prepared over time that become “an assessment strategy when there are plans to select tasks for
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assessment and collection, and when materials are systematically collected” (McKay, 2006, p.
159). Portfolios support student teaching and learning by providing a “basis by which teachers
can accumulate a record of children’s achievement over time, motivate learning and discuss
progress with others” (McKay, 2006, p. 159). Portfolio assessments support performance and
proficiency standards outlined in WIDA’s Can-Do Descriptors because both emphasize student
ability, and can be modified to fit an individual’s level of language proficiency placing student
progress, achievement, and strengths ahead of language limitations and deficiencies. Portfolios
can be used to administer both formative and summative assessments, as well as align teaching
and assessment in order to facilitate productive learning (Huot 2002; Klenowski 2002, as cited in
Lam & Lee, 2009). Process portfolios track student growth on a regular basis, include evidence
of short-term, formative goals, and provide a picture of a student’s current performance (McKay,
2006). Process portfolios also provide teachers comparable data to use and reflect upon, as well
as in deciding whether and how to modify instruction in order to best support individual student
learning and development needs. Archival portfolios are composed of selected pieces that
highlight student ability (McKay, 2006). Portfolio assessments can also afford opportunities to
include formative assessments within the summative portfolio by “including (1) ongoing teacher
feedback, (2) conferencing, and (3) peer reviews” all of which provide opportunities for daily,
routine check-ins that allow the teacher and student to collaborate and work through the portfolio
at a pace that is modified and manageable for students of various language proficiency levels
(Lam & Lee, 2009). Where portfolios as summative assessments “can provide students with an
idea of where they are in their writing development, the formative aspects of the portfolio… can
render summative grades more meaningful by making students understand their strengths and
weaknesses and what they need to do to improve their writing” (Lam & Lee, 2009, pp. 9-10).
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Portfolios assessments also lead to increased student motivation. In a study done in Hong
Kong by Lam & Lee (2009) students expressed their support for portfolio assessments as they
allow for more autonomy to choose their best work to be graded, an improvement in writing
through conferencing, and a supportive environment for enhancing writing. Student survey data
also highlighted a significant difference between writing for a timed exam, and writing for a
portfolio. Students commented how because of the portfolio assessment, their writing is better
due to being provided more time, and support through “multiple drafting, peer feedback and
conferences” as opposed to writing “for the sake of passing the exam” and only having “an hour
to write it” (Lam & Lee, 2009, p. 6). Portfolio assessments change the focus of teaching and
learning from analyzing collective data dependent on “teaching to the test,” to individual student
growth, progress, and mastery that leads towards independence in written language proficiency
skills.
assessments are conducive to English Language Learners because they can be modified to
support multiple disciplines and content expectations, and include assessment opportunities for
all language proficiency domains to be incorporated into the process as well as the presentation
of the project. A large focus of preparing students to be leaders and doers in the twenty-first
century is preparing students to present their knowledge and learning in creative ways. Project-
based assessments not only provide opportunities for students to showcase their unique abilities,
but also incorporates content and critical thinking skills into reading and writing instruction and
performance assessments, all of which are foundational elements of Common Core State
Standards, in addition to comprising the academic language that WIDA Can-Do Descriptors are
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centered. Project-based learning shares similarities with elements of process and archival
portfolios as the project requires learning to develop over time (process), with a summative
presentation at the conclusion (archival). The project also provides multiple opportunities for
students to practice and display many skills that require the activation of critical thinking and
literacy in every stage of the project from using research strategies, to identifying and solving
problems through teamwork, to synthesizing information and applying ideas learned to real
issues that are larger and more relative to the unit of focus that the project is presented (Duke,
2014). Project-based assessments also provide an opportunity for students to exercise choice in
the focus of their project, in addition to providing teachers with an opportunity to maximize the
student background and heritage. Duke (2014) presents a motivating platform to present
the project that will take students outside of the classroom and into a greater dimension to pursue
their goal of presenting their overall project or solution to an issue or question that the project is
centered around. This focus will also require the presentation to be for a larger audience than the
student’s classroom, which can include family, community members, school board and
reading or writing assignment in class, then knowing that the project has deeper meaning may
encourage the student to see how their research and effort can have a greater impact for the
greater good of a community issue or cause that is meaningful to the student. As all formative
and summative assessments, project-based learning assessments should maintain active support
of the needs of English Language Learners. Teachers should make sure to review how to
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incorporate research, and go over reading and writing skills necessary to complete the
assignment(s), as well as support student autonomy or small group instruction with gradual
release of teacher support from modeling, to small groups, to individual student production
(Duke, 2014).
embedded with peer and self-assessments to promote reflection and metacognition, as well as
language proficiency growth. Raphael and Hiebert highlight the necessity to engage in
assessment. In order to better support written language development, peer and self-assessments
provide a reading log where “students maintain a written record of their thoughts, feelings,
questions, reaction and evaluation of what they are reading” (1996, p. 233). Students can
evaluate their own work as well as the work of their peers using a writing rubric modified from
WIDA, an educational consortium that supports academic language development, that assess
language proficiency. This assessment practice will help students track their progress throughout
the year and become more conscious, reflective students that are aware of their areas of strength,
their potential for growth, and most importantly how far they have developed since the beginning
of the school year. In addition, peer-reviews help to provide extended opportunities for students
to engage in discussion with one another and relate and reflect over academic tasks. Peer
interaction and discussion in the classroom naturally promotes translanguaging. This practice
ensures that emergent bilinguals are exposed to challenging content and ideas, engaged in deep
thinking about language, and most importantly, are able to use their full range of expression
(Garcia and Wei, 2014). This process can occur when two students of varying proficiency
engage in conversation and translation which supports language acquisition across proficiencies.
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Furthermore, students who have the opportunity to access and engage in their native language in
experience academic success (Baker, 2006; Krashen & McField, 2005; Thomas Collier, 1997, as
cited in Menken and Kleyn, 2009). Allowing students to use translanguaging when they share an
L1 with peers supports language proficiency and literacy growth as literacy skills that students
learn in their native languages are able to transfer to English (Cummins, 2000 as cited in Menken
and Kleyn, 2009). Student collaboration and opportunities to engage in conversation will lead to
increased knowledge, awareness, confidence, and ability in producing more written output,
which will positively impact academic and analytical language literacy skills. Teachers can also
use performance assessments as a reflection tool as they “supply more in-depth information on
academic needs” and help teachers “understand the nature of the performance gap between ELL
and non-ELL students” and whether or not “such a contrast is due to lack of content knowledge
Conclusion
English Language Learners are the future for teaching and learning as these students
make up the fastest growing population of PreK-12 students in the United States (TESOL
International Association, 2013). Teachers and students must be prepared for the challenges and
rewards that comes with English Language Development in order to make gains in language
proficiency, increase literacy and critical thinking, and change the conversation from focusing on
what students are limited in doing to what students are able to achieve. For such growth to
occur, teachers and students must not be afraid to take on big goals, and realize that every action
has an equal and opposite reaction. Teachers and students can only make sufficient gains in
language and literacy if students are supported in their language acquisition by focusing on
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reading and writing language proficiencies and simultaneously supporting literacy and critical
simultaneously incorporate both language and critical thinking skills, instruction must also be
given a special focus that allows students to learn in a visual, multi-dimensional way, that
provides opportunities for all students to participate and engage in acquire academic language
that is both accessible and stimulating for students at all levels of language proficiency. Students
will be able to better develop language at their own pace and grow in their language proficiency
needs if instruction and assessments are focused on student ability, choice, and progress as
opposed to written objectives that only allow one right answer for students to achieve mastery.
will also provide English Language Learners with a more equitable educational experience as
compared to traditional methods of teaching and learning that assume all students have been
exposed to and are aware of academic language and the cultural context that it carries.
The goal for all English Language Learners is for students to experience growth in their
ability to use what it is they know. By streamlining and incrementally increasing the level of
language complexity students and teachers will connect to and deepen their level of thinking.
Teachers must develop relationships with their students and be able to predict what level of
questioning is appropriate to ask students to respond to that allows students to think critically and
direct the conversation back to the lesson or to their own interpretation of how that concept looks
in the present day. This success is contingent on the teacher’s ability to support student
curiosity, instill encouragement, and work collectively with students towards successful,
sustainable, and progressive growth in language and learning. This network of learning will
provide opportunity, growth, and development of a rigorous curriculum that is built around
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critical thinking skills and prepares students to become twenty-first century learners and doers
that will successfully compete amongst and strengthen within the network of global citizens that
English Language Learners compose. I am confident in supporting ELD with literacy and
critical thinking skills because of the success both my students and I have experienced in the
Learners, I have seen my students prove their ability to adapt to new environments on their way
to the future.
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References
Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground, The Expert Study Revisited. (pp.
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. (2009). WIDA English Language
https://www.wida.us/standards/CAN_Dos/Booklet9-12.pdf
Council of Chief State School Officers & National Governors Association. (2010). Common core
state standards for English language art and literacy in history/social studies, science,
www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf
Fairbairn, S. & Jones-Vo, S. (2010). Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English
Fenner, D. S. (2013) Implementing the Common Core State Standards for English Learners: The
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism, and education.
Johnson, D. (2014). Reading, Writing, and Literacy, Teaching with Online Texts, Tools, and
Lam, R. & Lee, I. (2009). Balancing the dual functions of portfolio assessment. (pp.1-11). ELT
Researchers in Search of Common ground, The Expert Study Revisited. (pp. 154-167).
McIntyre, E. (2010). Principles for Teaching Young ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom,
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Menken, K. & Kleyn, T. (2009). The difficult road of long term English Language Learners.
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Ritchhart, R. & Perkins, D. (2008). Making Thinking Visible. Teaching Students to Think. pp.
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Shahani, A. (2017). Finding a pedicure in China, using cutting-edge technology. Retrieved from
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