Scaffolding Reading and Writing for ELLs: List of Strategies That Scaffold

3. List of Strategies That Scaffold

Use pre-reading activities to activate former knowledge.
Plan readings with repetitious text.
Use Graphic Organizers.
Use visual aids and teach students how to access them.
Check frequently for understanding.
Help students build vocabulary archives to resource as needed (picture dictionaries, etc.).
Share lesson outlines.
Write key words to be used in the lesson and discuss them in context prior to teaching them.
Encourage students to underline key words or important facts.
Use choral reading rather than individual oral reading.
Read to students frequently, no matter what age or grade.
Show the video of a text when possible, and/or act out the story through miming (have students act out stories).
Present material in chunks and small segments, especially with complex text.
Choose just one selection to teach a concept, with additional reading for advanced students.
Extend time for assignments to be read and shorten number of questions to only those absolutely necessary to be answered.
Provide repeated reviews.
Use mirroring strategies, such as allowing students to copy from prepared notes, copying the teacher modeling of highlighting, and so forth.
Make allowances for note-taking, allowing one word, short phrases, pictures, and graphs to replace extensive writing and copying of text.
Give open book tests for short answer and multiple choice tests using same or similar language and syntax/vocabulary as text. Allow for shorter essay responses from ELLs throughout the language acquisition process.
Speak slower to ELLs and shorten sentences. Explain idioms and other concepts that might present a social or cultural challenge to understanding.
Use language experience approaches when possible.
Increase fluency with controlled writing patterns (sentence strips, sentence and paragraph prompts, organizational patterns, graphic organizers that spell out the order with prompts).
Allow students in the early stages to write essay response in the first language with intermittent translation scaffolded as language is mastered.
Organize small groups and partner/buddy work carefully and thoughtfully, pairing ELLs with native English speakers and jigsawing the groups when possible.
Provide highlighted texts and ancillary culturally friendly materials to emphasize important concepts.
Preview all text ahead of time to compensate for lack of cultural friendliness and differentiation (see Textbook Checklist in Course Objectives | Research | Materials folder)

Adapted from:

Ariza, E. N. (2010). What every classroom teacher needs to know about the linguistically, culturally, and ethnically diverse student (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections on Language. New York: Pantheon.

Dulay, H., Burt, M. and Krashen, S. (1982). Language Two. Oxford: Oxford University Press.*

Ellis, R. (1990). Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell. and (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fletcher, P. and Garman, M. (eds) (1986). Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Fry, D. (1977). Homo loquens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Paradis, J. (2005). Grammatical morphology in children learning English as a second language: Implications of similarities with specific language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 172-187.

Ramirez, M., & Castaneda, A. (1974). Cultural democracy, bicognitive development, and education. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Vogt, L. A., Jordan, C., & Tharp, R.G. (1987). Explaining school failure: Producing school success: Two cases. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 18, 276–286.