Essential Reading Strategies For Young Multilingual Learners of English

We want reading to be a beautiful experience for learners. We want them to love reading and to be successful readers. Reading is, of course, a necessary skill in all content areas—but also in life generally. Young multilingual learners of English (MLEs) will require a blend of reading experiences to be successful. And wise educators also recognize the value of knowing the resources and experiences our young MLEs bring to our classrooms.

Young MLEs may have listened to and practiced speaking a language other than English since birth. They may have a rich vocabulary bank in another language and be able to distinguish different sounds, which are lacking in the English language. Young MLEs may or may not also read and write in their first language. Their first language may be like English, with a similar alphabet, or their language could be quite different from English, with a symbolic alphabet or reading and writing with different directionality. Knowing these things about the students we teach helps us to make informed decisions about their reading instruction.

In the early years of reading instruction, learners learn to read. Later, they read to learn, and (hopefully) they read for enjoyment, too.

Learning to Read

Effective reading instruction for young MLEs includes the following:

• • Read alouds
  • Shared reading and writing
  • Independent reading

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud to students has been a staple in classrooms for many years. You likely have memories of being read to when you were in school. According to Gonzalez and Miller (2020), “In a typical classroom read aloud, the teacher reads a text to students while stopping occasionally and purposefully to do a ‘think-aloud’ or allow students to negotiate for meaning.” Texts are deliberately selected to, for example, engage students, invite inquiry, build empathy, or teach a concept. You serve as a model of expert reader, demonstrating the moves readers make. Reading aloud is not calling on random students to read a sentence or a paragraph each in front of the class (also known as round-robin or popcorn reading).

In primary grade levels, you can use a variety of books and reading resources as read-alouds. This allows students to engage with texts they are not ready to read independently but can understand as listeners. Young MLEs are building vocabulary, language structures, and also their reading identities; therefore, a wide variety of reading is beneficial. Through the read aloud, you can share from across genres: fairy tales, biographies, poetry, realist fiction, mystery, historical fiction, history, nonfiction, and more. And listening to the same text provides opportunities for classroom discussions that build community and foster connections among students.

Shared Reading

Shared reading is similar in many ways to the read aloud; however, with shared reading the workload shifts toward students. In shared reading, you and your students read together from the same text simultaneously. In primary grades, shared reading is commonly done with big books. Big books are simply large books with large text on the pages. But shared reading can also be accomplished by placing a text under a document camera or on a digital screen, as long as each student is able to clearly see the text. You can point to the words or sentences as the class reads together.

For many students, including MLEs, shared reading is a safe place to practice reading and builds a sense of confidence. This approach also invites students to participate in using English language structures and prosody, which may be different from their first language. You can use shared reading to support students in whole group and small groups. After multiple reads of a text, this text can become a mentor text and springboard for shared writing. Pointing out specific moves the author made can be helpful, and the class can work together to imitate the text using their ideas.

Independent Reading

Our goal is for learners to read on their own — to apply what they have learned. This is independence. Whether we are teaching them to tie their shoelaces, go through the cafeteria line, ride a bike, or read a book, it takes time, patience, guidance, practice, and opportunity. Independent reading is a time for students to flex their reading muscles. Students should have time to read independently every day. The word independent is a little confusing because in the classroom it doesn’t mean we are hands off. It doesn’t mean students won’t get any help or accommodations. MLEs and other students who need scaffolds and supports during independent reading time absolutely should have them. These include:

• • Building up reading stamina
  • Buddy or partner reading
  • Books in students’ home languages
  • Familiar reading materials
  • Time for peer discussion about reading
  • Small group instruction with the teacher
  • Frequent student-teacher conferences

Independent reading should be structured and teacher-facilitated so that it is a valuable time for each student. Without the necessary supports, some MLEs may flounder during independent reading time.

Reading to Learn

Reading instruction for intermediate levels addresses the ability to comprehend text rather than focusing on word recognition skills (e.g., phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition). This is especially true for secondary MLEs who have acquired social language but not academic language.

Central tenets of effective instruction tailored to intermediate-level MLEs while facilitating reading include:

• • Read alouds
  • Spontaneous scaffolds to develop comprehension
  • Planned structured quick writes

Reading Aloud

Though it might seem most appropriate for younger students, reading aloud to older secondary students is a key tool for developing their understanding of the text and helps make comprehending a text more engaging, especially when you read the text with intonation. Because you are the most skilled reader in class, your reading to the entire class removes the cognitive load of decoding words and sets the pace for the students. If students are reading independently, they will end at different points. This fragmentation can erode a sense of community, while a whole-group read aloud has the magical ability to devote our collective attention to the same text at the same time.

Spontaneous Scaffolds

Most important, reading aloud creates the space for comprehension scaffolds, which can be spontaneous or planned. Spontaneous comprehension scaffolds include

• • explaining unfamiliar vocabulary words through
    • a teacher-friendly definition or a synonym,
    • searching for an image of concrete words,
    • translating words, and
    • finding cognates;
  • explaining text features;
  • clarifying nouns; and
  • making connections to similarities to students' lives.

Spontaneous comprehension scaffolds are meant to be brief. Consider these as reading pitstops where you pause the reading, briefly clarify something that comes up in the text, and then return to reading. Students are not writing anything during spontaneous comprehension scaffolds. At most, they might be responding orally to your prompting for them to find similarities between an event, character, or concept to their lives to increase comprehension.

Planned Comprehension Scaffolds

These teaching moments are preplanned to establish comprehension of the most essential ideas. These are like layovers in reading, where you have identified a part of the text to be

• • essential to the theme,
  • key textual evidence that can be used on the summative assessment, or
  • required information for the development of the story.

Most important, a planned comprehension scaffold is a chance for students to process the text, usually through a brief discussion that ends in writing a few sentences. A planned comprehension scaffold also includes:

• • A prompt to stimulate thinking
  • A brief discussion between pairs or small groups
  • A structured quick write

After reading the identified segment of the text, share the preplanned prompt designed to facilitate processing of the text. Students briefly discuss the prompt in pairs or small groups to help stimulate their thinking. Then, you can bring everyone back to cocreate a response to the prompt with student input. Prompt for a response from the students, which you then write down. Any student can give input to adjust the shared ideas as you write down the response.

Conclusion

Every part of the reading, pre-, during, and post, provides countless opportunities to develop reading skills. By incorporating read alouds, shared reading, and structured independent reading into your instruction, you create a supportive environment where young multilingual learners can develop confidence and essential literacy skills. When we provide meaningful reading experiences, we empower MLEs not only to learn to read but to read to learn — and, most important, to find joy in reading.