Language-Based Approaches to Support Reading Comprehension

Edited by Francine Falk-Ross

Publication date:

10 July 2014

Length of book:

258 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442229884

Language-Based Approaches to Support Reading Comprehension takes a closer look at students who are frequently marginalized by language differences in the classroom, whether by teachers’ oversight or simply the lack of information. In order to remedy this situation, Falk-Ross and the contributing authors offer their different perspectives on supporting English language learners (ELLs) through specific strategies for assessment and instruction.

Each chapter presents a specific issue and challenge, supportive research and up-to-date information, classroom implications and strategies, and case study applications relating to the particular perspective of literacy development for ELLs of middle-level ages.

Acknowledgments
Part I: The Challenges for Literacy Development Across Disciplines
1 Overview of the Text, Francine Falk-Ross
2 The Educational Issues Before Us, Francine Falk-Ross
3 A Case Study to Consider Using Different Frames of Reference, Francine Falk-Ross
PART II: Language as a Scaffold for Learning
4 The Mediating Role of Pedagogic Discourse, Francine Falk-Ross
5 Providing Supportive Contexts for Young Children’s Language to Develop Their Ideas and Opinions, Shobana Musti-Rao and Lenwood Gibson
6 Looking at Literacy from the Family-School Frame of Reference, Lee Shumow and Elena Lyutykh
7 Mathematics Talk: Literacy Development in a Mathematics Context, Brian Evans
8 Literacy and the Arts: How Artistic Perspectives Enhance Literacy Learning, Merryl Goldberg and Laurie Stowell
9 Promoting Agency, Access, and Acquisition Among Adolescent English Language Learners, Kathleen A. J. Mohr, Michelle Flory, and Lois Ann Knezek
Part III: Talk and Textual Considerations
10 Multimodality in Children's School-Based Texts, Roberta Linder
11 Addressing Young Adolescents’ Need for Voice and Interaction, Jill Lewis-Spector and Mary McGriff
12 From Resistance to Engagement—The Importance of the New Literacies for Struggling Readers and Writers, Peter McDermott and Kathleen Gormley
13 Concluding Thoughts, Francine Falk-Ross
Index
About the Contributors
About the Editor

This book provides a keen focus on the research base and skill set that pre-service and practicing teachers need to fully engage their English language learner students in demanding literacy tasks. Falk-Ross orchestrates a thoughtful review of the underlying research and then, with her contributors, makes a significant contribution to the field by updating readers on approaches to oral language development and current reading research and connecting these elements to the emerging demands of the Common Core State Standards. This explicit link between strategies and standards will be of practical use to both teachers and administrators. The use of a case study further anchors the book and enables readers to consider the challenges of literacy development across disciplines as well as in the home environment. Overall, the contributors consider development across grade levels and bridge academic talk and text exploration in a way that supports teachers’ efforts to know their ELL students as learners and scaffold their language and literacy development. The voices in this volume present pedagogical approaches that are respectful of all students, families, and educators, and the editor and contributors provide a positive way forward to reflective instruction. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals and practitioners.