Reading Comprehension, Figurative Language Instruction, And The English-Language Learner
Language Acquisition Theories
Grand Canyon University
ESL-533N
February 22, 2014
Language Acquisition Theories The article “Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner” (Palmer, et al) tells the story about Alejandro Alvarez, and ELL student who lived in the United States during his early childhood years, returned to his home country of El Salvador and soon after, his family decided to relocate to Florida. Alejandro had a difficult time in school due to his English proficiency level, the main academic difficulties identified by the article were the fact that Alejandro was unable to understand figurative language when used by his teacher and peers, and when he encountered it during reading assignments. Alejandro’s reading teacher collected data from observations and formal assessments in order to determine if figurative language was affecting his progress in school and discovered that her suspicions were correct. The teacher initiated an intervention in which she explicitly taught Alejandro about figurative language. The explicit teaching strategies implemented included the teacher modeling the thinking …show more content…
process in order to interpret the figurative language being used, providing many opportunities for him to practice, asking questions so that he could learn what type of questions he should ask himself, and then gradually releasing him to do this more independently. According to the article, the teacher implemented a three-step problem solving process provided by the book Reading by Doing: An Introduction to Effective Reading (Simmons & Palmer, 1994). The steps were: 1. Find the figurative language, 2. Try its literal meaning, 3. Find its intended meaning. A fourth step was added in order to increase understanding since Alejandro was an ELL student – find the significance of the expression related to Alejandro’s life. Another important part to this intervention was to allow Alejandro to draw illustrations about the literal meaning of the word, the intended meaning and the life application. These visual representations allowed him to increase his comprehension.
Once Alejandro started to understand some of the phrases used on a daily basis, he grew more interested in learning about them and took it upon himself to have a notebook in which he recorded the phrases he heard and attempted to figure out their meanings; along with this notebook, Alejandro also started to write about the difficulties he faced when expressing himself in English, and talking to his reading teacher about them, which allowed him to feel more comfortable around his reading teacher.
The article provides an overview of some strategies to be used for figurative language instruction they include: explicit instruction, connections to the real world, dialogue in context, modeling and independent practice, visualization, and use of the native language. Each of these strategies is summarized below.
Explicit Instruction
Explicit instruction is the direct teaching of what figurative language is, what it looks like, and what it means.
Many ELL students are not aware that figurative language exists; therefore, when they come across it they simply ignore it and continue their reading. The following three step process is recommended by Simmons and Palmer (1994) as a way to find meaning for figurative language: 1. Identify the figurative language in written text, 2. Determine if literal meaning in the text makes sense, 3. Find the intended meaning of the figurative language expression. (p. 377). This is done in practice by breaking down the information into more understandable steps and allowing students to understand each piece of the puzzle in order to comprehend the entire
model.
Connections to the Real World This was the fourth step added to Alejandro’s teaching for figurative language. Students are more likely to remember something to which they have a connection. If the teacher is able to help the student identify a way in which to apply a connection between the figurative language and their lives, as well as a way to put it into more student-friendly terms, the student is more likely to remember what it means. Additionally, illustrations whether provided by a poster or student created will allow the students to remember a visual representation and make a connection that way. This strategy could be easily implemented by asking students to volunteer a scenario in which the figurative language applied to their lives, and allowing them to share with one another.
Dialogue in context
This strategy requires that teacher instruct students explicitly on the different types of figurative language as well as the teacher using the figurative language in a sentence or a paragraph so that students are able to hear ways in which these expressions are used. This, according to Levorato and Cacciari (1995) increases the student’s ability to create a coherent semantic representation of the information. Alejandro’s teacher did this by having conversations with him and using the phrase in different ways.
Modeling and Independent Practice In Alejandro’s case, his teacher began by modeling her thinking in order to understand the meaning of the figurative language. She also implemented the notebook in which he wrote the phrases he encountered whether they were spoken or read, and then they discussed their meanings by asking questions that he could later on use independently in order to have an understanding of what the figurative language meant. Students should be able to have ample practice for these skills and they should be both in oral and written form.
Visualization
This strategy allows students to pair an illustration with the figurative language. Teachers can do this by providing students with posters in the classroom, or drawing it on the board for the students, or implementing something like Alejandro’s teacher did and allowing them to illustrate the different meanings of the words used in figurative language.
Use of Native Language
This strategy does not mean students translate the figurative language into their home-language. It simply means that students are given the opportunity to think of examples in which figurative language is used in their first language. Translating figurative language phrases could be more confusing for students, and is therefore not encouraged. However, fostering the student’s continuous learning in their native language is believed to improve their abilities to learn a new language so, this should be promoted.
In my daily teaching I use explicit instruction with my students every time I introduce a new topic, I walk the students through the process one step at a time and I model it for them. The students always look to see what I am doing in order to know what I am doing next. Once we do it a couple of times together, I try to gradually release them to be more independent, in part because my students are Special Education students who have already become so prompt dependent that, I do not want to become one more prompt in their lives. If I see that they are still having difficulty, I try to provide them with assistance on a more one-on-one basis so that the other students, who can do it independently, do it on their own.
References
Palmer, B. C., Shackelford, V. S., Miller, S. C., & Leclere, J. T. (2006). Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(4), 258-267.
Grand Canyon University
ESL-533N
February 22, 2014
Language Acquisition Theories The article “Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner” (Palmer, et al) tells the story about Alejandro Alvarez, and ELL student who lived in the United States during his early childhood years, returned to his home country of El Salvador and soon after, his family decided to relocate to Florida. Alejandro had a difficult time in school due to his English proficiency level, the main academic difficulties identified by the article were the fact that Alejandro was unable to understand figurative language when used by his teacher and peers, and when he encountered it during reading assignments. Alejandro’s reading teacher collected data from observations and formal assessments in order to determine if figurative language was affecting his progress in school and discovered that her suspicions were correct. The teacher initiated an intervention in which she explicitly taught Alejandro about figurative language. The explicit teaching strategies implemented included the teacher modeling the thinking …show more content…
process in order to interpret the figurative language being used, providing many opportunities for him to practice, asking questions so that he could learn what type of questions he should ask himself, and then gradually releasing him to do this more independently. According to the article, the teacher implemented a three-step problem solving process provided by the book Reading by Doing: An Introduction to Effective Reading (Simmons & Palmer, 1994). The steps were: 1. Find the figurative language, 2. Try its literal meaning, 3. Find its intended meaning. A fourth step was added in order to increase understanding since Alejandro was an ELL student – find the significance of the expression related to Alejandro’s life. Another important part to this intervention was to allow Alejandro to draw illustrations about the literal meaning of the word, the intended meaning and the life application. These visual representations allowed him to increase his comprehension.
Once Alejandro started to understand some of the phrases used on a daily basis, he grew more interested in learning about them and took it upon himself to have a notebook in which he recorded the phrases he heard and attempted to figure out their meanings; along with this notebook, Alejandro also started to write about the difficulties he faced when expressing himself in English, and talking to his reading teacher about them, which allowed him to feel more comfortable around his reading teacher.
The article provides an overview of some strategies to be used for figurative language instruction they include: explicit instruction, connections to the real world, dialogue in context, modeling and independent practice, visualization, and use of the native language. Each of these strategies is summarized below.
Explicit Instruction
Explicit instruction is the direct teaching of what figurative language is, what it looks like, and what it means.
Many ELL students are not aware that figurative language exists; therefore, when they come across it they simply ignore it and continue their reading. The following three step process is recommended by Simmons and Palmer (1994) as a way to find meaning for figurative language: 1. Identify the figurative language in written text, 2. Determine if literal meaning in the text makes sense, 3. Find the intended meaning of the figurative language expression. (p. 377). This is done in practice by breaking down the information into more understandable steps and allowing students to understand each piece of the puzzle in order to comprehend the entire
model.
Connections to the Real World This was the fourth step added to Alejandro’s teaching for figurative language. Students are more likely to remember something to which they have a connection. If the teacher is able to help the student identify a way in which to apply a connection between the figurative language and their lives, as well as a way to put it into more student-friendly terms, the student is more likely to remember what it means. Additionally, illustrations whether provided by a poster or student created will allow the students to remember a visual representation and make a connection that way. This strategy could be easily implemented by asking students to volunteer a scenario in which the figurative language applied to their lives, and allowing them to share with one another.
Dialogue in context
This strategy requires that teacher instruct students explicitly on the different types of figurative language as well as the teacher using the figurative language in a sentence or a paragraph so that students are able to hear ways in which these expressions are used. This, according to Levorato and Cacciari (1995) increases the student’s ability to create a coherent semantic representation of the information. Alejandro’s teacher did this by having conversations with him and using the phrase in different ways.
Modeling and Independent Practice In Alejandro’s case, his teacher began by modeling her thinking in order to understand the meaning of the figurative language. She also implemented the notebook in which he wrote the phrases he encountered whether they were spoken or read, and then they discussed their meanings by asking questions that he could later on use independently in order to have an understanding of what the figurative language meant. Students should be able to have ample practice for these skills and they should be both in oral and written form.
Visualization
This strategy allows students to pair an illustration with the figurative language. Teachers can do this by providing students with posters in the classroom, or drawing it on the board for the students, or implementing something like Alejandro’s teacher did and allowing them to illustrate the different meanings of the words used in figurative language.
Use of Native Language
This strategy does not mean students translate the figurative language into their home-language. It simply means that students are given the opportunity to think of examples in which figurative language is used in their first language. Translating figurative language phrases could be more confusing for students, and is therefore not encouraged. However, fostering the student’s continuous learning in their native language is believed to improve their abilities to learn a new language so, this should be promoted.
In my daily teaching I use explicit instruction with my students every time I introduce a new topic, I walk the students through the process one step at a time and I model it for them. The students always look to see what I am doing in order to know what I am doing next. Once we do it a couple of times together, I try to gradually release them to be more independent, in part because my students are Special Education students who have already become so prompt dependent that, I do not want to become one more prompt in their lives. If I see that they are still having difficulty, I try to provide them with assistance on a more one-on-one basis so that the other students, who can do it independently, do it on their own.
References
Palmer, B. C., Shackelford, V. S., Miller, S. C., & Leclere, J. T. (2006). Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(4), 258-267.