Connecting Oral Language and Reading for ELLs

To learn English is not an easy task. All students must make connections between oral language and the written word. Even toddlers and preschoolers can build this awareness, the awareness that if I am
"reading" I am orally saying the words that are on the page. The squiggles on the page are letters, the letters represent sounds, and when I put the sounds together, it is a word that I can say out loud. For students who are learning English the connection between oral language at school and reading is a very important connection to build. It is said that "ELLs' lack of oral [English] proficiency has often hindered their opportunity to receive cognitively stimulating and content-level appropriate instruction in school" (Gibbons, 2015, p.42). Students can connect their oral language to reading by developing vocabulary through explicit instruction. Fill the room with words and labels to help students make connections. Teachers must remember, "If we accept the premise that external dialogue is a major resource for the development of thinking, and that interaction is also integral to language learning, then it follows that we must consider very seriously the nature of the talk in which learners are engaged in" (Gibbons, 2015, p.51).ELLs can actively participate in engaging talk through use of sentence stems, word banks, and summaries from text read.

Reference
Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Accessed through ePub e-text.