ELL Strategies to Improve
Learning
What Makes Content Areas Easy or
Hard for ELL Students?
Math
Easy
 Some notation is
the same
 Some is “handson”
 Some concepts
transfer
 Lower volume of
written material
 Computation uses
less “language”
Hard
 Some notation is
different
 Some processes
are different
 Word problems,
vocabulary
 Concepts are often
abstract
Science
Easy
 Demonstrations,
“hands-on”
 Visuals, pictures,
diagrams
Hard
 Cause-effect, ifthen relationships
 Hypothesis-testing
 Volume of
vocabulary
 Terms with
technical & nontechnical
meanings (table,
kingdom, power,
etc.)
Social Studies
Easy
 Interesting to
different cultures
 Opportunities to
incorporate ELL
students culture
Hard
 Technical & nontechnical terms
(subjects, power,
etc.)
 Volume of reading
 Cultural
assumptions are
not always explicit
 Abstract concepts
Literature
Easy
 Interesting to
student from
another culture
 Opportunities to
incorporate ELL
students culture
Hard
 Volume of reading
requires analysis &
evaluation
 Required
background
knowledge
 Variety of
language used
(poetry,
Shakespeare, root
words, etc.)
BICS versus CALP
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills







Skills involved in everyday communication;
listening, speaking, carrying on basic
conversation, understanding speakers & getting
basic needs met.
Pronunciation
Grammar
Vocabulary
Not related to academic achievement
Universal across all native speakers
Attained after 2 or 3 years in the host country
BICS versus CALP
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency






Skills that are needed to succeed in the
academic classroom; problem solving, inferring,
analyzing, synthesizing & predicting.
Language of the classroom; decontextualized
Language outside of the immediate
interpersonal context
CALP in 1st & 2nd language overlaps in spite of
differences in language
Related to literacy skills
Attained between 5 to 7 years in the host
country
BICS versus CALP
Cognitively Undemanding (BICS)
Content
Embedded
A C
B D
Content
Reduced
Cognitively Demanding (CALP)
BICS versus CALP


Quadrant A
Following directions, face-to-face
conversation, getting absence excuse,
buying popcorn, oral presentations, art,
music & PE classes
Quadrant B
Demonstrations, experiments, audiovisual lessons, basic math facts, projects
& activities, health instruction, social
studies, science experiments
BICS versus CALP


Quadrant C
Telephone conversation, note on the
refrigerator, written directions,
instructions without diagrams or
illustrations
Quadrant D
Standardized tests, reading & writing,
math concepts & applications, abstract
concepts, lecture with few illustrations,
social science texts, mainstream English
texts
BICS versus CALP
Cognitively Undemanding (BICS)
Content
Embedded
A
C
B
D
Content
Reduced
Cognitively Demanding (CALP)
Three Principles Which Help ELL
Students in Content Classrooms

Increase Comprehensibility

Increase Interaction

Increase Thinking Skills
Increase Comprehensibility
•
Provide additional/non-verbal clues
(pictures, objects, demonstrations,
gestures, intonation cues, etc.)
•
Share lesson objectives in “student
language”
•
Break new material into smaller chunks
with frequent comprehension checks
Increasing Comprehensibility

Use a lesson sequence which proceeds:
 From prior knowledge to new
knowledge
 From the concrete to the abstract
 From oral language to texts
 From more contextual support to less
contextual support
• Use Contextual Support (visuals,
hands-on, non-verbal clues, etc.) to
communicate the overall message,
then correlate the message with the
language.
Increase Comprehensibility

Did I make the instruction
understandable to my students by
providing clear, meaningful context
& reinforcement?

Visual aids, labels, classroom routines,
realia, graphic organizers, previewing
content, activating prior knowledge,
role-plays, theme-based instruction,
chants, songs, etc.
Increase Interaction

One-on-one Interaction

Small Group Interaction

Provide opportunities for active
participation to share ideas &
language in smaller setting
Increase Interaction






Think-Write-Pair-Share
Numbered Heads Together
Jigsaw
Peer Tutoring
Pair Assignments
Cooperative Projects
Increasing Interaction

Did I give students multiple
opportunities to practice the
content, to build understanding, &
to improve their command of the
language through peer interaction?

Pair work, think-write-pair-share,
cooperative learning, peer editing,
shared writing, shared reading,
dialogue journals, choral response, etc.
Increase Thinking Skills

Think Alouds

How do you know that? Why do you
think that?

Graphic Organizers to show relationships

Use of Cognitive Strategies (imagery,
summarization, making inferences,
transfer, deduction, classification,
grouping, note-taking, elaboration
Increasing Thinking Skills

Did I provide students with
adequate exposure to & practice
with higher order thinking skills &
learning strategies?

Think alouds, explicit instruction,
graphic organizers, summarizing,
making inferences, analyzing,
evaluating, comparing, contrasting,
responding to how & why questions,
etc.