There are 12 guiding principles to use as tools for literacy that are based on theory and best practices. 1) Importance of learner's personal experience and background knowledge. This is not only about students' literal prior/background knowledge, but also their experience and attitude towards a concept. 2) Learning through language. Students need communicative skills (listening, reading, writing, speaking), but if all of the language skills are not used integratively, then the teaching will not be effective. 3) 21st century learning goes beyond the communicative arts. Literacy now applies to more than the written word. Some examples are: computer literacy, visual literacy, and technological literacy. Computers have changed the way we communicate and learn. 4) Using language in more than mode. Standard English (SE) should not be the gold standard.. This is especially true for English Language Learners (ELLs) Students should be able to use translanguaging and code switching to help them navigate concepts in English. Practicing literacy skills in two language will strengthen their critical thinking skills. 5) Discourses vary according to content area. With each content area comes not only different vocabulary, but a different sort of culture or way of thinking. In areas such as math and science, SE is required along with specific language structures.
6) Learning as a rewarding experience. Positive feelings will definitive help with motivation and learning. Teachers need to model enthusiasm for the content as well as show patience and flexibility. 7) Critical reading leads to better thinking. Facts are important but higher order thinking skills, such as analyzing and inferring, are more important when it comes to reading comprehension. 8) Students need to always read for meaning. From new readers to adults, we can better comprehend when we are in charge of pursuing our interests. 9) Don't use assumptive teaching. It is impossible to avoid completely, but teachers should try not to assume that students know certain skills and concepts or that they can transfer what they know from their home language to English. 10) Use instructional practices that enable students to learn. Use brain-based learning practices and meet students where they are. 11) The goal for content reading is for students to become independent learners. Instead of "two-finger thinking", students should feel in control of their own learning. 12) Use literacy tools to help students develop learning strategies in learning content material. Teachers have to move far beyond the traditional "lecture" method. Tapping into different forms of literacy as well as using strategic instruction beyond the textbook, will help student learn and set their own trajectory for learning.
All of these guiding principles really apply to me as an ESOL teacher of newcomers, especially because, if I relied on traditional literacy teaching strategies, I'd be dead in the water as far as being effective. Principles #1 and #9 are what I use all the time in assessing what my students already know since they come from a wide variety of English language skills, formal education, abilities, and life experiences that are more varied than that of the average American student. While I can't assume anything, I also have to draw on their other literacies (#3) and make the content appealing and meaningful to them (#8). Allowing students to use different levels of translanguaging and code switching (#4) depending on when they are working independently, in pairs, in small groups, or in whole class, will help make learning a rewarding experience (#6). Ideally, when ESOL students build confidence in using social English language along with academic English, they become more autonomous learners (#11). However, teaching academic language is more than just vocabulary and sentence frames. Discourse structures for different content areas must be taught and practiced with their peers (#2, #5, #11, #12). For me, teaching critical thinking (#7) while teaching English as a new language is one of the most challenging principles. Since I can't assume anything about their previous education in their home country, I also can't assume that they practiced critical thinking skills. For example, the skill of inferring is difficult enough to teach native English speakers, but seemingly impossible in a second language. Therefore, I have to do a lot of assessing, differentiated instruction and baby steps. Even if students have critical thinking skills, the anxiety and trauma that some students bring with them makes rote learning more comfortable to them. Therefore, critical thinking skills are essential but have to be eased into in the course of the school year. Students need and deserve instruction that enables them to learn (#10), with emphasis on the word "enable". For example, last year, I was teaching a story-based lesson about accidents and parts of the body. Some of my teenage students had very little formal education. I used a variety of strategies, facilitating in all four language domains (reading, writing, listening, speaking), as well as variety of literacy skills. Students read the story, watched videos, played games to learn the key vocabulary, drew and labeled pictures of a personal experience when they had an accident, worked in small groups to tell their story and assist each other with language, and finally writing personal narratives.
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