Reading Wars, Reading Science, and English Learners

Learning and developing as a reader are more complicated in a language the reader is simultaneously learning to speak and understand. This challenge is faced by millions of English learners (ELs) who are in all-English programs and must therefore learn to read, write, and develop as readers and writers while learning and becoming proficient in English. The author summarizes what is known about teaching ELs beginning and more advanced reading skills, all in English, as they progress through school. Drawing on classroom studies, interventions, and neurolinguistic research, the author focuses on how learning to read in a second language is similar to learning to read in a first language and what differences might exist. These differences, not surprisingly, have to do with ELs’limited English proficiency. The author’s intent is to begin with the knowledge base of the science of reading, build onto it research on effective literacy instruction for ELs, and then begin articulating what could become a science of reading instruction for students who are learning and progressing as readers in English while learning to speak and understand it. Promoting higher levels of literacy for ELs will require teachers to use what is currently known about effective practices in literacy instruction for students in general and, in addition, help ELs achieve higher levels of English language proficiency. Both English literacy and English oral language proficiency must be priorities if these students are to have adequate and equitable opportunities for success in school and beyond.