e

Scaffolded reading experiences help English language learnersmaster both reading and content.

Jill Fitzgerald and Michael F. Graves

Teaching students with a widerange of abilities and needs hasalways challenged teachers.language is rapidly becoming anadditional form of diversity, and

many teachers have little information oreducation that focuses on assisting multi-lingual learners with their reading skills.Scaffolded reading experiences can help.They provide a practical, research-basedframework that teachers can use tosupport English language learners.

A scaffolded reading experience (SRIUis a flexible framework for teachinglessons involving texts. It is designed tofacilitate English language learners'reading development as well as theirlearning through reading (Fitzgerald &Graves, 2004). The framework can beused in both reading and content-arealessons at all grade levels, in regularclassrooms, pullout English as a secondlanguage (ESL) classrooms, bilingualeducation classrooms, foreign language

classrooms, and special education class-rooms. SREs are, of course, only onepart of a comprehensive readingprogram. English language learners, justlike monolingual learners, need instruc-tion designed to broaden their reper-toires of reading strategies and skills.

The scaffolded reading experienceframework consists of a set ofprereading, during-reading, andpostreading activities to use with anygenre of text, including fiction and

68 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSIHP/DECEMnBE 2OO4/JANUARY 2005

nonfiction. Figure 1 (p. 71) showsmenus of possible categories of activitieswithin each part of the framework.When planning an SRE, teachers start byconsidering their specific students, thereading selection, and the readingpurpose; they then create activities thatare modulated as needed for the Englishlanguage learners.

For instance, a 5th grade teacher mayplan an SRE for the chapter 'Mom, DidYou Vote?" in Joy,Hakim's War, Peace,and All ThatJazz (1995) for her class of25 students, three of whom read Spanishmore easily than English. The teacherplans a number of prereading questionsfor the whole class but selects only threefor the English language learners, asksthe ESL teacher at the school to writethese three questions in Spanish, andthen presents them to the Englishlanguage learners. As the teacher askseach question in English, she points tothe corresponding question in Spanish.

Wood, Bruner, and Ross (1976) firstused the term scaffolding to charac-terize mothers' verbal interaction whenreading to their young children. Scaf-folding in SREs refers to a temporary andadjustable support that enables studentsto accomplish a task that would beimpossible without the scaffold or toaccomplish a task more fully or moreeasily than they could without the scaf-fold (Graves & Graves, 2003). Trainingwheels on a bicycle are a perfectexample of a physical scaffold. Scaf-folding has been shown to be apowerful instructional tool that manyeducators endorse.

Successful implementation of SREsdepends on several components. First,there is the scaffold itself-the tempo-rary and supportive prereading, during-reading, and postreading activities thatserve as a skeleton to support Englishlanguage learners. Second, teachersshould use scaffolded reading experi-ences in ways that place students in thezone of proximal development(Vygotsky, 1978), in the sense that the,experiences require the students to usefunctions that have not fully maturedbut that are in the process of maturing.This calls for activities that successfully

support the students through tasks thatthey could not quite manage indepen-dently.

For example, some 6th grade Englishlanguage learners might find LoisLowry'sVlumber the Stars (1989),which deals with a family's flight fromNazi persecution, outside their zone ofproximal development if they wereasked to read it on their own. Such activ-ities as building background knowledgeabout World War II and the Nazis andpreteaching difficult vocabulary could

put the book within their zone of prox-imal development. The teacher shouldgradually shoulder less and less of thescaffold, transferring more and moreresponsibility to students. Whenteaching a similarly difficult selection inthe middle of the year, the teacher mightpreteach fewer words, and whenteaching a comparable selection at theend of the year, the teacher mightsimply give students a glossary of thedifficult words.

Reading in a New LanguageScaffolded reading experiences are espe-cially important for English languagelearners because reading in a newlanguage may involve more complexitythan native language reading-andreading in one's native language isalready complicated enough.

English language learners need to usemental executive functioning as theyread, putting together and juggling manycognitive processes. This may be moreburdensome for English languagelearners than for native speakersbecause it involves more processes,such as translation.

What TransfersResults from several studies (Chikamatsu,1996; Koda, 1993) indicate that second-language readers definitely rely on theirnative language in ways that facilitate theirsecond-language reading processes. Onthe whole, English language learners fromkindergarten through high school tend totransfer phonological awareness, orknowledge about the sounds used inlanguage, from one language to another-afacilitative transfer (Gottardo, Yan, Siegel,& Wade-Woolley, 2001). Some languageshave cognate words (look-alikewords thatderive from the same root, such as idea inEnglish and idea in Spanish). Althoughthese words are usually pronounceddifferently, readers can easily recognizethem as they read in the new language.Selected cognitive processes, such assome word recognition strategies andsome comprehension strategies, may alsobe used similarly in both English languagelearner reading and native languagereading (Fitzgerald, 1995).

Ct'ltural UnderstandingsAcceptable word orders for the samemeanings and intentions differ acrosslanguages. For example, in English wemight say, Iforgot the book. In Spanish,we could say, Se me olvid6 el libro,which literally translates into English as'Itself to me forgot the book." Differ-ences in syntax often signal differentcultural understandings. Iforgot thebook implies that I am at the center ofthiiigs in my universe, whereas theSpanish statement takes me out of thecenter of that universe and placesgreater importance on the object, thebook. These two syntactical arrange-ments ilustrate different cultural under-standings about how individuals relate toobjects in time and space and how theyassign worldly significance. Whenconfronted with new acceptable wordorders, English,language learners are notonly learning new syntax, but they arealso struggling to adapt to new culturalunderstandings.

Making It ManageableSREs support English language leamerswith the complexities of reading in a

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 69

new language in several important ways.Having students do prereading, during-reading, and postreading activitiesbreaks down a complex reading taskinto smaller chunks. This frameworkalso eases the cognitive demands on theEnglish language learner by structidngthese demands in distinct stages.

For instance, imagine a shelteredEnglish classroom with a monolingualEnglish teacher. The 10 students in theclass-7th, 8th, and 9th graders-arenative speakers of Spanish, Chinese,Vietnamese, and Hmong, and they readEnglish at 4th grade through 6th gradelevels (Cooke, 2002). The teacher plansa set of social studies lessons in whichthe students learn about ancient Chinesememorial ceremonies and rituals for thedead. He asks the students to name,examples of past, present, and futureexperiences that have had-or willhave-serious impact on their lives. Thestudents are reading Black Powder byWilliam Wu (1993), which deals with aChinese 17-year-old's efforts to honor hisdead father with a fireworks display. Theteacher divides the reading into threedays of small, highly supportive sessions.The first day, he targets four prereadingactivities: motivating the students,which might involve the teacher sharingapersonal example of an especiallypoignant ceremony; relating reading tostudents' lives; building background

knowledge; and preteaching vocabulary.The following day, he engages thestudents in three during-reading activi-ties: reading aloud to students, guidedreading, and silent reading. On daythree, he leads a discussion session as apostreading strategy. By dividing thereading process into three smallerchunks, the teacher simplifies content,breaks down learning into stages, andsupports the students in the complexi-ties of the reading task.

Empowered to HelpTeachers can use SREs to "slice" studentgoals and assignments to help tailorlessons to English language learners' abil-ities and needs. For instance, a 5th gradeteacher conducts a series of lessons onsound waves. Her class includes twoLatino English language learners who arerecent arrivals to the United States.Because it is unrealistic to expect theEnglish language learners to achieve thesame content-learning goals as the nativeEnglish speakers in the same amount oftime, the teacher plans an SRE. She setsup learning goals for all the students andselects a subset for the two Latinostudents.

On the first day, the teacher's content-learning goals for her class include theconcepts that waves have amplitude andfrequency. For the Latino students, sheselects a single goal: frequency. She then

decides on specific prereading, during-reading, and postreading activities thatwill help the students achieve thosegoals. For the Latino students, she.selects a subset of activities that fit thelearning goal of frequency. By choosinga specific goal with related activities, theteacher reduces the complex cognitivereading demands on the Englishlanguage learners so they can begin tolearn in English.

Content teachers often believe theyhave no power to help their Englishlanguage learners improve their readingskills. When teachers use SREs and imodulate their lessons specifically withnew language learners in mrind,however, they become empowered toease the cognitive demands that weighheavily on English language learners.The 5th grade teacher who taught thelesson on sound waves recognized howoverwhelming the lesson would be forthe English language learners, but shebelieved that these students could learnsomething if she did specific activities inadvance.

An SRE in ActionInagine you are working on socialstudies concepts with a class of 5thgraders. Of your 30 students, six areEnglish language learners, four of-whomare recent arrivals to the United Statesand native speakers of Spanish. The classis reading the first chapter of Cooper'sIndian School: Teaching the lWhiteMan's WVay (1999), and the goalyouhave set for the class is to learn the mostimportant information presented in thechapter. However, you slice the goalsfor the four Latino students. You wouldlike them to learn just one main ideafrom the chapter, one reason why theU.S. government sent Native Americanchildren to boarding schools.

You might begin prereading instruc-tion with a motivational activity for allstudents, such as showing photographsof Native American children leavingtheir reservation and the same childrensitting in classes at school. You mightalso preteach difficult vocabulary that isimportant for understanding thechapter-words like interpreter, alien-

70 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEhSBER 2OO4/JANUARY 2005

ated, andproposition. You decide,however, that the Latino students shouldfocus on learning just one new word-proposition-because it has a Spanishcognate that they might already know.And you might provide a prequestioningactivity in which you pose questionsthat students can answer later on as theyread the chapter. For instance, youmight ask the foilowing questions:Which children were sent away to theboarding school? When did this practicebegin and end? Why did the U.S. govern-ment want to send Native American chil-dren to boarding schools? You ask theLatino students to focus on the last ques-tion only.

For the during-reading portion of thelesson, you might read part of thechapter orally to all students and thenhave students read the rest of it silently,looking for answers to their questions.Pair each Latino student with a strongEnglish reader and ask the Englishreaders to write a statement of one mainidea from the text, draw a graph orpicture that ilustrates that idea, andexplain the graph or picture to the part-nered English language learner. Ask theEnglish readers to work with their part-ners in answering the question aboutwhy the U.S. government wanted tosend Native American children toboarding schools.

After students finish reading thechapter, they might break into discus-sion groups of three or four students toanswer the questions posed duringprereading. The teacher would carefullyconsider-which group each Latinostudent should join and would point outthat the Latino students should handlethat one specific question. Fina'ly, thegroups could come together and sharetheir answers, with the Latinoscontributing as they are able.

New diversity in the United Statespoints to enormous opportunities for afuture filled with multilingual and multi-literate citizens. Scaffolded readingexperiences provide a powerfial yetflexible framework for teachers to moveEnglish language learners towardfulfilling their promise as readers andlearners. MI

Prereading Activitiesa Activating or building background

knowledge.a Providing text-specific knowledge.• Relating the reading to students'

lives.a Preteaching vocabulary.a Preteaching concepts.a3 Prequestioning, predicting, and direc-

tion setting.a Using students' native language, such

as writing important concept wordsin the students' native language orinviting adult speakers of the nativelanguage into the classroom totranslate.I

a Engaging students and communitymembers as resources.

a Suggesting reading strategies.

ReferencesChikamatsu, N. (1996). The effects of Ll

orthography on 12 word recognition: Astudy of American and Chinese learnersof Japanese. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition, 18, 403-432.

Cooke, C. L. (2002). The effects of scaf-folding multicultural short.stories onstudents' comprehension, response,and attitudes. Unpublished doctoraldissertation, University of Minnesota,Minneapolis.

Cooper, M. IL. (1999). Indian school:Teaching the white man's way. NewYork: Clarion Books.

Fitzgerald, J. (1995). English-as-a-second-language learners' cognitive readingprocesses: A review of research in theUnited States. Review of EducationalResearch, 65, 145-190.

Fitzgerald, J., & Graves, M. F. (2004). Scaf-folding reading experiencesforEnglish-language learners. Norwood,MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Gottardo, A., Yan, B., Siegel, L. S., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2001). Factors related toEnglish reading performnance in childrenwith Chinese as a first language.Journalof Educational Psychology, 93,530-542.

Graves, M. F., & Graves, B. B. (2003). Scaf-folding reading experiences: Designsfor student success (2nd ed.). Norwood,MA: tChristopher-Gordon.

DTuing-ReadingActivities3 Silent reading.a Reading to students.E Guided reading.a Oral reading by students.3 Modifying/simplifying the text.a Using students' native language.

Postreading Activitiesa Questioning.'a Discussing.a Building connections.a Writing.a Drama.a Artistic, graphic, and nonverbal activi-

ties.*m Application and outreach activities.a Using students' native language.a Engaging'students and community

members'as resources.* Reteaching.

Hakim, J. (1995). YZar, peace, and all thatjazz. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

Koda, K. (1986). Mirror of language. Thedebate on bilingualism. New York:BasicBooks.

Lowry, L. (1989). Number the stars.Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Vygotsky, L, S. (1978). Mind in society:EThe development of higher psycholog-Icalprocesses. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press.

Wood, D. J., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G.(1976). The role of tutoring in problem-solving.Journal of Child Psychologyand Psychiatry, 17(2), 89-100.

Wu, W. (1993). Black powder. In L. Yep(Ed.), American dragons: Twenty-fiveAsian American voices. New York:HarperCollins.

Jill Fitzgerald is Associate Dean andProfessor of Literacy at the University ofNorth Carolina, Chapel Hill; jfitzgerCemail.unc.edu. Michael F. Graves isProfessor of Literacy Education at theUniversity of Minnesota, Minneapolis;mgraves@umn.edu. They are coauthors ofScaffolding Reading Experiences forEnglish-Language Leamers (Christopher-Gordon, 2004).

AssOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUMI DEVELOPMENT 71

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Reading Supports for AllSOURCE: Educ Leadership 62 no4 D 2004/Ja 2005

WN: 0434603461014

The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and itis reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article inviolation of the copyright is prohibited.

Copyright 1982-2004 The H.W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved.