Scaffolding English Language Learners (ELLs) for Writing Success

Instruction in Academic Vocabulary

The selection of vocabulary for teaching is predicated on its significance for comprehending the text and its frequent appearance within texts at the designated grade level. The strategies employed to instruct academic vocabulary in these lessons remain consistent, including the utilization of engaging informational texts as a foundation for intensive vocabulary teaching, the identification of a limited set of academic vocabulary words for in-depth instruction, the comprehensive teaching of vocabulary through various modalities (writing, listening, and speaking), and the impartation of word-learning strategies to students to enable them to decipher word meanings independently. Engaging texts are a platform for rigorous vocabulary instruction, encompassing pre-teaching conceptually complex vocabulary, exposing students to target words in diverse contexts, and fostering profound comprehension of word meanings. The vocabulary of lesser complexity is conveyed by embedding comprehensible definitions into the text and its surrounding discourse. The instruction maintains its intensity as students acquire vocabulary through glossaries and text-dependent questions centered on word and phrase meanings. Multiple modalities, encompassing language, gestures, and visuals, are employed by educators to elucidate word meanings. Furthermore, students are equipped with word-learning strategies that leverage context, cognate knowledge, dictionaries, and morphology to aid in deducing the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases (August and Fenner, 2014).

Integration of Oral and Written Language Instruction in Content Area Teaching

The techniques employed to integrate oral and written language into content area instruction in the lessons align with recent research findings. These techniques encompass the strategic use of instructional tools, like visuals, short videos, and graphic organizers, to anchor instruction and facilitate students' content comprehension. Furthermore, content-specific...…constructive feedback. For instance, in the prototype lessons, all writing assignments are grounded in content students have read, focusing on developing academic language through pair discussions followed by writing. Language-based supports, such as glossaries, word banks, sentence frames, starters (as needed), and graphic organizers, are provided to ease students' entry into and continual advancement in writing. Whether for short, constructed-response writing during close reading or longer writing tasks, students engage in discussions with peers. In the case of constructed-response writing, they confer with a partner to respond to questions before writing.

In contrast, students work in pairs for lengthier writing assignments to generate ideas and structure their thoughts using a graphic organizer before writing. Throughout the lessons, students compose responses to pre-and post-assessments to aid educators in identifying areas of weakness and growth. Teachers also edit longer writing pieces and confer…