- EAL/ESL Literacy is the intersection of language learning and literacy skill development.
- EAL/ESL literacy learners usually have 0-9 years of formal education before coming to Canada.
- There are five levels of EAL/ESL literacy for reading and writing benchmarks: Foundation L, CLB 1L, CLB 2L, CLB 3L, and CLB 4L.
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There are three essential considerations for teaching EAL/ESL literacy:
- Availability for learning
- Oral language
- Knowledge and experience
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There are three primary areas of instruction in EAL/ESL literacy:
- Language skills and strategies
- Literacy skills and strategies
- Other skills and strategies
- Formal learning strategies
- Numeracy
- Visual literacy
- Digital literacy
- There are descriptions of ten of the most effective teaching approaches for EAL/ESL literacy
- There are key resources to get you started in teaching EAL/ESL literacy including guidelines, standards, handbooks, and complete learning modules.
Quick Start Guide to Teaching EAL/ESL Literacy
1.1 What is EAL/ESL literacy?
EAL/ESL literacy is the intersection of language learning and literacy skill development. It is for learners who are learning to speak English and are developing proficient literacy skills for the first time.
EAL/ESL literacy learners usually have between 0-9 years of formal education before coming to Canada. Some learners are developing foundational literacy skills such as holding a pencil, learning the alphabet, and forming their first letters, but most learners have some degree of literacy. Literacy skills exist on a spectrum, and learners with some literacy will still benefit from explicit instruction in literacy skills.
The CLB standard has five levels of EAL/ESL literacy instruction, and EAL/ESL literacy learners are designated with an <L> following their reading and writing benchmarks:
- Foundation L
- CLB 1L
- CLB 2L
- CLB 3L
- CLB 4L
1.2 What is taught in EAL/ESL literacy?
There are three primary areas of instruction in EAL/ESL literacy: language skills, literacy skills, and other skills, such as formal learning strategies, numeracy, visual literacy, and digital literacy. In order for EAL/ESL literacy learners to learn, there are three essential considerations:
- Availability for learning: Do learners have their basic needs met so that they can focus on learning?
- Oral language: Does the written language use words and structures that learners understand orally?
- Knowledge and experience: Does the written language discuss topics that are familiar to learners?
| Essential considerations | ||
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| Language skills and strategies | Literacy skills and strategies | Other skills and strategies |
As appropriate for the level:
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Starting in Foundation L:
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As appropriate for the level:
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1.3 What can I expect when teaching EAL/ESL literacy?
There is a lot of diversity between EAL/ESL literacy learners:
- They can be any gender, age, or faith, and can come from a wide range of countries, languages, and cultures.
- They can have a range of language skills, typically from CLB 1 to CLB 4 in listening and speaking.
- They can have a range of literacy skills.
It is difficult to generalize, but there are some things an instructor can usually expect with teaching EAL/ESL literacy:
- EAL/ESL literacy learners have more to learn with less experience and fewer transferrable skills.
- They usually take longer (often twice as long) to progress through a benchmark.
- They usually have few formal learning strategies.
- They benefit from explicit instruction in literacy skills.
- They often have high settlement needs such as housing and medical care.
- They benefit from trauma-aware practice.
- They are usually community minded.
- They benefit from hands-on learning, movement, and music.
- They often have numeracy and digital literacy needs.
- They are often highly resilient and motivated learners.
1.4 How do I teach EAL/ESL literacy?
EAL/ESL literacy learners benefit from teaching approaches that are consistent, explicit, scaffolded, and consider their learning needs. EAL/ESL literacy classrooms are often active, joyful spaces that include plenty of hands-on learning, music, and movement.
There are many effective teaching approaches for EAL/ESL literacy:
- Teach oral language first: Learners must develop literacy skills with words that are familiar; teach all vocabulary orally before learners encounter it in print.
- Explicitly teach literacy skills: Learners need explicit and direct instruction in literacy skills.
| The Development of Literacy Skills in the CLB | ||||
| Foundation L | CLB 1L | CLB 2L | CLB 3L | CLB 4L |
| Letters | Words | Sentence Frames | Sentences | Paragraphs |
| Texts and meaning (Intensive) | Texts and meaning (Ongoing) | |||
| The sounds of English (Intensive) | The sounds of English (Ongoing) | |||
| Letter formation (Intensive) | Phonics, sight words, and spelling patterns (Intensive) | Phonics, sight words, and spelling patterns (Ongoing) | ||
| Reading comprehension (Intensive) | ||||
| Writing sentences (Intensive) | Writing short paragraphs (Intensive) | |||
| Fluency (Intensive) | ||||
- Use materials that are appropriate for literacy learners: Use learning materials that are appropriate for literacy learners and consider:
- Images: For lower literacy levels, use clear photographs on a white background; higher levels can tolerate some realistic drawings and more stylized images.
- Font and font size: For lower literacy levels, use fonts that mimic hand printing such as Century Gothic, Comic Sans, Mangal Pro, or Tenorite, and use larger font sizes of 18+ pt.
- White space: Use plenty of white space with no extra text on the page.
- Wrap-around text: For Foundation L to CLB 1L, don’t use wrap-around text; introduce wrap-around text at CLB 2L.
- Sentence level: Consider the length and type of sentences in the material, moving from letters (FL) to single words (CLB 1L) to sentence stems (CLB 2L) to simple sentences (CLB 3L) to compound sentences (CLB 4L).
- Consider brain space/cognitive load: Consider how much learners are thinking about at once and lower the total amount whenever possible. Introduce new material gradually over time with lots of practice and repetition. Use supports to reduce the challenge of a task.
- Create routines: Follow a routine in class; build routines around the start of class, the end of class, learning strategies, and how activities and tasks are accomplished.
- Use Hands-on learning: Spend at least half of class time on communicative and hands-on learning, using materials such as:
- Hands-on materials: beads, small stones, bingo chips, plastic or wooden letters, sand-trays, playdough or salt dough, blocks
- Realia: flyers, medication bottles, food containers, clothing, websites
- Music: listen to or participate in songs, chants, clapping, actions, dances
- Movement: dancing, stretching, TPR (Total Physical Response), running dictations, air writing
- Use LEA (Language Experience Approach): Elicit a story from learners and write it down; use this story for further literacy activities. Base stories on shared experiences such as a class trip to the library, visiting a child’s school, or cooking dinner.
- Use whole-part-whole: Approach reading texts by using whole-language strategies first, such as making prediction and reading for overall meaning, then focusing on parts, such as phonics or vocabulary, and then returning to the whole and reading for deeper meaning.
- Scaffold learning: Include scaffolding and supports to lower brain space/cognitive load such as vocabulary cards, word banks, and sentence stems. Start with concepts and words that learners already know and gradually build on this over time with lots of repetition.
- Recycle and spiral learning: Recycle vocabulary and skills many times in many different ways and return to the same skills at a higher level over time.
