Educating English Language Learners (ELLs) - Providing Clues to Meaning Through Visuals

To make information more comprehensible for ELLs, teachers need to increase the use of techniques that are more reliant on visual stimuli (Carrier, 2006 ; Rea & Mercuri, 2006). Adding visuals into any lesson can have a huge impact on comprehension. Visual cues help these students gain meaning from their reading material. Before students even begin a specific task it is crucial for them to listen to instructions to ensure they know exactly what they are to do. Of course, this may be somewhat difficult if the student cannot understand what the teacher is saying. Instructions given during a lesson are one of the most difficult things for an ELL to comprehend. What may be a very simple task to most students in the class can be very confusing to an ELL if even a few words are misunderstood.

Teachers often give what seem to be clear and specific oral instructions, but then they may repeat them a little differently or elaborate on them, which can become very confusing for ELLs (Carrier, 2006). In order to make the instructions clearer and easier for students to understand the teacher can create a step-by-step instruction sheet with simple, straightforward sentences that are easy to understand. Adding illustrations to the directions can provide even more support. With this method students can also look up words that may be confusing to them and they will not be as frustrated during the lesson (Carrier, 2006). Teachers may also choose to act out what they are instructing the students to do or have a student explain what they are supposed to do in their own words. Repeating the directions several times and in various ways will make the instructions much clearer and the students will not have to rely as much on the easily misinterpreted oral instructions (Morahan & Clayton, n.d.; Carrier, 2006).

For younger children who are in the process of learning English, picture books can be of tremendous support in making sense out of the stories and ideas found in text. The pictures complement the text, which makes the story easier to comprehend. Since students from other countries may not have knowledge of certain topics, these types of books build background and make the content more understandable. These books may also relate to students' past experiences, so they provide a means for students to make connections with the text and activate prior knowledge. Lastly, picture books create more of an interest in reading and build community, which is necessary in creating a respectful classroom climate (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007).

Using a reading box prior to reading a story can also support an ELL's comprehension during reading. Teachers assemble props and visuals related to the text the students will be reading. Before reading a story teachers can show the box to students and explain how each prop is related to the story. During this time teachers can also talk briefly about the title, author, genre, setting, and other important details of the book, as well as give a short summary of what they are about to read. Students can touch the props and discuss with partners how they might connect to the story. Discussing in this way allows ELLs to make predictions as well as practice speaking the English language (Rea & Mercuri, 2006).

While a reading box may support the reader before a story, movies and videos support an ELL's comprehension after a story has been read. This type of visual provides clues of where and when events take place in the story as well as other details that may have been overlooked when reading the text (Rea & Mercuri, 2006).

Another fundamental component to comprehension is understanding the vocabulary being used. It is important for ELLs to develop a vocabulary for the topic being studied in class as well as everyday function words. A great visual strategy that can help ELLs learn these important vocabulary words is for teachers to create word walls. By using a word wall, teachers can present key words and phrases that will be studied in a lesson and post them in the classroom for students to refer to during the lesson if they get stuck on a word. Another option is the teacher can provide a list of key words and phrases that the ELL students can use to create their own word wall posters prior to the lesson. This interaction with the English language will allow students to better understand the lesson being carried out (Carrier, 2006).

Similar to word walls is the "Key Word" sight-method. Students choose the words they would like to learn and write each on an index card, drawing a picture on the back for clarification. They can keep these word cards in a small container and study them throughout the day (Frederickson, 1999). The goal of each of these particular methods is for students to develop an understanding of word meanings so they can use them, as well as related words effortlessly in their everyday speech and as a basis for additional learning (Gersten et al., 2007).