Tips on Building Fluency with English Language Learners

As a new teacher working with lower performing ELLs, I was looking for that one particular tip or strategy that would improve their fluency levels in reading. My students were borderline students and were constantly exposed to failure. Many of these students had poor reading strategies and some were too intimidated to read beyond the first few sentences.

I started with the most logical starting point - the text. Many textbooks often have more texts than are needed or texts which may not be suitable in one way or another. Often, the teacher feels that it is necessary to use additional readings as supplements.

When presented with a reading text, many of my students became passive. I gave them simplified exercises, easier language input, a choice of graded exercises, but this partially helped with improving their fluency levels. My goal was to choose a text that had direct consequences for building fluency. I discovered that the role of a text can facilitate with vocabulary learning and comprehension, which are the necessary ingredients for improving fluency.

Tip 1 - ELLs need shorter texts with known vocabulary

If there are texts or passages that initially appear too difficult for the ELLs, the teacher can facilitate fluency by reworking parts or the structure or vocabulary of the text for building active practice. As a pre-reading activity, I often encourage predictions on the text based on the target vocabulary.

Tip 2 - Enhance the Visual Appearance of Texts

Richard Day points out that the appearance of the reading passage (layout, print, and type size) affects readability. While many texts can be overcrowded with information and layout, which can demotivate ELLs, there are ways ELL teachers can control certain text based factors that can interfere with comprehension.

Keep the number of lines to a minimum. This helps facilitate reading speed.

Numbering paragraphs helps ELLs find information more quickly.

Subtitling paragraph help organize content.

Font should be clear and attractive.

Finally, if texts are not exploitable due to their thematic, lexical, syntactic, and structural appropriateness, it may not also allow the teacher to accomplish the objectives of the reading lesson.

References

Day, R. R., (1994). Selecting a Passage for the EFL Reading Class. ERIC Digests.