Reading Comprehension, Figurative Language Instruction, And The English-Language Learner
Language Acquisition Theories
Grand Canyon University
ESL-533N
February 22, 2014
Language Acquisition Theories The article “Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner” (Palmer, et al) tells the story about Alejandro Alvarez, and ELL student who lived in the United States during his early childhood years, returned to his home country of El Salvador and soon after, his family decided to relocate to Florida. Alejandro had a difficult time in school due to his English proficiency level, the main academic difficulties identified by the article were the fact that Alejandro was unable to understand figurative language when used by his teacher and peers, and when he encountered it during reading assignments. Alejandro’s reading teacher collected data from observations and formal assessments in order to determine if figurative language was affecting his progress in school and discovered that her suspicions were correct. The teacher initiated an intervention in which she explicitly taught Alejandro about figurative language. The explicit teaching strategies implemented included the teacher modeling the thinking …show more content…
Many ELL students are not aware that figurative language exists; therefore, when they come across it they simply ignore it and continue their reading. The following three step process is recommended by Simmons and Palmer (1994) as a way to find meaning for figurative language: 1. Identify the figurative language in written text, 2. Determine if literal meaning in the text makes sense, 3. Find the intended meaning of the figurative language expression. (p. 377). This is done in practice by breaking down the information into more understandable steps and allowing students to understand each piece of the puzzle in order to comprehend the entire
Grand Canyon University
ESL-533N
February 22, 2014
Language Acquisition Theories The article “Bridging two worlds: Reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner” (Palmer, et al) tells the story about Alejandro Alvarez, and ELL student who lived in the United States during his early childhood years, returned to his home country of El Salvador and soon after, his family decided to relocate to Florida. Alejandro had a difficult time in school due to his English proficiency level, the main academic difficulties identified by the article were the fact that Alejandro was unable to understand figurative language when used by his teacher and peers, and when he encountered it during reading assignments. Alejandro’s reading teacher collected data from observations and formal assessments in order to determine if figurative language was affecting his progress in school and discovered that her suspicions were correct. The teacher initiated an intervention in which she explicitly taught Alejandro about figurative language. The explicit teaching strategies implemented included the teacher modeling the thinking …show more content…
Many ELL students are not aware that figurative language exists; therefore, when they come across it they simply ignore it and continue their reading. The following three step process is recommended by Simmons and Palmer (1994) as a way to find meaning for figurative language: 1. Identify the figurative language in written text, 2. Determine if literal meaning in the text makes sense, 3. Find the intended meaning of the figurative language expression. (p. 377). This is done in practice by breaking down the information into more understandable steps and allowing students to understand each piece of the puzzle in order to comprehend the entire