Fluency From the First What Works with First Graders

Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert on the best approaches to improving ELL's reading success. According to this reprinted research published by Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert and Dr. Charles Fisher, young English-language learners performing in the bottom quartile require the following experiences with text to change their reading trajectory and catch up to their native English speaking peers: Accessible Text Text that is decodable, includes high-imagery and high-frequency words, limits the number of unique words per text, and sufficiently repeats key words. Increased Text Increased opportunities for the reading of text during instruction in the classroom, which research has revealed will increase both word recognition and fluent reading skills. Repeated Text Opportunities for repeated reading of text to increase ELLs ' exposure to new words and support the development of their reading fluency. S cholastic's Zip Zo om English supports beginning English-language learners in developing critica