Bilingual Research Journal

ISSN: 1523-5882 (Print) 1523-5890 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ubrj20

Effective Teaching Strategies for English Language

Learners

Melissa A. Facella , Kristen M. Rampino & Elizabeth K. Shea

To cite this article: Melissa A. Facella , Kristen M. Rampino & Elizabeth K. Shea (2005) Effective
Teaching Strategies for English Language Learners, Bilingual Research Journal, 29:1, 209-221,
DOI: 10.1080/15235882.2005.10162832

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2005.10162832

Published online: 22 Nov 2010.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 3857

Citing articles: 16 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ubrj20
 Effective Teaching Strategies for
English Language Learners

Melissa A. Facella, Kristen M. Rampino,

and Elizabeth K. Shea
Lesley University

Abstract
This paper provides effective strategies for early childhood teachers
to use with children who are English language learners (ELLs). The
strategies were compiled from interviews with 20 early childhood
educators from two culturally and linguistically diverse
communities in Massachusetts. Emphasis was placed on the
strategies that the greatest number of teachers from both school
districts identified as effective. These teaching strategies seek to
help ELL students make connections between content and language,
and support their communication and social interactions.

Introduction
In today’s classrooms, academic and social success often hinges on a
child’s language abilities. Due to recent changes in bilingual education law,
children who need extra support in second language acquisition have been
mainstreamed into classrooms where the teachers do not necessarily have the
resources or the support to meet their needs. Without this support, the children
who are struggling to acquire even basic skills in their second language begin
to fall behind academically, creating an achievement gap that only widens
over time (Harris, 2003). Providing teachers with adequate tools and techniques
to support these learners is essential. To that end, we interviewed early
childhood teachers in two communities with large English language learner
(ELL) populations to see what strategies they found to be effective in working
with ELL students.

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs 209

 The Present Study
In April 2004, we contacted and interviewed early childhood educators
from public school systems in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and Brookline,
Massachusetts. We wanted to find out what strategies were being used by
practitioners working with ELLs from two school districts with very different
demographics, and which strategies they found to be most effective. We
interviewed 10 teachers from each district and asked them two open-ended
questions about their teaching practice. The first question asked what strategies
they found to be effective in promoting language acquisition with their ELL
students. The second question asked why they felt these strategies worked.
In order to identify whether successful strategies had a developmental
component, we spoke to teachers of different grades, from prekindergarten
through second grade (see Tables 2, 3 & 4).
These school districts were selected because they are typical of American
society in being culturally and linguistically diverse. For example, a kindergarten
teacher from Chelsea stated that “in my classroom, at least 90% of the students
have come from a different country and speak a first language other than
English. I am constantly modifying my lessons to meet the needs of those
students. I also create lessons that are meaningful to them by finding out
about their culture and background.” Research indicates, “Language diversity
is a fact in US schools. Approximately twenty percent of students speak a
language other than English in the home” (Lira, Serpa, & Stokes, 1998).
Massachusetts Department of Education (1996) statistics stated that in 1995,
66% of the Chelsea student population spoke a language other than English
at home. In contrast, Brookline reported 31%. Another difference between the
two districts is that in Chelsea 80.3% of its residents are indicated as low-
income while Brookline consists of 9.6% low-income residents. For the 2002–
2003 school year, the Chelsea public school district reported 15.4% of its
students as limited English proficient. The city’s enrollment is 6.9% African
American, 5.2% Asian, 72% Hispanic, 0.2% Native American, and 15.8% non-
Hispanic White (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2003b). Brookline,
on the other hand, reported 8.7% of its students as limited English proficient,
while its enrollment is 9.7% African American, 18.9% Asian, 5.7% Hispanic,
0.2% Native American, and 65.5% White (Massachusetts Department of
Education, 2003a). Both school systems are striving to meet the needs of their
large populations of ELLs. Considering the diversity of these two districts, a
common challenge for the teachers is finding ways to support the emerging
language of the children in their classroom.
One way to support a child’s emergent language is to choose a strategy
that is developmentally appropriate for the child’s language acquisition stage.
It is necessary for teachers to have some knowledge as to how children typically
acquire language. One teacher from Chelsea told us her view on language

210 Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

acquisition. She said, “I have been teaching ELL students for 20 years. I
previously taught kindergarten for many years but have now settled into
prekindergarten. I notice that with the prekindergarten children who are just
entering school for the first time, those who are coming from homes where
English is never spoken are often silent for long periods of time. Some of them
are quiet for a few days, while others go through a silent period for months.
During these times, I do most of the talking. At the early level, their language
skills are being acquired through mostly listening.” This is why understanding
the stages of emergent language is crucial for today’s early childhood teachers.
Regardless of the grade level they teach, educators often have students in
different stages of language development. There are many strategies available
to them, and by understanding what stage of second language acquisition
each child is in, a teacher is able to choose the strategies he or she will use
with students more effectively.
Although there are many different theories about second language
acquisition, one theory, “the natural approach” (Krashen & Terrell, 1983, as
cited in Lake & Pappamihiel, 2003), provides a practical structure for teachers
juggling the needs of native speakers of English and multilevel ELLs. This is
a framework for children who are ELLs. The natural approach divides the
stages of second language acquisition into preproduction, early production,
speech emergence, and intermediate fluency (see Table 1). Although learners
move through these stages at different rates, they do so in essentially
sequential order. By understanding learner characteristics and teaching
strategies appropriate for each stage, teachers can easily integrate support
and activities for ELLs into regular instruction.
The teachers interviewed used many of the strategies mentioned by
Krashen and Terrell (1983, as cited in Lake & Pappamihiel, 2003), as well as
many they did not mention. In fact, the 20 teachers in the sample mentioned 28
different strategies that they found effective in working with the ELLs in their
classrooms. On average, teachers mentioned approximately 10 strategies each
during their interviews. Our data showed that some strategies were
overwhelmingly used by all of the teachers, while others varied depending on
the grade level, specific community, or individual practitioner. The teachers
collectively pointed out that they found the most success in working with
ELLs when they varied their strategies. Different strategies were used that
would best meet the needs of each child as an individual. The strategies fell
into three main categories: strategies for engaging learners emotionally (see
Table 2), strategies for teaching language specifically (see Table 3), and
strategies for teaching in general (see Table 4).
Four strategies were named by the majority of the teachers as being
effective in general: gestures and visual cues; repetition and opportunities for
practicing skills; use of objects, real props, and hands-on materials; and
multisensory approaches. A Chelsea teacher talked about how she uses these

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs 211

Table 1
Strategies of Second Language Acquisition
A: Preproduction B: Early production

Characteristics Characteristics
1. Listening 1. Continued listening
2. Student responds nonverbally 2. Student responds with one or two
3. Ten hours to 6 months of exposure words, and nonverbally
to English 3. Three to 6 months to 1 year of
Teaching strategies exposure to English
1. Ninety percent teacher talk Teaching strategies
2. Total Physical Response (TPR) 1. Fifty percent to 60% teacher talk
3. Modeling 2. TPR with responses—verbal and
4. Active student involvement nonverbal
5. Yes/no questions 3. Answering who, what, where, and
6. Use of pictures either/or questions with one-word
7. Use of props and hands-on answers
activities 4. Role-playing
5. Completing sentences
6. Questions to be answered with
phrases (e.g., Where. . . ? In the
house.)
7. Labeling (older learners)

C: Speech emergence D: Intermediate fluency

Characteristics Characteristics
1. Sight vocabulary (older learners) 1. May seem fluent, but needs to
2. Students speak in phrases and expand vocabulary and Cognitive
sentences Academic Language Proficiency
3. One to 3 years of exposure to 2. Engages in dialogue
English 3. Three to 4 years of exposure to
Teaching strategies English
1. Forty percent teacher talk Teaching strategies
2. Scaffolding and expansion 1. Ten percent teacher talk
3. Poetry, songs, and chants 2. Essay writing
4. Predicting 3. Analyzing charts and graphs
5. Comparing 4. More complex problem solving and
6. Describing evaluating
7. Social interaction (cooperative 5. Continuing with how and why
learning with information gaps) questions; students must research
8. How and why questions and support their answers
9. Language experience approach 6. Pre-writing activities—writing
10. Problem solving process, peer critiquing, etc.
11. Group discussion 7. Literacy analysis
12. Labeling
13. Listing, charting, graphing
Note. Adapted from Krashen and Terrell (1983) by Lake and Pappamihiel (2003).

212 Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

strategies with all of her students: “At the prekindergarten grade level, I find
that having real concrete objects benefits all of the children. Some really good
conversations have begun just by my bringing in something that the children
recognize. The stories will begin! I encourage the students to talk and tell me
stories about their lives. This usually opens the door for me to ask questions
and keep the discussion going. And I always use multisensory approaches.
All of the children love to get messy when I put out shaving cream or hair gel
for them to practice drawing letters in. Even when we go outside, I’ll have the
children form letters and numbers with their bodies. They always connect it to
later lessons when I say, ‘Do you remember when we made the Number 5
outside with our bodies?’ In my experiences, the strategies I use with my ELL
kids are beneficial to my English speakers as well.”
All of the teachers interviewed mentioned that gestures and visual cues
were effective enough to mention. One prekindergarten teacher in Chelsea
said, “When asking the children to line up to go to the playground, I find that
pointing to a picture of the playground while saying the word reinforces that
it is time to go outside.” This same teacher also praised the thumbs-up or
thumbs-down gesture as a successful way to indicate to the child whether he
or she was acting appropriately. One of the prekindergarten teachers from
Brookline there said that she paired physical gestures with language through
songs, poems, and chants to teach vocabulary, including body parts and
positional concepts. She felt that this helped children “make the connection”
between the language and the concrete actions or objects.
Research supports these teachers’ positive experiences with the
incorporation of physical gestures:
Total physical response (TPR), a well-known technique in the field of
teaching English as a Second Language, involves active participation
of students who learn new action words by watching and imitating as
the teacher says and physically demonstrates each word; this facilitates
more rapid comprehension and better retention of vocabulary. Richards
(1975) asserted that it is clearly better to use actions paired with
pictures than merely to translate English words. (Schunk, 1999, p. 113)
With frequent use of movement and repetition of new words, children will be
motivated and eventually begin to use the new language on their own.
Repetition gives children the opportunity to practice their skills and use
new language often. Most of the teachers felt that they used repetition
frequently and with great success. It helped students in adhering to routines,
following schedules, and participating in activities. Often, repetition can be
used to increase a child’s comfort level within the classroom, which opens the
door for learning. In referring to Table 4, repetition and opportunity for
practicing skills was a mentioned strategy by all of the Chelsea teachers from
prekindergarten through Grade 2 and by seven out of ten teachers from
Brookline.

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs 213

214
Table 2
Strategies for Engaging English Language Learners Emotionally
Strategies Brookline teachers Chelsea teachers

PK P K K K 1 1 1 2 2 P P P K K K 1 1 2 2

Connect with
X
parents

Familiarity with
native language
to increase X X X X
child's comfort
level

Positive
X X X X X X
reinforcement

Personal
X
conversations
Note. P = prekindergarten; K = kindergarten; 1 = first grade; 2 = second grade.

Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

 Table 3
Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners Language Specifically
Strategies Brookline teachers Chelsea teachers

P P K K K 1 1 1 1 2 P P P K K K 1 1 2 2

Adding to
language to
X X X
build longer
utterances

Encouraging
kids to use
X X X

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs

words in
context

Target a few
specific words X X X X X
within a story

Opportunities to
X X X X X X X X X X
speak and listen

Preview books
X X
before reading
Note. P = prekindergarten; K = kindergarten; 1 = first grade; 2 = second grade.

215
 Table 4
Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners in General
Strategies Brookline teachers Chelsea teachers

216
P P K K K 1 1 1 2 2 P P P K K K 1 1 2 2

Repetition/opportunities
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
for practicing skills

Gestures/sign
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
language/visual cues

Music and movement X X X X

Use of objects/real
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
props/hands-on materials

Adhere to routine X X X X X

Task breakdown/step-by-
X X X X X X X
step directions

Partners/role
X X X X X X X X X X X X
modeling/peer modeling

Appropriate wait time to

allow for language X X X X X
processing

Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

Use of highly emotional
X X X X X
language/dramatics
 Table 4, cont.,
Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners in General

Strategies Brookline teachers Chelsea teachers

P P K K K 1 1 1 2 2 P P P K K K 1 1 2 2

Direct teaching/skill-drill X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Thematic units X X X X X X X X X

Multisensory approaches X X X X X X X X X X X X

Reflection/check back on
X
children's learning

Small groups X X X X X X X X X X X X

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs

One-on-one support X X X

Questioning for
clarification and X X X X X
comprehension

Build off children's past

experiences and prior X X X X X
knowledge

Technology/videos X X X

217
Engage learners
X X
emotionally
Note. P = prekindergarten; K = kindergarten; 1 = first grade; 2 = second grade.
 In analyzing our data, we noticed that only one out of twenty teachers
interviewed mentioned connecting with parents or having personal
conversations with their students to be an effective strategy (see Table 2). In
addition, two out of twenty teachers mentioned previewing books before
reading as an effective strategy (see Table 3). We wonder whether the teachers
interviewed are in fact practicing these strategies in their teaching and just
neglected to mention them because all the forementioned strategies are
essential to all early childhood educators.
One resource center for early child educators recommends that teachers
choose stories that have one repetitive phrase or sentence, and provide many
opportunities for children to practice that phrase in art, dramatic play, and
rereading a book many, many times. This allows children to participate and to
build language, and the center states, “ALL children like repetition and knowing
how to respond” (Tennessee Delta Child Care Resource Center, 2002, p. 2).
This type of repetition often comes about naturally when teachers are taking
a multisensory approach or doing a thematic unit. Eighty-five percent of
teachers interviewed for our study mentioned repetition as a key strategy in
their classroom. For example, a Brookline kindergarten teacher stated that
“repetition of activities gave children the opportunities to practice skills so
they can master them.”
A teacher from Chelsea also shared her own experience using a book that
contains repetitive terms. After reading the story Short Train, Long Train
(Asch, 1992), the children in her prekindergarten classroom compared pictures
of objects that were long and short, sorted objects into groups relating to
their length, used tubes of different lengths at the sand table to make tunnels,
used long and short blocks in building, cut ribbon and yarn of different lengths
and compared them, and sorted themselves by long hair and short hair. The
teacher explained that through the constant repetition of the terms long and
short, the children began using the vocabulary on their own, therefore showing
their mastery of the concept.
This teacher used a variety of props to help her children explore the
concept of long and short. Many of the other teachers also found the use of
objects, props, and hands-on materials to be another effective strategy.
Seventy-five percent of teachers interviewed mentioned that the children
were more engaged in the activities and lessons when they used objects and
props that were authentic or real concrete objects. One of the prekindergarten
teachers from Brookline had been extremely successful when she used puppets
to teach language for social situations, such as greetings and sharing. Research
explains that “hands-on experiences, such as the use of manipulatives, can
help clarify meaning” (Kober, 2003). A second-grade teacher, also from
Brookline, felt that using concrete objects was beneficial for teaching key
vocabulary, and using hands-on materials for math activities helped the children
learn specific concepts.

218 Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

 Concrete objects also play a key role in a multisensory approach to
teaching. Although fewer teachers mentioned using a multisensory approach,
60% felt that it was effective enough to mention. One of the reasons a
multisensory approach works for learners is the variety of experiences it
provides, since no two students learn the same way: “The more diverse learning
experiences we provide our students, the more robust their education will be,
[and] the more ways they will learn each topic” (Kagan & Kagan, 1998, as
cited in Haley, 2004, p. 165).
A Chelsea kindergarten teacher talked about her use of the story The Very
Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1994). After reading the story, she introduced
the children to tiny caterpillars. Then, over the course of several weeks, the
children watched the caterpillars grow bigger, spin their chrysalises, and emerge
as butterflies. The students were encouraged to touch the caterpillars, draw
pictures of them, crawl like caterpillars, taste the fruits the caterpillar ate in the
story, and eventually go outdoors to release the butterflies. One of the Brookline
kindergarten teachers felt it was important to use a multisensory approach
because it “targets all learning styles, and the children are able to make
connections faster.”
Some of the strategies varied by grade level. For instance, the use of
thematic units was mentioned by every single prekindergarten teacher and
most kindergarten teachers but was not mentioned by a single first- or second-
grade teacher. Although none of the first- and second-grade teachers
mentioned thematic units, it is an appropriate strategy to use with those grade
levels, as one report states:
The incorporation of age- and language-appropriate thematic literature
into the early childhood curriculum can stimulate content-based
academic learning for English language learners (ELLs). The systematic
approach is particularly beneficial to young ELLs ages 3 through 8
because it provides background knowledge and cultural information
along with opportunities to hear, speak, and interact with carefully
crafted language in thematic and story context. (Smallwood, 2002)
Often, thematic units will incorporate the strategies of repetition, hands-
on learning experiences, gestures, and multisensory approach, because of the
way the thematic unit content and vocabulary “[cross] all areas of the
curriculum” (Brookline prekindergarten teacher). Thematic instruction creates
a framework in which students can use both oral and written language for
learning content. (Peregoy & Boyle, 2001, pp. 78–79). Thematic units give
children more chances to connect to the information being taught.

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs 219

 Conclusion
Our research indicates that the teachers we interviewed were using a
variety of strategies that they found to be effective when teaching their ELLs.
Even more importantly, many of these strategies were deemed effective by
teachers from both school systems who work with culturally and linguistically
diverse populations. In classrooms where most of the students are native
English speakers, teaching strategies may differ. Less time might be spent on
teaching vocabulary concepts with the strategies discussed in our tables.
The teachers mentioned that the main goals of using any of these strategies
include helping children to make the connection between content and
language, and providing children with the tools they need to use their acquired
language to interact and communicate with others around them. Teachers
must research the way ELLs acquire their second language and choose the
appropriate strategies to support each child as an individual. Research on this
subject is constantly emerging and changing. In reflecting on the information
we compiled while writing this paper, we can conclude that the teachers
interviewed used a variety of strategies while working with their ELL students.
Many of the strategies they used were found to be effective with all of their
students, even those whose native language is English. As we indicated
earlier, we feel that any teacher working with ELL students should do research
on their own to find out how all children acquire language. We hope that after
reading this article, teachers will try some of the strategies used by the teachers
we interviewed, and that they will find these strategies successful.

References
Asch, F. (1992). Short train, long train. New York: Scholastic.
Carle, E. (1994). The very hungry caterpillar. New York: Philomel.
Haley, M. H. (2004). Learner-centered instruction and the theory of
multiple intelligences with second language learners. Teachers College
Record, 106(1), 163–180.
Harris, J. L. (2003). Toward an understanding of literacy issues in multicultural
school-age populations. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in
School, 34(1), 17–19.
Kober, N. (2003). What special problems do children whose native language
is not English face in learning math? Retrieved February 11, 2005, from
http://www.enc.org/resources/records/0,1240,009557,00.shtm
Lake, V., & Pappamihiel, N. E. (2003). Effective practices and principles to
support English language learners in the early childhood classroom.
Childhood Education, 70(4), 200–203.

220 Bilingual Research Journal, 29: 1 Spring 2005

Lira, S., Serpa, M., & Stokes, W. (1998, Spring). Valuing language diversity and
bilingual literacy. Currents in Literacy, 1(1), 16–19.
Massachusetts Department of Education. (1996). Making connections through
world languages. In The Massachusetts world languages curriculum
frameworks (pp. 16–17). Malden, MA: Author.
Massachusetts Department of Education. (2003a). Brookline enrollment.
Retrieved February 23, 2005, from http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.
asp?mode=o&so= &ot=5&o=355&view=enr
Massachusetts Department of Education. (2003b). Chelsea enrollment.
Retrieved February 23, 2005, from http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/
home.asp?mode=o&view=enr&mcasyear=&ot=5&o=418
Peregoy, S. F., & Boyle, O. F. (2001). Reading, writing, and learning in
ESL: A resource book for K–12 teachers (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
Schunk, H. A. (1999). The effect of singing paired with signing on receptive
vocabulary skills of elementary ESL students. Journal of Music Therapy,
36(2), 110–124.
Smallwood, B. A. (2002). Thematic literature and curriculum for English
language learners in early childhood education. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED470980)
Tennessee Delta Child Care Resource Center. (2002). Accessing resources
in child care and early childhood education. Child Care Update, 2(5), 2.
Williams, J. A. (2001). Classroom conversations: Opportunities to learn for ESL
students in mainstream classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 54(8), 750–757.

Acknowledgment
We would like to acknowledge and thank the teachers from the Chelsea
and Brookline School Districts who helped make this article possible.

Effective Teaching Strategies for ELLs 221