Selecting and Evaluating Materials to Promote Literacy in Second Language Learners

Over the past week I have spent time looking at different types of materials I may use in my ESL classroom. I have also spent some time reflecting on how these materials may help to promote literacy in my ELL students as well as teach content, spark engagement and encourage motivation.
When selecting and evaluating these materials I used a rubric that addressed three key areas of language instruction and literacy: discussion generation, metacognitive skills and vocabulary for both basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). These three areas are very important when selecting and evaluating materials for use with any student, especially second language learners. Still, I also feel that it is very important that the texts we use contain many illustrations that support the text so that students may still use other skills such as context to comprehend the information in the text. I feel that illustrations are even more pertinent for ELL students because they may help the students understand what the they are reading even more as well. This is especially true for students of lower English language proficiency. I also feel, especially for students of lower proficiency, that texts which may lend themselves to group activities which encourage and promote BICS are very important. I believe that texts which promote CALP more are much more important for students of higher proficiency levels because they have already become more comfortable with using their new language and are ready to move into more academic language. Still, it is always important to teach and encourage the use and learning of both in any lesson and with any type of material. So, for my students, I want material that will generate a lot of discussion. I also prefer material that the students may connect to. For example, when evaluating and selecting material for students who have immigrated it can be very helpful if the information in the text is connected to the immigrant experience or new experiences period. Also, for adolescents there is a lot of concern with friendship and fitting in. So, texts that address these topics will be much more engaging and spark much more discussion and connection with the material. Finally, I believe that texts which lend themselves to the creation of metacognitive tools such as graphic organizers and that encourage writing, for examples journal prompts, are very important in the ESL classroom.
As for promoting literacy, I believe this is important for any student and in any subject area. Sometimes people do not realize that there are different types of literacy, for example literacy in Literature/English is quite different from literacy in the Sciences or in Math. So, I believe it is important to teach different strategies for discovering and discerning information and I believe it is important to give students ample opportunities to look at and read many different types of texts over many different subjects. Finally, the most important factor in promoting literacy is that literacy is promoted at home as well. Students must see that literacy is an integral part of life both inside and outside of the classroom. So, parents must encourage their students to read and write as much as possible as well as model this behavior to their students. Parents and teachers must work together to encourage reading and writing in both L1 and L2 in their students. They must also show students why literacy is so important and how much we read and write in our everyday lives.