Teaching Your Secondary English Language Learners the Academic Language of Tests: Focusing on English Language Arts Book

Research shows that when English language learners understand the vocabulary used on tests, their scores soar—critical information for schools in an age of testing and accountability. This manual provides evidence-based, teacher-friendly lesson plans that will help English language learners deal with unfamiliar language features on standardized test questions. Teaching Your Secondary ELL Students the Academic Language of Tests supports English language arts teachers in grades 6-12 in providing instruction for content-specific language skills. Each lesson plan provides background information for the teacher, implications for high-stakes testing, a list of materials, academic vocabulary, activities, and in many cases, graphic organizers. Some of the lesson plans support learning the language needed to gain the content knowledge necessary to prepare students for high-stakes tests. Other lessons deal specifically with the language of the test and support targeted instruction on test items. The teaching strategies included in this resource are varied and differentiated in order to meet the different needs of English language learners.