Effective Early Literacy Intervention for English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Difficulties and Language Support for Translation Students

This literature review described effective instructional approaches and literacy curricula to teach essential reading skills to English language learners (ELLs) at risk for reading difficulties and investigate the applicability of these effective literacy instructional strategies for translation students who are required to linguistically and culturally be responsive to both their native language and second language. Findings indicated that explicit instruction through the direct instruction approach was effective with ELLs struggling with reading. Teaching methods that incorporate evidence-based instruction in general educational settings into supplemental, intensive, small group instruction are deemed effective for these students. In addition, intervention studies on the effectiveness of commercial reading programs provided evidence for the applicability and feasibility for ELLs at risk for reading problems. There is also a need to investigate how to take advantage of first language for second language acquisition given a translation that is effective for both learning and teaching.