Transforming Literacy Education for Long-Term English Learners: Recognizing Brilliance in the Undervalued

by Maneka Brooks

Grounded in research on bilingualism and adolescent literacy, this volume provides a much-needed insight into the day-to-day needs of students who are identified as long-term English language learners (LTELs). LTELs are adolescents who are primarily or solely educated in the U.S. and yet remain identified as "learning English" in secondary school. Challenging the deficit perspective that is often applied to their experiences of language learning, Brooks counters incorrect characterizations of LTELs and sheds light on students’ strengths to argue that effective literacy education requires looking beyond policy classifications that are often used to guide educational decisions for this population. By combining research, theory, and practice, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of literacy pedagogy to facilitate teacher learning and includes practical takeaways and implications for classroom practice and professional development. Offering a pathway for transforming literacy education for students identified as LTELs, chapters discuss reframing the education of LTELs, academic reading in the classroom, and the bilingualism of students who are labeled LTELs. Transforming Literacy Education for Long-Term English Learners is a much-needed resource for scholars, professors, researchers, and graduate students in language and literacy education, English education, and teacher education, and for those who are looking to create an inclusive and successful classroom environment for LTELs.

Genres: Education

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2019

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the title this book should be better than it is. I found myself asking over and over again "so what is the point she is trying to make" or "is this example meant to be a model or a non-example - effective teaching or ineffective teaching."? Again and again the teaching examples made me gasp in horror at the standard practices of reading to the students, presenting lecture notes and requiring students to copy them into notebooks, and complete dismissal of student interests, all while preaching the need to eliminate dehumanizing education. I wondered aloud over and over "where is the cognitive lift for the student"? For a book whose purpose is to research and reveal reading practices to "recognize the brilliance in the undervalued" the text is woefully empty of effective strategies or insightful research. The most powerful message -- that every good teacher already knows -- is that great teaching requires teachers to build relationships with students. Unfortunately in the landscape of cutting budgets and growing class sizes, this is becoming harder and harder to do. I was seriously disappointed in this text because it simply stated what is true rather than revealing how to make positive change. Don't waste your money on this overpriced, under useful text.