This book addresses the linguistic challenges faced by diverse populations of students at the secondary and post-secondary levels as they engage in academic tasks requiring advanced levels of reading and writing. Learning to use language in ways that meet academic expectations is a challenge for students who have had little exposure and opportunity to use such language outside of school. Although much is known about emergent literacy in the early years of schooling, much less has been written about the development of advanced literacy as students move into secondary education and beyond. Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: Meaning With Power: *brings together work on first and second language acquisition and emphasizes the importance of developing advanced literacy in the first language, such as Spanish for bilingual students, as well as English; *spans a range of theoretical orientations and analytic approaches, drawing on work in systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, and sociocultural perspectives; *addresses the content areas of science, history, and language arts; *provides specific information about genres and grammatical features in these content areas; and *presents suggestions for teacher education. What unites the contributors to this volume is their shared commitment to a view of literacy that emphasizes both the social contexts and the linguistic challenges. The chapters collected in this volume contribute in important ways to research and pedagogy on advanced literacy development for the multilingual and multicultural students in today's classrooms. This book is particularly useful for researchers and students in language and education, applied linguistics, and others concerned with issues and challenges of advanced literacy development in first and second languages.

This book systematically examines how learning to read occurs in diverse languages, and in so doing, explores how literacy is learned in a second language by learners who have achieved at least basic reading skills in their first language. As a consequence of rapid globalization, such learners are a large and growing segment of the school population worldwide, and an increasing number of schools are challenged by learners from a wide variety of languages, and with distinct prior literacy experiences. To succeed academically these learners must develop second-language literacy skills, yet little is known about the ways in which they learn to read in their first languages, and even less about how the specific nature and level of their first-language literacy affects second-language reading development. This volume provides detailed descriptions of five typologically diverse languages and their writing systems, and offers comparisons of learning-to-read experiences in these languages. Specifically, it addresses the requisite competencies in learning to read in each of the languages, how language and writing system properties affect the way children learn to read, and the extent and ways in which literacy learning experience in one language can play a role in subsequent reading development in another. Both common and distinct aspects of literacy learning experiences across languages are identified, thus establishing a basis for determining which skills are available for transfer in second-language reading development. Learning to Read Across Languages is intended for researchers and advanced students in the areas of second-language learning, psycholinguistics, literacy, bilingualism, and cross-linguistic issues in language processing.

This book systematically examines how learning to read occurs in diverse languages, and in so doing, explores how literacy is learned in a second language by learners who have achieved at least basic reading skills in their first language. As a consequence of rapid globalization, such learners are a large and growing segment of the school population worldwide, and an increasing number of schools are challenged by learners from a wide variety of languages, and with distinct prior literacy experiences. To succeed academically these learners must develop second-language literacy skills, yet little is known about the ways in which they learn to read in their first languages, and even less about how the specific nature and level of their first-language literacy affects second-language reading development. This volume provides detailed descriptions of five typologically diverse languages and their writing systems, and offers comparisons of learning-to-read experiences in these languages. Specifically, it addresses the requisite competencies in learning to read in each of the languages, how language and writing system properties affect the way children learn to read, and the extent and ways in which literacy learning experience in one language can play a role in subsequent reading development in another. Both common and distinct aspects of literacy learning experiences across languages are identified, thus establishing a basis for determining which skills are available for transfer in second-language reading development. Learning to Read Across Languages is intended for researchers and advanced students in the areas of second-language learning, psycholinguistics, literacy, bilingualism, and cross-linguistic issues in language processing.

A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.

Reporting the findings of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth, this book concisely summarises what is known from empirical research about the development of literacy in language-minority children and youth, including development, environment, instruction, and assessment.

A Co-Publication of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. and The International Reading Association This book is a shorter version of the full volume Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners reporting the findings of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. The Panel – a distinguished group of expert researchers in reading, language, bilingualism, research methods, and education – was appointed to identify, assess, and synthesize research on the literacy education of language-minority children and youth. In this book, chapters adapted from the original report concisely summarize what is known from empirical research about the development of literacy in language-minority children and youth, including development, environment, instruction, and assessment.