Teaching for Language Transfer during Shared Reading

Considering our students from a holistic bilingualism perspective invites us to be strategic in teaching for language transfer to empower them to draw from all their linguistic repertoires. This session will explore what it means to teach for language transfer, why it’s important, and how it can be implemented in our daily shared reading lessons. We will explore lessons using bilingual books to help students see connections between two languages capitalizing what they know in one language and transferring to another.

General research in learning theory tells us that when new ideas, language, and vocabulary are connected to what we already know, what is being learned is easier, more relevant, and more durable. Using a Shared Reading instructional strategy develops language as readers read and reread texts, focusing first on meaning. With each rereading, the experience strengthens student’s use of their syntactic, or grammatical, cueing system, as they automatically anticipate the words in the text; this leads to more integration of cueing systems as they read independently. Shared Reading positions emergent bilingual students, who may be viewed as being deficient, as capable learners who can participate fully in the meaning-making experience, coming to own the text’s language through subsequent reads.

When students are viewed from a holistic bilingual perspective, teachers can recognize, use, and build on strengths. It positions emergent bilingual students, who may be viewed as being deficient, as capable learners who bring language and understandings to the learning experience in the classroom.

Materials that may be emphasized:
Flying Start to Literacy™, Despegando hacia la lectura™, Lift Off to Literacy™, Despegando hacia la lectura™: Un enfoque de lectura compartida