This book provides teachers with clear guidance and practical classroom lessons for teaching initial reading instruction to English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten through 5th grade. English language learners are students whose first language is other than English and who are not yet proficient in English. We focus on ELLs who are young enough to profit from the research-based methods of teaching initial reading detailed in this book.

We are not aware of another short, helpful book for teachers that adequately acquaints them with the background and practices they need to do their work. Parts of books, articles, and other materials are available, but too often they are not research based and end up being of little help to classroom teachers.

Classroom teachers do not usually have the resources to search for excellent materials and put them together in a way that is both comprehensive and helpful, particularly since much of this information resides in places that appeal more to researchers than working teachers. Teachers of ELLs have asked us again and again to do a comprehensive book, and we now have the research and practices that allow us to offer this book to teachers.

Without question, the need for sound ELL materials is urgent and growing. In Johanna Haver's 2003 book, she said that in 1999–2000 the number of limited English proficient students was 4,148,997. No one has an exact number for ELLs, but we do know that the demand is great, and new ELLs show up to register in our schools every day.

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) is to ensure that all students read on grade level by 3rd grade. Of course, if a student enters school in the 2nd or 3rd grade with little knowledge of English, the goal must become the 4th or 5th grade. A danger with too many English language learners who may have had inappropriate or insufficient reading instruction is that they are regarded as needing special education (Donovan & Cross, 2002). In fact, they frequently have no learning disability but do need proper, sustained, and focused reading instruction, albeit with special attention to and specific methods for engaging ELLs. Research and practice tell us that the components and methods in this book can be used with children as young as 5 or 6 and as old as 11.

Individual reading studies, syntheses of studies, and national panels on reading conducted in the 1990s affirmed that the components of initial reading instruction for monolingual English-speaking children are phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Of course, comprehension is the whole point of reading, and this includes understanding age-appropriate reading materials of high quality.

Solid research on how to teach reading to English language learners was missing from the original studies and books. In the past several years, a knowledge base for these students has been created, one in which we have considerable confidence. The basic components of reading listed above remain, but with many modifications in approach, materials, and assessment tools designed specifically for students learning English as a second or third language.

This book complements the authors' earlier ASCD book, Research-Based Methods of Reading Instruction: Grades K–3 (2004). The new book focuses sharply on English language learners. Most of the classroom lessons are new, meaning they were not used in the 2004 book. Other lessons have been altered with ELLs in mind. The research-based background material in this book is not as extensive as in the earlier ASCD book, with, of course, special attention to the needs of ELLs. Teachers who wish to read much more about reading research should consult the earlier book.

—Mark Goldberg