The Principles 
of Teaching EAL Literacy

EAL Literacy learners are learners who have not fully developed literacy in their first (or other) language before starting a LINC program. EAL literacy learners are learning two things simultaneously. They are learning the English language, including its sounds, vocabulary and structures, and they are developing for the first time a very complex set of literacy skills in reading and writing. What is more, they are developing these 
literacy skills in a language that they are in the process of learning.

The best place for literacy learners to learn English is a dedicated LINC literacy class. These classes provide the support and explicit instruction in learning strategies and literacy skills. When a dedicated class is not available, EAL literacy learners may be placed in a Stage I LINC class. This situation is not ideal, and literacy learners will likely need adaptation, accommodation and support in order to learn effectively in Stage I classes with their fully literate classmates.

Biliteracy programs, which deliver English language instruction and literacy instruction in the learners’ first language, also exist in some organizations across the country. These programs can be very effective as learners build their literacy skills in their first language, easing the transfer of knowledge to an additional language. These programs are dedicated to specific language groups and can help learners build their language and literacy skills. There are different approaches to biliteracy, including having an instructor who is bilingual or having a bilingual assistant to help the instructor.

LINC has five levels of literacy instruction which are parallel to Stage I: Foundation L, CLB 1L, CLB 2L, CLB 3L and CLB 4L. EAL literacy learners are designated with an L after their reading and writing benchmarks; there is no designation of L after a listening or speaking benchmark. Foundation L learners are learning foundational literacy skills, such as holding a pencil, forming straight lines and curves, learning to track and learning the sounds of the letters. After Foundation L, EAL literacy learners are placed in a literacy class based on their reading and writing benchmarks. EAL literacy learners meet the same requirements for a benchmark as a non-literacy learner; however, they are provided with extra support, explicit instruction in learning strategies and dedicated literacy skills instruction.

The CCLB has several resources to support literacy instructors. CLB: ESL for ALL outlines literacy instruction from Foundation L to CLB 4L and includes a continuum of literacy skills, which outlines the development of literacy skills in reading and writing. Note that the continuum of literacy skills does not align directly with the CLB; a learner continues to develop their literacy skills according to the continuum, but they progress through the CLB when they can successfully demonstrate competency in a level. Literacy learners use portfolios and follow the requirements for PBLA. 
CLB: ESL for ALL Support Kit provides guidance in instruction, planning, assessment, support and resources for teaching literacy learners.

Effective literacy teaching includes dedicated and explicit instruction in literacy skills at a level appropriate to the learners, but good literacy instruction goes beyond teaching reading and writing. In a literacy class, all language is developed orally first, and you should analyze tasks and activities for underlying assumptions in literacy and background knowledge. A listening task, for example, which requires learners to demonstrate their comprehension through reading the questions and writing responses, has underlying assumptions in literacy skills. This kind of task is not appropriate because it does not effectively assess their listening. A literacy learner may not be successful on this task because of their reading and writing skills, even if they fully comprehend the listening. A literacy instructor works from the strengths of the learners and incorporates oral language development, music, hands-on learning and movement into instruction. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is particularly applicable in the instruction of EAL literacy learners. Language in literacy instruction, like all instruction in Stage I, should also be highly familiar and personally relevant to the learners.

Two approaches in particular are effective in literacy instruction: whole-part-whole and the Language Experience Approach (LEA). Whole-part-whole is an approach to reading in which you first read the text as a whole, looking for overall meaning and practicing reading strategies such as making predictions and looking at the pictures. Next, you focus on parts of the text to build literacy skills and understand specific meaning. Depending on what you are teaching, this could be looking for specific letter sounds, reading specific target vocabulary words, looking at connecting words and so on. Finally, you read the text again for a deeper understanding. LEA is an approach in which you have a group experience (such as a community walk or a field trip), and then you elicit the story of this experience from the learners. You write down what they say verbatim and use this text as a source for literacy development activities. LEA is effective because it creates a text of entirely known language for the learners that they produced and is based on a recent personally relevant context.

Effective Resources for literacy instruction include level-appropriate texts to read for skill-using tasks and assessment tasks, and lots of appropriate, relevant skill-building activities. There are some excellent sources for literacy resources, including CCLB, who have multi-level literacy modules, and organizations such as AMSSA, The Literacy Centre of Expertise at TIES, Bow Valley College, NorQuest College, Toronto Catholic School District, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and ISANS. Many literacy instructors also develop their own learning materials. A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy gives information on effectively creating your own learning materials.