Becoming a reader and writer in a bilingual special education classroom

Ruiz, N.T., Vargas, E., Beltran, A. (2002). Becoming a reader and writer in a bilingual special education classroom. Language arts, 79(4), 297-309. Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/smithant/Ruiz%20Vargas%20and%20Beltran.pdf

This is an interesting article, however it is important to note that the only "bilingual" part is that it is the classroom (and teachers I presume) that is bilingual. The article gives the story of a boy who migrated from Guatemala to the United States with his family. He was identified as not able to read or write in Spanish or English and was assessed as having a learning disability during his third year of school. Two specialist teachers (the second and third authors) petitioned for the boy to be placed in their specialist classroom. After one and a half years, the reading and writing ability, I am assuming in Spanish, of the boy increased by approximately 3.5 grade levels.

The specialist classroom was run on set of twelve classroom conditions, which are very similar to the Productive Pedagogies and the elements of the Quality Teaching Framework. The teachers also identified a set of principles for bilingual students with learning disabilities from the literature. These principles were:

1. Connect students’ background knowledge and personal experiences with literacy lessons.
2. Foster the use of students’ primary language in literacy lessons.
3. Create opportunities for students to meaningfully and authentically apply their developing oral language and literacy skills.
4. Foster increased levels of interaction (oral language, reading, and writing) among students and teachers. (p. 299)

Again, very similar to the PP/QTF, so I am sure that they can be applied for a "normal" classroom, rather than a special education one. The classroom activities promoted the use of written materials with feedback received from the whole class group. Importantly, initial emphasis was on the message contained within the written piece, rather than the spelling and grammar. Engagement between the boy and his peers was easily facilitated by the boys drawing ability, which was seen as a desirable asset for cooperative activities. It was this range of activities which improved his literacy. The teachers themselves feel that the improvement occurred  because he "became a highly motivated participant in all activities in his general education classroom, as well as in the resource room" (p. 304).