awareness and phonics instruction, and by the
end of second grade, the ELLs’ reading skills
were comparable to those of the native English
speakers. In some cases, ELLs even
outperformed the native English speakers
(Lesaux & Siegel, 2003). Results from this study
propose that “kindergarten phonological
awareness instruction in the context of a
balanced early literacy program is as effective
for ESL speakers as it is for L1 speakers in the
early grades” (Lesaux & Siegel, 2003, p. 1016).
Lesaux and Siegel (2003) concluded that with
effective instruction, ELL students are able to
make similar gains in reading as native English
speakers within the classroom.
Before starting formal instruction in reading
and writing, it is a good idea to begin by
building up the child’s oral language capabilities
through authentic discussions and explicit
modeling. Once a child has a basic grasp on oral
language skills, he or she is ready for more
guided instruction in reading and writing with
reading texts matching the oral language skills
of the child (Verhoeven, 1990). “The extent to
which minority children succeed in identifying
with the majority language and culture appears
to be important for the course of their reading
development in the second language”
(Verhoeven, 1990, p. 109). Allowing English
Language Learners to receive the same quality
instruction in phonemic and phonological
awareness, orthographic processing, word
recognition, vocabulary, comprehension
strategies, and writing within the same
classroom context as their peers can result in
favorable results (Calderon et al., 2011; Deacon,
Wade-Woolley, & Kirby, 2009; Fitzgerald, 1995;
Slavin & Cheung, 2005). English Language
Learners submerged in the socioculture of an
American classroom with a well-balanced
literacy program do, in fact, have the potential
to show significant growth in their reading and
writing skills (Gyovai et al., 2009; Schultz, 2009;
Serna, 2009).
Methodology
A causal-comparative research design was used
for this study in which achievement scores in
reading and writing of English Language
Learners in kindergarten were compared with
achievement scores in reading and writing of
native English speaking students in
kindergarten. The English Language Learners
were selected as the comparison group and
native English speaking students were
considered the control group.
Reading and writing achievement scores
were obtained from 58 kindergarten students
over a three-year period. Of these 58 students,
11 were English Language Learners. Therefore,
for this study, scores were obtained from 47
native English speaking kindergarten students
and 11 English Language Learners in
kindergarten.
The classroom from which these scores
were obtained abided by district curriculum
expectations all three years, and the instruction
was presented by the same teacher.
Furthermore, this classroom implemented
Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop on a daily
basis. This included daily execution of shared
reading, read alouds, word study, independent
learning centers, independent reading, guided
reading, independent reading and ܚ][