This book enables teachers to support Grades 6-12 ELLs as they meet ambitious Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. It provides concrete ideas for engaging language learners in a range of intellectually rich tasks designed to sharpen their content knowledge and academic English.

The chapters weave together several themes that will help ELLs succeed in the English Language Arts.

Attention to complex texts: ELLs need to engage meaningfully with complex texts to develop their language and literacy skills.
Developing academic language within classroom contexts: In order for ELLs to learn academic language, they must learn it in the context of intellectually engaging tasks that enable them to read complex texts.
Independent comprehension and learner autonomy: These are achieved through specific pedagogical practices that involve scaffolding, close reading and meaningful language use.


Each chapter provides Reflection Questions and Action Plans that are useful for practicing teachers, preservice teachers, graduate students, academics, researchers and professional development providers.