The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners

Build bridges of support so English language learners and standard English learners can learn alongside their peers!

This comprehensive, research-based guide helps teachers bridge multiple gaps and promote learning for English language learners (ELLs) and standard English learners (SELs). The authors provide strategies, examples, and tools to address:

• The gap between students and texts: covering word recognition, background knowledge, comprehension, and academic language development
• The gap between students and teachers: including sociocultural differences between teachers and students and teacher perceptions and expectations
• The gap between students and their peers: discussing language proficiency differences, grouping strategies, and grade-level and schoolwide programs

Ivannia Soto, PhD , is a professor of education and the director of graduate programs at Whittier College, where she specializes in language acquisition, systemic reform for English language learners (ELLs), and urban education. She began her career in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where she taught English and English language development to a population of 99.9% Latinos, who either were or had been multilingual learners. Before becoming a professor, Soto also served LAUSD as a literacy coach as well as district office and county office administrator. She has presented on literacy and language topics at various conferences, including the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), the California Association for Bilingual Association (CABE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the National Council of Urban Education Associations. As a consultant, Soto has worked with Stanford University’s School Redesign Network (SRN), WestEd, and CABE, as well as a variety of districts and county offices in California, providing technical assistance for systemic reform for ELLs and Title III. Recently, Soto also directed a CABE bilingual teacher and administrator program across California.
Soto has authored and coauthored 12 books, including The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners; ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change, a best seller that was recognized by Education Trust–West as a promising practice for ELLs in 2018; Moving From Spoken to Written Language With ELLs; the Academic English Mastery four-book series; the Common Core Companion four-book series for English language development; Breaking Down the Wall; and Responsive Schooling for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Together, the books tell a story of how to equitably engage and include multilingual learners by ensuring that they gain voice and an academic identity in the classroom setting. Soto is executive director of the Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) at Whittier College, whose mission it is to promote relevant research and develop academic resources for ELLs and Standard English learners (SELs) via linguistically and culturally responsive teaching practices/

June Hetzel, professor and dean of the School of Education at Biola University, grew up in the culturally and linguistically rich basin of the San Francisco Bay Area in the Franklin McKinley School District in south San Jose. Her childhood background shaped her passion for access for all learners. Her teaching experiences in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, Africa, and Thailand have provided her with insight into working with elementary and secondary students and adults in multilingual, multicultural settings. Additionally, she has enjoyed travel throughout Europe and on a trip to Oxford University, presented “The Three Literacy Gaps and Title III of NCLB,” co-authored with Ivannia Soto-Hinman, at the Oxford Round Table at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, upon which the book The Literacy Gaps is based. In partnership with Ivannia Soto-Hinman, the model has been refined for ELLs and SELs, developing into its current form.

With 30 years in education, Hetzel remains passionate about literacy. She facilitates local volunteer tutoring partnerships and she and her husband, Geoff, enjoy leading teams of literacy teachers overseas to work with English language learners. A long-time member of the International Reading Association and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, Hetzel has authored many literacy resource books and currently freelances for Purposeful Design Publications, serving as a content editor for two textbook series, including the English as a Foreign Language series. She earned her MS in reading education from Cal State Fullerton and her PhD from Claremont Graduate University.