National Literacy Panel

Through an award to SRI International and the Center for Applied Linguistics by the U.S. Department of Education, a project was undertaken to convene a national panel of experts to review and synthesize the available research on the literacy development of language minority children and youth. The project began on October 1, 2001, and the report of the panel was published in July 2006. Through five full-panel meetings and a series of small-group meetings and conference calls, the panel reviewed and synthesized the research on the following topics: the development of literacy in language minority children and youth; cross-linguistic and cross-modal (i.e., from oral proficiency to literacy) relationships, the sociocultural contexts and literacy development, instruction and professional development, and student assessment of literacy. The synthesis provides useful information to researchers and school personnel about the development of literacy in children who come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. This entry describes the work of the National Literacy Panel.

The panel's review indicated that many factors influence second-language literacy development, among them the age at which skills are acquired; individual differences in second-language oral proficiency and cognitive abilities, first-language oral proficiency and literacy, some sociocultural variables, and classroom and school factors. With regard to teaching literacy to second-language learners, the panel found that enhanced teaching of the key components of English literacy (i.e., phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing) provides a clear advantage to English language learners. More complex, innovative programs typically taught several of these components simultaneously—and these efforts were usually successful in improving literacy for language minority students. However, although approaches that are [Page 587]similar to those used with native-language populations are effective, the research suggests that adjustments to these approaches are needed for maximum benefit with language minority students.