Unrau’s Cultural Awareness with Struggling Readers and English Language Learners
“Few, if any, middle and high school teachers have any training in diagnosing and teaching students with profound reading limitations.” Unrau 312 It is true. Many teachers are so in love with their content area whether it be science, English, history or mathematics that they fail to take into account the importance of reading instruction. Without a firm foundation in basic reading skills students cannot learn very much in those ‘preferred’ content areas and fail to further their education in those specialized areas. Teachers’ lack of training in reading instruction leads to further gaps between academic success and student’s ability to perform in well in class. Norman Unrau’s chapter “Struggling Readers and English Learners: Addressing Their Cognitive and Cultural Needs” (Unrau 2004) hones in on certain strategies and reading intervention programs that can increase the lowest level readers’ performance in the classroom to achieve better in reading for all content areas. It starts here with a firm foundation in basic reading skills. Language is the most divisive tool in human culture. Language use, dialects and pidgins separate us into the groups we become and remain with throughout life. Understanding this key concept is crucial when teaching English language learners. Our job as English teachers is not to teach students to speak English but to teach students to read and write at their utmost ability in the English language through grammar, composition and literature instruction. Appreciating this job description will help us focus on what is most important in the classroom. Not to break down a language barrier, but create better learners through whatever venues necessary.
