Assisting struggling early ESL readers. What can English teachers do?: A review paper

Abstract

The teaching and learning of reading to struggling readers have become a distinguished area to be researched recently. Past studies discovered the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process involving early struggling readers in foreign countries. However, in Malaysia, the study of intervention in the teaching of reading to ESL readers is scarce. Hence, this paper reviews interventions and the findings of the effectiveness of the interventions in teaching reading to struggling ESL readers to provide the framework for Malaysian researchers and English educators dealing with struggling early ESL readers. This paper addresses issues that will help the struggling reader succeed. Several themes have emerged from research on identifying teaching strategies that support struggling readers in the classroom. Increased student engagement occurs when pairwork, reading with a reading specialist and playing reading games took place during the reading interventions to assist struggling readers. Moreover, explicit instruction in phonological awareness and ample opportunities to practise reading, both at home and at school, improve reading skills.