Learning to read in a language you are simultaneously learning to speak and understand is more complicated than learning to read in a language you already know. This is the challenge faced by millions of English learners (ELs) whose English proficiency is low and school achievement generally poor. What do we know about teaching English learners to read and write and develop as English readers and writers?

Presentations, webinars, discussions, and blogs about the “Science of Reading” seem to be everywhere these days. These sessions, often with Emily Hanford’s work at the center, cover so much groundbreaking information and generate a lot of empowering conversations, making it all the more exciting to watch the momentum surrounding this topic build. However, these sessions often end with two questions still unanswered in our minds.

Sound walls are becoming more common in classrooms thanks to a clearer understanding of the science of reading. We need to understand why a sound wall is set up differently than an A–Z alphabetical word wall and how to use a sound wall effectively to elevate daily instruction during Tier 1 by reviewing the 44 speech sounds and the options for spelling each of the sounds.

In the years since the National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000) identified essential components for teaching reading and likely long before, the “PH” terms, phonemic awareness and phonics have often been confused, conflated, and used interchangeably. Yet it is essential to have a common language and a deep understanding of each of these terms to maximize instruction.

A new organization is pushing for children’s TV and video programs to automatically display captions to boost literacy. It’s an easy thing to do, and it has even more research behind it than advocates realize.

The circumstances in which we find ourselves as educators at this moment call for flexible and reflective thinking about the goals toward which we might aim and the goals that we might set for our students. I believe we will need to adjust our goals, and likely readjust them again at a later time. Ultimately, this means we will need to be flexible with expectations.