ABSTRACT
Typically the course textbook is the dominant instructional material; however, trade books, Internet resources, atlases, historical fiction, newspapers, and videos should also be used to add to instruction. The traditional reliance of social studies teaching on teacher talk and the textbook (Thornton, 1994) poses a particular challenge for ELLs because social studies vocabulary can be complex and abstract. Some social studies textbooks, even those written for an elementary audience, use “long sentences with multiple embedded clauses” (Chamot & O'Malley, 1994, p. 260). ELL students may have a difficult time understanding the text if they do not receive the language and academic support needed to understand complex reading assignments. Stopping to discuss a few key terms highlighted in the text and defined in the glossary, for instance, can make understanding the text easier for ELLs. We have found that showing images that represent key terms is especially effective (Cruz & Thornton, 2012). Conducting a simple image search on the Internet can yield visual representations that can help increase comprehension.
