ABSTRACT

Dual language learners (DLLs) are becoming a significant component of the educational landscape in the United States. For example, in Arizona, Latinos constitute about a third of the population. Consequently, efforts to enhance English reading comprehension may increase the number of children participating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by a tremendous amount. Enhanced Moved By Reading to Accelerate Comprehension in English (EMBRACE) is designed to improve both general and STEM reading comprehension for DLL students. EMBRACE is based on the successful Moved by Reading intervention, which uses principles of embodied cognition to enhance reading comprehension. This chapter describes the embodied cognition approach to reading comprehension, then the Moved by Reading (MbR) intervention, and finally the enhancements that led to EMBRACE. Evidence from previous work using MbR and the current results using EMBRACE indicate that facilitating simulation while the child reads leads to much better comprehension.