An in-depth acquaintanceship and exploration of current theories and programmatic application of sound classroom practices for quality balanced literacy programs. Emphasis will be upon becoming familiar with the separate facets of the language arts/communication skills/literacy skill areas with a strong focus upon the diagnosis and effective teaching of high quality reading and writing programs.

This course begins with an overview of the basic components of English syntax, phonology, morphology, the lexicon, and pragmatics. Subsequently, the course examines the processes of first and second language acquisition and of bilingual & biliterate development. Students will apply this knowledge as they examine English language learners' language and literacy development through academic content areas. The course also offers an overview of multiple assessment models, which will allow students to document English language learners' progress and address their needs with particular instructional methods and strategies. To this end, each student in the course will be required to make and analyze several audio-recordings of the oral speech of one learner and to collect their written work in order to assess their progress both in spoken and written English. Students will be asked to assess the learners' strengths and weaknesses and to develop instructional adaptations/modifications to assist their learner. This field experience will allow students to deepen their theoretical understanding of the structure of English, to apply their knowledge of assessment of language and literacy development and verbal and non-verbal communication, and to learn how to select resources and instructional approaches to address instructional needs of particular English language learners.