Developing Oral Language to Advance English Proficiency
Across New York City, teachers of Multilingual Learners (MLs) are facing a renewed sense of urgency. The New York City Comptroller’s Office’s recent audit revealed that 48 % of MLs are not receiving their mandated instructional minutes, especially in stand-alone ENL. Combined with persistently low reading comprehension scores citywide and nationally, this is our call to action: we must do something different — and better.
Let’s demystify how we can move MLs forward by developing oral language to advance English proficiency.
Why English Proficiency Must Be Our Primary Goal
Research consistently shows that English oral and written proficiency is the strongest predictor of academic success for Multilingual Learners (e.g., Goodrich & Tañonyms, 2022, Goldenberg, 2020). Even though we support culturally responsive teaching, dual-language instruction, translanguaging, etc., none surpass English proficiency in predicting achievement.
Specifically:
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Each ML should move up at least one NYSESLAT proficiency level by spring 2026 (although next year New York state will replace the NYSESLAT with WIDA!)
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For students who’ve been MLs for over two years, the goal is clear: test out of ENL services with systematic, explicit instruction across content, vocabulary, phonics, morphology, and grammar across all four domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
This is achievable. With focused, evidence-based instruction, MLs can and do progress.
The Role of Stand-Alone and Integrated Instruction
Let’s revisit what each setting is designed to do.
Stand-Alone ENL should focus on developing oral language — speaking and listening. That means:
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Building background knowledge around a content-based theme.
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Explicitly teaching 15–20 vocabulary words each week.
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Ensuring students receive phonics instruction via DOE-approved programs (Fundations, Phonics for Reading, Lexia).
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Integrating grammar instruction in context and making sure students are being taught a scope and sequence of grammar skills, starting with simple sentences and advancing to complex sentences (more on this later).
Students still read and write in Stand-Alone, but the primary goal is oral language growth.
Meanwhile, Integrated (or “push-in”) instruction supports content-area comprehension and analysis by:
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Providing scaffolds for reading and writing.
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Using vocabulary supports, sentence frames or stems, translations, and graphic organizers/outlines for writing.
Both components are essential, but Stand-Alone is where MLs develop the language they need to thrive across subjects.
A Simple Lesson Framework
To make it practical, here’s a five-step template you can adapt tomorrow:
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Warm-up (2-3 min) – Activate students’ prior knowledge and quickly assess what they remember, orally or in writing.
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Learning Target & Oral Language Development (approx. 10 min) – Present the day’s goal; and develop oral language first by explicitly teaching new vocabulary and designing an activity giving students the opportunity to speak using their new words and sentence supports if needed.
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Connect Oral to Written Language (approx. 10 min) – Read a short text aloud or together. Use WH-questions to check comprehension. In an Integrated setting, once students achieve literal comprehension, they can work on Next-Generation analysis skills.
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Respond in Writing (10 min) – Have students write — anything from one word in a sentence-frame to a paragraph — to assess understanding (Stand-Alone) or analysis (Integrated). Students should use the vocabulary they learned at the beginning of the lesson throughout including here in writing.
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Wrap-Up (2 min) – Reinforce learning. Ask students: What did you learn? Why does it matter? Achieving English proficiency requires repetition and reinforcement.
See this model 7th-grade Stand-Alone lesson and use AEBLL’s free Stand-Alone lesson slides template to plan your own. (Remember – Integrated lessons add language and literacy scaffolds to an existing lesson from your curriculum).
We can — and must — ensure every Multilingual Learner makes measurable progress. By developing oral language to advance English proficiency, we empower students not only to pass tests but to truly access and engage with academic content.
Questions or comments? Post them below!
Stay tuned for our next post: How to plan instruction on a text-by-text basis — starting with building background knowledge and vocabulary.