What is one way to support writing for ELLs?

Supporting writing for English Language Learners (ELLs) requires approaches that facilitate language acquisition and confidence in expressing their thoughts. Offering writing frameworks and sentence starters is an effective strategy because it provides structure and guidance, which can help ELLs organize their ideas and build complete sentences. This scaffolding is essential, as many ELLs may struggle with not just vocabulary, but also the mechanics of constructing a coherent piece of writing.

Frameworks can offer a visual or structured outline that delineates how to develop an introduction, body, and conclusion, while sentence starters give learners a way to begin their sentences, reducing the cognitive load associated with trying to generate language from scratch. This type of support not only encourages practice in writing but also assists students in developing their voice and critical thinking about content, thus enhancing both their language and writing skills.

In contrast, relying solely on grammar worksheets may result in a focus on form rather than content, which can be disengaging. Using only dictionary definitions might be too limited, as it does not provide context for how to use new vocabulary in writing. Assigning independent writing tasks without support can overwhelm ELLs, who may not have the necessary skills at that stage to complete the tasks effectively. All of these aspects highlight the