E31 - Between the Lines: Supporting Reading Comprehension in Multilingual Learners
Dr. Marisa Ramirez Stukey joins Mary and Katherine to explore reading comprehension as an outcome of multiple systems working together rather than a single skill. Their conversation examines how educators can look beneath apparent comprehension difficulties, use students’ home languages and knowledge as resources, and support meaning making across the word, sentence, and discourse levels while keeping language, identity, and cultural context at the center.
Dr. Marisa Ramirez Stukey is the Chief Academic Officer for The Reading League and Content Editor for The Reading League Press, where she leads academic strategy and professional learning initiatives and oversees the development of content aligned with the science of reading. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, higher education instructor, and national consultant, with work centered on literacy, professional learning, and systems change. She is the coauthor of Professional Learning Redesigned: An Evidence-Based Guide and holds a PhD in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in reading education from the University of Florida.
Key Takeaways:
- Comprehension is an outcome, not a single skill. It depends on word reading, language, knowledge, strategy use, and motivation working together.
- English proficiency does not define what multilingual learners know or understand. Look beyond what students can demonstrate in English to uncover their full knowledge and abilities.
- Look beneath a comprehension struggle to identify what needs support. Accurate decoding does not guarantee understanding, so consider language, knowledge, and cultural context before determining next steps.
(00:00) Welcome to Literacy Across Languages!
(01:31) Meet Dr. Marisa Ramirez Stukey
(06:36) Bridges Between Structured Literacy and Multilingual Education
(09:53) Comprehension as an Outcome of Instruction
(13:56) Digging Deeper into Comprehension Difficulties
(18:24) Reading Comprehension at the Word Level
(24:08) Reading Comprehension at the Sentence Level
(28:44) Reading Comprehension at the Text Level
(31:07) Reading Comprehension Supported by Writing
(33:30) The Language We’re Loved In
(35:19) Until Next Time!
- Read Julie A. Van Dyke’s article on language science and syntax in The Reading League Journal.
- Dig into sentence-level instruction with Syntax: Knowledge to Practice by Margie Gillis and Nancy Chapel Eberhardt.
- Listen to our conversation with Dr. Antonio Fierro to learn more about amplifying language for multilingual learners.
Visit us at literacyacrosslanguages.com, follow us on Instagram, or connect with Mary and Katherine on LinkedIn.
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reading comprehension, multilingual learners, multilingual literacy, science of reading, science of language acquisition, language comprehension, word reading, decoding, background knowledge, linguistic knowledge, home language, cross-linguistic transfer, cross-linguistic awareness, vocabulary development, academic language, cognates, morphology, syntax, sentence comprehension, discourse, text comprehension, cultural context, meaning making, comprehension assessment, oral language, reading and writing, oral rehearsal, student identity, evidence-based literacy instruction, language development