How Text Reconstruction Supports Multilingual Learners

The number of multilingual learners has increased over the years, and it is expected to continue to grow. That means we have to adapt to the new needs of our students. As David Berliner notes in his research, teaching is a hard science: The subjects are always changing, and a teacher program can prepare you for only so much. The purpose of this blog is to explain a strategy that I think is helpful for our multilingual learners and benefits English-only students as well. 

Students who are identified as speaking English as their second language are mandated to take a standardized test to measure their academic growth and language development. For example, in California, English language learners (ELLs) need to take the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.

I don’t like to teach for the test. So the question I ask myself as a teacher is, “How do I teach my students the skills they need to be successful in school and exams?” 

Text Reconstruction Supports Vocabulary and Listening Skills

In one of my professional development sessions during the 2023–24 school year, I learned about a strategy called text reconstruction. This strategy was demonstrated in some videos created by the San Bernardino Unified School District. The steps are as follows: 

1. Students are introduced to the vocabulary words that they will encounter in the text.

• I usually have no more than three vocabulary words chosen from the text.
• The teacher will check to see if students know the vocabulary words that were selected. 
• The teacher can create hand motions or chants to help students remember what those vocabulary words mean.

2. Students then listen to a text read by the teacher. Their assignment is to listen to the text being read to them and take notes based on what they believe is important.

• First read: Students have their pencils away so as not to be tempted to write anything. At this time, they are only using or practicing their listening skills while the teacher reads the text.
• Second read: Students write notes or pictures to help them remember the text while the teacher reads.
• Third read: The teacher reads the text one last time, and students fill in any notes they think are missing from what they originally had.

3. Students are given time to discuss the text with partners. In this step, students are directed to take turns listening to their partner’s thoughts about the text and write down something important that their partner said. This helps as an accountability piece to make sure they are listening to their partners.

4. Students summarize the text. Once students have worked with their partners, the summary is the final stage of text reconstruction. For primary grades, I usually have students work with sentence starters. In other classrooms, I have seen small groups where only one student writes while the rest of the group chimes in with ideas. Fort this section of the activity, you can choose whatever method you want to assess your students’ mastery of text reconstruction.

Students Get Comfortable with Text Reconstruction Over Time

When I first became aware of the expectation for teachers to use text reconstruction, I felt overwhelmed and unsure if my students could complete a task like this. The truth is that it does take time to practice the technique. Primary students might need a lot of scaffolding in the beginning. Yet, as with everything we do in the classroom, students eventually become comfortable with the routine. 

One thing I’d like you to also keep in mind: Text reconstruction is a multistep process. Doing all these steps in one day can be tiresome for students. I’ve found that spreading out the steps throughout the week can be very helpful, and the results will show it.

When I tried this strategy last year, my students were using more of the vocabulary words from the text in their writing. They were also improving with partner talks. This strategy alone has been difficult for me to implement, but as we continued to practice text reconstruction, students knew what their expectation was with their partner. Students were also becoming more independent. Having students write their own notes was difficult for them at first, but they slowly started gaining the confidence in sketching what they believed was important information. It is important to remember that this strategy is great, but it also takes time to practice the routines and make the lesson flow. 

When I tried text reconstruction in my classroom, it became evident that many students were able to take advantage of this breakdown. They were using more of the vocabulary and had more to say in their writing. Multilingual learners had a chance to practice the language as well, and not only with their language learning community—it provided an opportunity to engage with their other classmates. We know that students who are developing a second language need to practice the new language, and with this strategy, students have the opportunity to increase their language development by practicing their speaking, listening, and writing skills. 

Text Reconstruction Can be Applied to Other Core Subjects

Although this strategy is a multistep process, it’s most effective when used consistently. By the fourth week, I saw that my students already knew the routine and didn’t have any questions about what they were supposed to do. I saw how comfortable they became with the text we read in class. As a result, I decided to expand this strategy in math.

We practiced rereading our word problem during our math block. I had struggled so much to have my students attempt word problems, but using text reconstruction steps helped them break down information so that they understood what they needed to do to solve the problem. By using this method, I saw that more students tried the problems on their own and felt a sense of pride when they found the answers.  

I intend to continue using text reconstruction because the strategy strengthens students’ ability to pull important information from a text. It’s an especially effective strategy that they can use during the standardized test at the end of the year.