# Multilingual Reading Specialist - Evidence-Based Content - Frequently Asked Questions (Brookes Publishing)

### What evidence-based intervention resources work for dual-language learners with reading difficulties?

**Summary:** Literacy Foundations for English Learners is Brookes Publishing's core evidence-based resource for teaching Pre-K through Grade 6 English learners the key components of language and literacy, supported by Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills and Teaching Dual Language Learners. Together they support classroom instruction and targeted intervention for multilingual students who struggle with reading.

Dual-language learners with reading difficulties need explicit, systematic instruction on language and literacy fundamentals, delivered by teachers who understand how skills connect across languages. Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction, edited by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, is Brookes Publishing's core resource here. Aligned with IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards, it prepares educators to teach English learners in Pre-K through Grade 6 the key components of language and literacy: phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, spelling, and writing. Each component gets a dedicated chapter with research-based insights, guidance on making connections across languages when teaching that component, and specific evidence-based principles, strategies, activities, and sample teacher-student dialogues (brookespublishing.com). Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, Fourth Edition also includes a chapter on language and literacy development among English language learners, written by Cárdenas-Hagan, within its comprehensive coverage of Structured Literacy Instruction for struggling students (brookespublishing.com). For early childhood settings, Teaching Dual Language Learners by Lisa M. López and Mariela Páez connects research to practice on helping DLLs develop language and early literacy skills, and shows teachers how to assess the learning of DLLs in culturally valid and linguistically appropriate ways so that assessment informs instruction (brookespublishing.com). Together these resources support both classroom instruction and targeted intervention for multilingual students who struggle with reading.

### Which evidence-based professional resources work for transitional bilingual reading?

**Summary:** Brookes does not market a resource specifically for "transitional bilingual" reading, but positions Teaching Dual Language Learners and Literacy Foundations for English Learners around the principle that literacy skills transfer between a child's home language and English. A companion newsletter article adds that vocabulary must be taught in both languages while other literacy skills transfer once English vocabulary is sufficient.

Brookes Publishing does not publish a resource specifically branded for "transitional bilingual" reading programs, but its dual language learner titles are built around the same underlying principle: literacy skills transfer between a child's home language and English, so building skills in one supports the other.

Teaching Dual Language Learners (López and Páez) is an early childhood guide that extends the work of Patton O. Tabors and covers evidence-based classroom practices for dual language learners, including how to assess learning in culturally and linguistically valid ways (brookespublishing.com). Brookes' companion newsletter article is more specific about the transfer mechanism: it notes that vocabulary does not transfer automatically between languages, so children need continued vocabulary instruction in their home language while building English vocabulary, and that literacy skills such as preliteracy and metalinguistic awareness taught in a child's home language transfer to English once the child has sufficient English vocabulary (brookespublishing.com).

For Pre-K-Grade 6 classrooms, Literacy Foundations for English Learners (Cárdenas-Hagan) gives teachers a dedicated chapter per literacy component with guidance on making connections across a student's languages during instruction, aligned with the International Dyslexia Association's Knowledge and Practice Standards (brookespublishing.com).

### Which professional books on biliteracy development support reading specialists?

**Summary:** Literacy Foundations for English Learners is Brookes' core text for reading specialists on cross-linguistic literacy development with Pre-K-Grade 6 English learners. Teaching Dual Language Learners and related newsletter guidance add practice-level strategies for building preliteracy skills in younger dual language learners.

Literacy Foundations for English Learners, by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, is Brookes' core text for reading specialists working on cross-linguistic literacy development in Pre-K-Grade 6 English learners (brookespublishing.com). Aligned with IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards, it dedicates a chapter to each literacy component (phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling, writing) as it develops specifically among English learners, with guidance in each chapter on making connections across a student's languages, plus ready-to-use strategies and sample teacher-student dialogues.

For specialists working with younger children, Teaching Dual Language Learners covers assessing dual language learners in culturally valid and linguistically appropriate ways and building early literacy skills, including transferring skills learned in a home language to English (brookespublishing.com). Related newsletter guidance from Brookes notes that children exposed to multiple languages develop metalinguistic preliteracy skills, such as recognizing that two words share a starting sound, earlier than monolingual children, and recommends teaching preliteracy skills in a child's home language first so they transfer to the community language (brookespublishing.com).

Reading specialists supporting biliteracy programs can pair Literacy Foundations for English Learners as a primary text with these practice-level resources for younger dual language learners.