Asset-Based Language and Literacy
The Flip-To Guide to Multilingual Learner Excellence in the Core
Second Edition
Purchase
eBook
ISBN:
9781071955338
Available from
January 0001
Spiral
ISBN:
9781071955314
Available from
January 0001
Description
Ensure multilingual learners thrive in every classroom, every day.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
- Practical strategies for scaffolding language, concepts, and academic literacy in your daily lessons
- Differentiation guides for personalizing instruction to students’ assets and learning priorities
- Effective teaching routines to strengthen student conversations, close reading, and rigorous writing.
- The Six Essentials framework to help teachers, co-teachers, and teams deepen their impact with MLs and all students.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy equips educators with confidence and tools to create high-challenge, high-support learning environments to ensure all students thrive. With a focus on practical research-based strategies, this is your go-to guide for building collective efficacy for every teacher to be an ML teacher!
Contents
SECTION I: ESSENTIALS FOR MULTILINGUAL EXCELLENCE
- 1. INTRODUCTION
- Equal Access to Academic Excellence
- Every Teacher an ML Teacher
- Six Essentials for Equitable Impact
- Teaching and Leading Beyond the Labels
- Practical Ways to Use This Book
- 2. ESSENTIAL MINDSETS
- Mindsets Matter
- Value Multilingual Learners’ Assets
- Expect Excellence From Every Learner
- Reflect in Inquiry About Your Impact
SECTION II: ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- 3. ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- Defining Engagement and Active Participation
- Structure Peer Conversations in Every Lesson
- Practical Planning for Peer Conversations
- Integrating Active Participation Strategies
- 3.1 Whole-Class Conversation Structures
- 3.2 Partner Conversation Structures
- 3.3 Small-Group Conversation Structures
- 3.4 Up and Moving Conversation Structures
- 3.5 Fishbowl Structure and Socratic Seminar
- 3.6 Observe and Listen to Conversations as Formative Data
- 3.7 Inquiry for Impact to Strengthen Student Conversations
- 3.8 Total Physical Response Strategies
- 3.9 Shared Reading and Annotation Strategies
- 3.10 Collaborate to Write (and Represent) Strategies
SECTION III: SUPPORT ACCESS TO EXCELLENCE EVERY DAY
- 4. SCAFFOLDING TO STUDENT ASSETS
- Scaffolding through the Six Essentials
- Supporting Content and the Language of Instruction
- Adapting Supports to Students
- Resources to Help You Plan and Adapt Supports
- 5. BUILD BACKGROUND AND SUPPORT ACCESS
- 5.1 Connect to Students’ Prior Knowledge and Experiences
- 5.2 Build Background in Essential Concepts and Vocabulary
- 5.3 Value Students' Linguistic Assets in Action
- 5.4 Supporting Access and Active Participation of Emerging MLs
- 5.5 Teach Vocabulary with Direct Instruction or the Frayer Model
- 5.6 Use Cognates to Teach Vocabulary and Support Comprehension
- 5.7 Model Through Teacher Action
- 5.8 Model Expectations with an Exemplar
- 5.9 Collaborate to Contrast Exemplars
- 5.10 Collaborate to Evaluate an Exemplar With a Rubric
- 5.11 Choose Texts that Value and Mirror Students' Assets
- 6. SCAFFOLD LANGUAGE DURING A TASK
- Anticipating the Linguistic Scaffolds Before a Lesson
- Engage-Observe-Support to Adapt Linguistic Scaffolds
- Differentiate Linguistic Scaffolds Along a Continuum
- Tips to Be Strategic
- 6.1 Linguistic Frames
- 6.2 Word Banks
- 6.3 Word Bank Table
- 6.4 Sentence Chart
- 6.5 Graphic Organizers
- 7. TEACH LANGUAGE BEYOND A TASK
- Prioritizing Language Objectives to Teach
- 7.1 Teach Language From Life Experience
- 7.2 Teach Language From a Text
- 7.3 Syntax (or Paragraph) Surgery
- 7.4 Teach Word Relationships
SECTION IV: APPLY THE ESSENTIALS TO ACADEMIC LITERACY GOALS
- 8. DEEPEN ACCESS TO ACADEMIC LITERACIES
- Why These Priorities?
- Introducing the Four-Step Routine
- Inquiry for Impact Tools for Teachers, Co-Teachers and Teams
- 9. ANTICIPATE
- What and Why?
- 9.1 Make Predictions
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 11.3 Make Inferences About Characters
- 11.4 Make and Justify Claims About Theme and Author’s Message
- 11.5 Compare and Contrast
Resources
Companion website
www.tonyasinger.com/allAdditional materials
Description
Ensure multilingual learners thrive in every classroom, every day.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
- Practical strategies for scaffolding language, concepts, and academic literacy in your daily lessons
- Differentiation guides for personalizing instruction to students’ assets and learning priorities
- Effective teaching routines to strengthen student conversations, close reading, and rigorous writing.
- The Six Essentials framework to help teachers, co-teachers, and teams deepen their impact with MLs and all students.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy equips educators with confidence and tools to create high-challenge, high-support learning environments to ensure all students thrive. With a focus on practical research-based strategies, this is your go-to guide for building collective efficacy for every teacher to be an ML teacher!
Contents
SECTION I: ESSENTIALS FOR MULTILINGUAL EXCELLENCE
- 1. INTRODUCTION
- Equal Access to Academic Excellence
- Every Teacher an ML Teacher
- Six Essentials for Equitable Impact
- Teaching and Leading Beyond the Labels
- Practical Ways to Use This Book
- 2. ESSENTIAL MINDSETS
- Mindsets Matter
- Value Multilingual Learners’ Assets
- Expect Excellence From Every Learner
- Reflect in Inquiry About Your Impact
SECTION II: ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- 3. ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- Defining Engagement and Active Participation
- Structure Peer Conversations in Every Lesson
- Practical Planning for Peer Conversations
- Integrating Active Participation Strategies
- 3.1 Whole-Class Conversation Structures
- 3.2 Partner Conversation Structures
- 3.3 Small-Group Conversation Structures
- 3.4 Up and Moving Conversation Structures
- 3.5 Fishbowl Structure and Socratic Seminar
- 3.6 Observe and Listen to Conversations as Formative Data
- 3.7 Inquiry for Impact to Strengthen Student Conversations
- 3.8 Total Physical Response Strategies
- 3.9 Shared Reading and Annotation Strategies
- 3.10 Collaborate to Write (and Represent) Strategies
SECTION III: SUPPORT ACCESS TO EXCELLENCE EVERY DAY
- 4. SCAFFOLDING TO STUDENT ASSETS
- Scaffolding through the Six Essentials
- Supporting Content and the Language of Instruction
- Adapting Supports to Students
- Resources to Help You Plan and Adapt Supports
- 5. BUILD BACKGROUND AND SUPPORT ACCESS
- 5.1 Connect to Students’ Prior Knowledge and Experiences
- 5.2 Build Background in Essential Concepts and Vocabulary
- 5.3 Value Students' Linguistic Assets in Action
- 5.4 Supporting Access and Active Participation of Emerging MLs
- 5.5 Teach Vocabulary with Direct Instruction or the Frayer Model
- 5.6 Use Cognates to Teach Vocabulary and Support Comprehension
- 5.7 Model Through Teacher Action
- 5.8 Model Expectations with an Exemplar
- 5.9 Collaborate to Contrast Exemplars
- 5.10 Collaborate to Evaluate an Exemplar With a Rubric
- 5.11 Choose Texts that Value and Mirror Students' Assets
- 6. SCAFFOLD LANGUAGE DURING A TASK
- Anticipating the Linguistic Scaffolds Before a Lesson
- Engage-Observe-Support to Adapt Linguistic Scaffolds
- Differentiate Linguistic Scaffolds Along a Continuum
- Tips to Be Strategic
- 6.1 Linguistic Frames
- 6.2 Word Banks
- 6.3 Word Bank Table
- 6.4 Sentence Chart
- 6.5 Graphic Organizers
- 7. TEACH LANGUAGE BEYOND A TASK
- Prioritizing Language Objectives to Teach
- 7.1 Teach Language From Life Experience
- 7.2 Teach Language From a Text
- 7.3 Syntax (or Paragraph) Surgery
- 7.4 Teach Word Relationships
SECTION IV: APPLY THE ESSENTIALS TO ACADEMIC LITERACY GOALS
- 8. DEEPEN ACCESS TO ACADEMIC LITERACIES
- Why These Priorities?
- Introducing the Four-Step Routine
- Inquiry for Impact Tools for Teachers, Co-Teachers and Teams
- 9. ANTICIPATE
- What and Why?
- 9.1 Make Predictions
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 11.3 Make Inferences About Characters
- 11.4 Make and Justify Claims About Theme and Author’s Message
- 11.5 Compare and Contrast
Resources
Companion website
www.tonyasinger.com/allAdditional materials
Reviews
Asset-Based Language and Literacy
The Flip-To Guide to Multilingual Learner Excellence in the Core
June 2025 | 408 pages | Corwin
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spiral | 01/02/2026 | 9781071955314 | $43.95 |
| Lifetime | 01/02/2026 | 9781071955338 | $40.00 |
Ensure multilingual learners thrive in every classroom, every day.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
Asset-Based Language and Literacy is the essential guide for K–12 teachers to ensure all students—including multilingual learners (MLs)—thrive with the rigorous content literacy and language demands of school. Building on the proven pedagogy and practical flip-to format of the best-selling first edition, Tonya Ward Singer offers essential updates that help educators center ML assets and deepen collaborative inquiry to ensure MLs belong and thrive in every classroom, every day.
The user-friendly flip-to format and color-coded resources help busy teachers find exactly what they need when they need it. Popular features include:
- Practical strategies for scaffolding language, concepts, and academic literacy in your daily lessons
- Differentiation guides for personalizing instruction to students’ assets and learning priorities
- Effective teaching routines to strengthen student conversations, close reading, and rigorous writing.
- The Six Essentials framework to help teachers, co-teachers, and teams deepen their impact with MLs and all students.
Asset-Based Language and Literacy equips educators with confidence and tools to create high-challenge, high-support learning environments to ensure all students thrive. With a focus on practical research-based strategies, this is your go-to guide for building collective efficacy for every teacher to be an ML teacher!
Table Of Contents:
- SECTION I: ESSENTIALS FOR MULTILINGUAL EXCELLENCE
- 1. INTRODUCTION
- Equal Access to Academic Excellence
- Every Teacher an ML Teacher
- Six Essentials for Equitable Impact
- Teaching and Leading Beyond the Labels
- Practical Ways to Use This Book
- 2. ESSENTIAL MINDSETS
- Mindsets Matter
- Value Multilingual Learners’ Assets
- Expect Excellence From Every Learner
- Reflect in Inquiry About Your Impact
- SECTION II: ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- 3. ENGAGE EVERY LEARNER
- Defining Engagement and Active Participation
- Structure Peer Conversations in Every Lesson
- Practical Planning for Peer Conversations
- Integrating Active Participation Strategies
- 3.1 Whole-Class Conversation Structures
- 3.2 Partner Conversation Structures
- 3.3 Small-Group Conversation Structures
- 3.4 Up and Moving Conversation Structures
- 3.5 Fishbowl Structure and Socratic Seminar
- 3.6 Observe and Listen to Conversations as Formative Data
- 3.7 Inquiry for Impact to Strengthen Student Conversations
- 3.8 Total Physical Response Strategies
- 3.9 Shared Reading and Annotation Strategies
- 3.10 Collaborate to Write (and Represent) Strategies
- SECTION III: SUPPORT ACCESS TO EXCELLENCE EVERY DAY
- 4. SCAFFOLDING TO STUDENT ASSETS
- Scaffolding through the Six Essentials
- Supporting Content and the Language of Instruction
- Adapting Supports to Students
- Resources to Help You Plan and Adapt Supports
- 5. BUILD BACKGROUND AND SUPPORT ACCESS
- 5.1 Connect to Students’ Prior Knowledge and Experiences
- 5.2 Build Background in Essential Concepts and Vocabulary
- 5.3 Value Students' Linguistic Assets in Action
- 5.4 Supporting Access and Active Participation of Emerging MLs
- 5.5 Teach Vocabulary with Direct Instruction or the Frayer Model
- 5.6 Use Cognates to Teach Vocabulary and Support Comprehension
- 5.7 Model Through Teacher Action
- 5.8 Model Expectations with an Exemplar
- 5.9 Collaborate to Contrast Exemplars
- 5.10 Collaborate to Evaluate an Exemplar With a Rubric
- 5.11 Choose Texts that Value and Mirror Students' Assets
- 6. SCAFFOLD LANGUAGE DURING A TASK
- Anticipating the Linguistic Scaffolds Before a Lesson
- Engage-Observe-Support to Adapt Linguistic Scaffolds
- Differentiate Linguistic Scaffolds Along a Continuum
- Tips to Be Strategic
- 6.1 Linguistic Frames
- 6.2 Word Banks
- 6.3 Word Bank Table
- 6.4 Sentence Chart
- 6.5 Graphic Organizers
- 7. TEACH LANGUAGE BEYOND A TASK
- Prioritizing Language Objectives to Teach
- 7.1 Teach Language From Life Experience
- 7.2 Teach Language From a Text
- 7.3 Syntax (or Paragraph) Surgery
- 7.4 Teach Word Relationships
- SECTION IV: APPLY THE ESSENTIALS TO ACADEMIC LITERACY GOALS
- 8. DEEPEN ACCESS TO ACADEMIC LITERACIES
- Why These Priorities?
- Introducing the Four-Step Routine
- Inquiry for Impact Tools for Teachers, Co-Teachers and Teams
- 9. ANTICIPATE
- What and Why?
- 9.1 Make Predictions
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 9.2 Ask Questions Before Reading
- 10. READ TO UNDERSTAND
- What and Why?
- 10.1 Identify Main Ideas
- 10.2 Self-Monitor and Use Context Clues
- 10.3 Use Affixes and Roots to Figure Out Unknown Words
- 11. READ TO ANALYZE AND INFER 234
- What and Why?
- 11.1 Make Claims About Texts
- 11.2 Justify Claims With Text Evidence and Reasoning
- 11.3 Make Inferences About Characters
- 11.4 Make and Justify Claims About Theme and Author’s Message
- 11.5 Compare and Contrast
Recent Product Reviews:
As an English Language Development (ELD) teacher and professor to rising ELD teachers, I found the updated edition to be extremely helpful and relevant to guiding all staff towards inclusivity when it comes to working with multilingual learners. From starting with the appropriate mindset to ensuring proper scaffolds and strategies are included, this textbook covers a plethora of topics that will be beneficial to anybody who works with Multilingual Learners.
Sandra Cerniglia, Spring-Ford Area School District and Eastern University
There are lots of books with strategies and lessons, but this book really pushes the rigor and challenge, and it also shows how it can work within the framework of whatever curriculum is being used…I couldn’t help taking notes on ideas I can use now!
Karen Landress, Brevard County Schools
Multilingual Learners (MLs) can be found in nearly every classroom, and therefore, there is a need for every teacher to be knowledgeable in strategies that support their academic success. This book emphasizes the fact that all, not just the language acquisition expert, must be a proficient teacher of MLs. The book contains practical, realistic, and useful advice designed to be actionable and directly applicable to teaching. Its "flip-to" organization makes it very helpful for those educators who search for strategies they can quickly apply without reading from cover to cover.
Minnie Mize, Winthrop University
Provides a grounding in language development and needs that teachers will benefit from as they work to serve all the academic and linguistic needs in the classroom.
Jennifer Joyce, Westlake Middle School
Overall, this is a very relevant text for all teachers due to the balance it strikes between the importance of recognizing the language assets of Multilingual Learners/English Learners (MLs/ELs), as well as navigating the complex nuances of adjusting language supports and other appropriate scaffolding in the classroom based on the needs of students in the classroom. Tonya Ward Singer comes alongside the reader with an encouraging coaching tone and suggestions for how to grow, no matter how new or experienced you are with serving MLs/ELs and their families.
Maranda Turner, George Fox University