Enhancing Reading Ability of NESB Students: A Presentation

This presentation focuses on the challenges faced by Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) readers in higher education, particularly their difficulties with reading and writing in English. It highlights the importance of tailored teaching methods to address these challenges. The presentation introduces the concept of NESB readers and their struggles, emphasizing the need for educators to provide specific support. It explores various approaches to enhance NESB students' reading abilities, including a skills-based approach and peer editing. Furthermore, the presentation details two key approaches: the assimilation approach, which encourages students to adapt to Western educational practices, and the accommodation approach, which focuses on adapting teaching methods to suit the needs of NESB students. The presentation references relevant research to support these strategies, providing a comprehensive overview of how to support NESB students effectively.

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Writing for Readers from NESB

Introduction
The Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) readers
find it difficult to read and write properly in English and
to address this issue; educators have devised various
methods and plans. The students from NESB face
several problems while communicating with their
teachers and peers. In addition, they find it difficult to
read the texts written in English when teachers give
them any assignment or task in English. In this
presentation, the methods to ensure readers from NESB
understand the writings in English shall be provided.

Readers from NESB
Students who hail from non-English speaking
countries and possess limited knowledge about
English are referred to as students or readers from
Non-English Speaking Background (NESB).
The inability to read or write in English has for
long posed great challenges for NESB students
and contributed to their underperformance and
achievement.
Educators thus, have the added responsibility to
focus on the NESB students apart from teaching
others. Contd….

Readers from NESB
The attempt to enhance the reading ability of NESB
students, teachers around the globe focused on:
The theoretical perspective of
reading and writing for NESB
students
Skills based approach
Extensive reading
Peer editing and
Practice

Approaches to helping NESB
readers
As stated by Quinn (2017), NESB students learn
best when they are respected for their
individuality and when they are provided
particular assistance with all forms of the English
language.
Further, the authors also highlighted that the
reading ability of NESB students could be
enhanced by making it a daily routine within the
classroom.

Assimilation and Accommodation Approach to
NESB teaching
Apart from the previously mentioned approaches,
two more approaches to teaching students from
NESB could be found in the works of Meadows
et al. (2015).
First is the assimilation approach that requires
the NESB readers to ‘assimilate’ to the Western
way of education.
The accommodation approach focuses, on the
other hand, on the ways a teacher’s teaching
behavior could be adapted to the requirements of
NESB students.

References:
Collier, S., Burston, B., & Rhodes, A. (2016). Teaching
STEM as a second language: Utilizing SLA to develop
equitable learning for all students. Journal for
Multicultural Education, 10(3), 257-273.
Meadows, K. N., Olsen, K. C., Dimitrov, N., & Dawson,
D. L. (2015). Evaluating the differential impact of teaching
assistant training programs on international graduate
student teaching. The Canadian Journal of Higher
Education, 45(3), 34.
Quinn, S. (2017). Catering for cultural diversity:
Supporting NESB students in New Zealand
classrooms. Teachers and Curriculum, 5(1).