Giving Our Newcomer Students Opportunities to Respond

A set of students doing schoolwork in workbooks in a classroom.

By Marjorie Kirstein

Finding out you have a student who is beginning their English learning journey can be daunting. In addition to needing to learn English, Newcomer students often have needs that go beyond language acquisition. Teachers who provide content instruction can face particular challenges due to the linguistic and cognitive demands of their subject. How can we better integrate and support students who are at the very beginning stages of language acquisition? 

Newcomers Have Diverse Needs

Who are Newcomers and what are their characteristics? In general, Newcomers are students who are new to U.S. schools and may also be new to learning English. They may also require foundational academic skills, depending on their background.

Students new to English may:

  • Have less than two years of instruction in U.S. schools

  • Be at the pre-production or “silent period” stage of language acquisition 

  • Possess a range of literacy in home language

  • Need to adapt to a new culture as well as a new language

In addition to being new to English, the subgroup of students know as SIFE/SLIFE (Students with Interrupted Formal Education/Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) may be characterized by:

  • Limited or interrupted schooling

  • Literacy below 3rd grade in home language

  • Social and emotional needs related to academic delays, lack of familiarity with school culture, feelings of isolation in school

  • Indigenous native languages without access to literacy

Both SIFE/SLIFE and Newcomer students may also have experienced trauma coming from areas of conflict or enduring hardships as part of their immigration journey. 

Engagement and Inclusion

Instruction that depends heavily on individual participation and reading and writing can exclude Newcomers and SIFE/SLIFE students. These students need instruction that is both engaging and inclusive of their language proficiency and levels of literacy, yet teachers may not have the time or capacity to design instruction specific to their needs. The strategy known as “Opportunity to Respond” (OTR) can offer students at all levels of literacy or English proficiency many opportunities to participate when the teacher is checking for understanding or seeking a response from students. OTR is a strategy for posing questions that allows students to respond frequently without fear that they will make mistakes or be ridiculed (Cuticelli, Collier-Meek, & Coyne, 2016) cited in ibestt Project (2017). Because these responses are designed to keep all students engaged and actively participating, Newcomers have more opportunities to develop skills and demonstrate understanding. OTRs also help teachers give feedback without singling out individual students. 

Originally designed to address behaviors resulting from lack of engagement, OTRs are also ideally suited for students who are new to English. Even students who lack confidence to speak in class or who are pre-literate can respond during lessons that include OTRs. In fact, OTRs does not refer to a single strategy but rather to a set of techniques for presenting materials, asking questions, and providing feedback. The teacher provides students with opportunities to be engaged with instruction by regularly asking for responses to questions or statements, to which students respond with gestures, actions, whole group choral responses, or individual responses in a pair or small group. With regular opportunities to respond, students can maintain engagement with content and have greater chances for success in content and language learning. Teachers can incorporate OTRs into instruction without having to modify materials or look for alternate content.

How To Do It

Teachers can use a three-step process to create OTRs:

  1. Prompt: Create a question or command related to the material that is being presented. This can be a check for understanding or reinforcement of material previously taught.

  2. Response: Choose how students will respond (white boards, thumbs up, exit cards, gesture or action, chorally).

  3. Feedback: Reinforce correct responses (“Yes! The correct answer is 8.”), and review the rule or process (“Remember, we multiply 2 x 4 to get 8.”)

  4. The strategy can be used spontaneously as you are teaching: Class, everyone answer all together!

Some of the techniques of the Opportunities to Respond instructional strategy include:

  • Promoting a non-verbal signal to respond

  • Think time/wait time instead of expecting the student to answer right away (or at all)

  • Choral response (if working with a small or large group, encouraging all students to respond at once)

  • Reinforcement of correct answer

Michelle Levy’s slideshow for the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) describes in detail multiple strategies for OTRs, including both verbal and non-verbal response strategies. 

Benefits for Teachers and Students

OTRs are beneficial for teachers as well as students. Using this approach benefits teachers by offering:

  • Minimal prep time

  • Fewer disruptive behaviors

  • Inclusion of all students

  • Opportunities to give and receive on the spot feedback

All learners can benefit from increased opportunities to respond, particularly those who are new to English or who have limited exposure to academic environments. OTRs can give students more chances to receive positive feedback and encouragement as well as greater individual attention in non-stigmatizing way

For Further Learning

Leading for Equity, Anti-Bias Education, Curriculum and InstructionConfianza: For Educators of Language Learners1b, 2c, 3c, 4b, 5b