Book excerpt: This practical, research-based text is organized around the principles that reading and writing instruction for English learners begins with the student biography and focuses on meaning as its core. The authors consider the languages and cultures of English learners as resources to be used in teaching, not problems to be solved, and throughout the book they guide readers to modify literacy instruction to address both the assets and needs of their students. In this book, grade-level classroom teachers are provided with a research-based framework designed to differentiate literacy instruction for ELL students within the classroom. Theory blends with practice to give readers the tools they need support English language literacy development with their students in addition to the program the school has in place. It addresses the need for current information on how to most effectively approach the literacy needs of English learners. Included are strategies for converting research into practical application; illustrative student samples from multiple grade levels and language backgrounds; teacher insights; a look at the sociocultural, academic, cognitive, and linguistic dimensions of the ELL student biography; and a number of helpful pedagogical aids.