10 Best Literacy Strategies and Intervention Tools to Support Middle and High School ESL Students

For middle and high school teachers working with English language learners, the literacy challenge is uniquely complex. These students aren't just learning to read — they're learning to read in a language that doesn't always behave the way it sounds. English has one of the most irregular orthographies of any alphabetic language: of the 1,000 most common English words, only 38% are truly phonetic, while 27% are outright exceptions to the rules or must simply be independently learned. For a student who learned to read in Spanish, Arabic, or Mandarin — languages with far more consistent spelling-to-sound relationships — this irregularity is a significant barrier, and it compounds every year as academic vocabulary and content complexity increase.

The good news is that the science of reading has made significant progress in identifying what actually works for adolescent and adult English learners. This post brings together the 10 most effective literacy strategies and intervention tools — combining evidence-based instructional approaches with the technology and programs that schools are successfully using in real classrooms today.

Whether you're building out a Tier 2 intervention block, looking for tools that work alongside your core curriculum, or trying to help a cohort of long-term English learners reach grade-level proficiency before high school graduation, this list is for you.

Part 1: Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies

1. Explicit Phonics and Decoding Instruction — Even for Adolescents

One of the most persistent myths in secondary literacy is that phonics instruction is only for young children. Research consistently shows otherwise. Adolescent English learners who struggle with decoding benefit directly from explicit, systematic phonics instruction — not the same pace or format as early elementary, but the same underlying skill-building.

For ELL students specifically, decoding instruction matters because English pronunciation cannot be reliably inferred from spelling alone. Words like "though," "through," "tough," and "cough" all share the -ough pattern but produce four different sounds. Without explicit instruction in these patterns, students resort to guessing — which slows fluency, disrupts comprehension, and erodes confidence over time.

What this looks like in practice:

• Systematic introduction of phoneme-grapheme correspondences, including irregular patterns

• Short, frequent practice sessions (15–20 minutes) rather than extended phonics blocks

• Immediate application to grade-level content rather than isolated drill work

• Visual supports that reduce the cognitive burden of memorizing abstract rules

Evidence base: The National Reading Panel and subsequent Science of Reading research consistently identify phonemic awareness and phonics as foundational to reading acquisition at all ages and proficiency levels.

2. Building Academic Vocabulary Intentionally

For ELL students at the middle and high school level, vocabulary is often the most immediate barrier to comprehension — more so than decoding. Academic language (Tier 2 words like "analyze," "infer," "sequence" and Tier 3 domain-specific terms) is rarely encountered outside of school and is not naturally acquired through conversation.

Effective vocabulary instruction for ELL students goes beyond definition memorization. Research supports:

• Spaced repetition: Encountering a word multiple times in different contexts, spaced over days and weeks

• Morphological analysis: Teaching prefixes, suffixes, and root words so students can decode unfamiliar vocabulary independently

• Cognate awareness: Many academic English words have Spanish, French, or Latin cognates — explicitly teaching these connections accelerates vocabulary acquisition for Romance-language speakers

• Pre-teaching key vocabulary before reading, so decoding and comprehension work don't compete for cognitive resources simultaneously

The vocabulary gap between ELL students and proficient English speakers is one of the strongest predictors of long-term reading achievement. Closing it requires intentional, structured instruction — not incidental exposure.

For educators looking to extend vocabulary instruction into writing, Dr. Eugenia Krimmel's Accelerating Newcomer Literacy: An Integrated Writing Process Playbook for English Learners (Eye On Education) offers a practical, classroom-ready framework for connecting language acquisition to writing development. It pairs well with reading-focused interventions by addressing the production side of literacy — helping students move from decoding words to using them with confidence in their own writing.

3. Sheltered Instruction and Content-Based Language Learning

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) is one of the most widely researched frameworks for teaching academic content to English learners. The core principle: language and content objectives should be taught simultaneously, so students are building English proficiency while learning subject matter — not waiting to learn content until their English is "good enough."

For literacy specifically, this means:

• Providing graphic organizers, sentence frames, and visual supports alongside grade-level texts

• Building background knowledge explicitly before reading complex content

• Pairing reading tasks with vocabulary instruction and structured discussion

• Using cooperative learning structures that give students authentic opportunities to use academic language

The SIOP model is particularly effective at the secondary level because it allows ELL students to remain in mainstream content classes while receiving the language support they need — preserving academic momentum and avoiding the stigma of full pull-out programs.

4. Close Reading with Scaffolded Text Access

Close reading — the careful, analytical reading of complex texts — is a cornerstone of Common Core and state literacy standards at the middle and high school level. For ELL students, the challenge is that the texts required for close reading are often inaccessible due to vocabulary, sentence structure, or cultural background knowledge.

The solution is not to replace complex texts with simpler ones — research shows that ELL students make stronger literacy gains when they engage with appropriately challenging material. The solution is to scaffold access to those texts:

• Chunking: Breaking texts into smaller sections with comprehension checkpoints

• Annotation guides: Providing structured prompts that direct attention to key language features

• Dual-language supports: Allowing students to preview or summarize in their home language before engaging with the English text

• Read-alouds: Modeling fluent, expressive reading so students hear the text before reading it independently

• Pronunciation scaffolding: Removing the decoding barrier so students can focus cognitive resources on meaning-making (see Tool #10 below for how technology can support this)

The goal of close reading scaffolds is temporary support that fades — not a permanent modification that prevents students from developing independence.

5. Structured Literacy: The Science of Reading Framework

Structured literacy is an umbrella term for reading instruction that is explicit, systematic, sequential, and cumulative — aligned with what decades of cognitive science research tells us about how the brain learns to read. It encompasses phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, taught in a deliberate sequence that builds each skill on the last.

For ELL students, structured literacy is particularly effective because it makes implicit language rules explicit. English-speaking students often acquire phonological patterns incidentally through years of oral language exposure; ELL students may not have that foundation and need direct instruction to build it.

Key features of structured literacy instruction include:

• Multisensory techniques (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile activities)

• Immediate, corrective feedback

• Cumulative review that reinforces previously learned material

• Decodable texts that allow students to practice skills in context

Structured literacy is now the evidence base behind many state literacy mandates, and it is increasingly recognized as best practice not just for students with dyslexia, but for all students who are learning to read English — including English language learners.

Part 2: Intervention Tools and Programs

6. UFLI Foundations Toolbox — Free, Research-Based Phonics Instruction

Best for: Systematic, explicit phonics and foundational reading instruction, grades K–8 intervention

The University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI — pronounced "you fly") has developed one of the most respected free structured literacy resources available to educators today. The UFLI Foundations program is an explicit and systematic phonics curriculum built directly on the science of reading, covering phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular words, fluency, and connected text through a carefully developed eight-step lesson routine.

What makes UFLI particularly valuable for educators working with ELL and struggling readers is the free UFLI Foundations Toolbox — a comprehensive digital resource hub containing all lesson slides, blending boards, word work materials, decodable texts, and printable resources that accompany the Foundations program. These are available to any teacher at no cost, even without the paid Foundations manual.

For middle and high school intervention contexts, UFLI Foundations provides a rigorous, research-backed framework that teachers can use to fill foundational phonics gaps in older students — particularly useful for ELL students who may have significant gaps in English sound-symbol knowledge.

Why it belongs on this list: UFLI is developed by university researchers, grounded in cognitive science, and freely accessible. It is one of the few phonics resources that is simultaneously rigorous enough for serious intervention and practical enough for real classrooms. The free Toolbox in particular removes the cost barrier that prevents many under-resourced schools from accessing quality structured literacy materials.

Limitation: UFLI Foundations is primarily designed for foundational phonics instruction and works best for students with significant decoding gaps. It does not address the full complexity of English orthography for older learners in the same way as programs specifically designed for adolescent and adult readers.

7. ReadWorks — Free Reading Comprehension for K–12 and ELL Students

Best for: Building reading comprehension and background knowledge across content areas, K–12, including strong ELL support

ReadWorks is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to bridge the gap between reading science and classroom practice — entirely for free. Its library of over 6,000 reading passages spans fiction, nonfiction, science, social studies, history, and current events, all aligned to the science of reading and accompanied by vocabulary support, comprehension question sets, and teacher guidance.

For ELL students specifically, ReadWorks offers several features that set it apart:

• ELL-specific text versions: Many passages are available in ELL-adapted versions alongside standard versions, so the same content can be differentiated within a single class

• Vocabulary Builder: Embedded vocabulary lists with definitions, examples, and — critically for Spanish-speaking ELL students — Spanish cognates

• Article-A-Day: A structured daily reading routine (10–15 minutes) designed to systematically build background knowledge and vocabulary over time, which research identifies as a key driver of long-term comprehension growth

• Audio narration: Many passages include audio support, allowing students to listen while reading — bridging decoding and comprehension simultaneously

• Curriculum alignment: ReadWorks content aligns to EL Education, Wit & Wisdom, Fishtank Learning, and other widely used ELA curricula, making integration into existing instruction straightforward

ReadWorks is entirely free for teachers and students, which makes it particularly valuable for schools and districts with limited budgets. The platform works across devices and can be assigned digitally or printed.

Why it belongs on this list: ReadWorks stands out not just for being free, but for the depth and quality of its ELL-specific supports. The Spanish cognate feature alone is a meaningful differentiator for the large proportion of ELL students whose home language is Spanish. The Article-A-Day protocol also gives teachers a simple, sustainable daily structure for building the background knowledge that reading comprehension research consistently identifies as essential.

Limitation: Like other comprehension platforms, ReadWorks addresses reading comprehension and vocabulary but does not provide systematic phonics or decoding instruction. It works best for students who have a functional decoding foundation and need to build fluency, comprehension, and academic vocabulary.

8. CommonLit — Literary Texts with ELL Supports

Best for: Close reading of literary and informational texts, grades 3–12

CommonLit is a free digital reading program that provides a library of literary and informational texts with built-in guided reading questions, vocabulary support, and discussion prompts. It is explicitly aligned to the Common Core and state ELA standards.

For ELL students, CommonLit's guided annotation features and text-dependent questions support the kind of scaffolded close reading described in Strategy #4. The platform also includes Spanish-language translations for many texts and has developed specific ELL-support features including vocabulary pre-teaching and sentence frames for discussion.

CommonLit is particularly well-suited for ELA classrooms where teachers want to build literary analysis skills alongside language development. It does not replace a structured literacy intervention for students with significant decoding gaps.

9. Google Read&Write and Microsoft Immersive Reader — Assistive Technology for Access

Best for: Providing immediate text access while foundational skills are being built

For ELL students who need to access grade-level content while their decoding and vocabulary skills are still developing, assistive reading technology can serve as a bridge — allowing students to engage with subject-matter learning without waiting for full reading proficiency.

Key tools include:

• Google Read&Write: Text-to-speech, word prediction, vocabulary support, and highlighting tools, integrated across Google Workspace. Widely available in schools already using Google Classroom.

• Microsoft Immersive Reader: Built into Microsoft 365, provides text-to-speech, syllable breakdown, line focus, and translation features. Accessible across Word, Teams, OneNote, and other Microsoft tools.

• Natural Reader and similar TTS tools: Standalone text-to-speech options for converting any digital text to audio.

An important distinction: assistive technology provides access, not instruction. These tools are most effective when used alongside explicit literacy instruction — not as a replacement for it. Students who only listen to text being read aloud are not building the decoding and orthographic mapping skills that lead to independent reading.

10. Readable English — Phonetic Markup for Accelerated Decoding

Best for: Accelerating decoding fluency for struggling readers, ELL/MLL students, and students with dyslexia in grades 2–12

Readable English takes a fundamentally different approach to the decoding challenge: rather than asking students to memorize rules and exceptions, it overlays a system of 21 intuitive glyphs (diacritical marks) directly onto standard English text, making every word phonetically transparent without changing its spelling.

The approach was developed by Ann Fitts, a Lindamood-Bell and Orton-Gillingham trained reading specialist with 25 years of experience. The core insight is that in fully phonetic languages, students typically learn to read in about a year; the irregular orthography of English is the primary reason English literacy takes so much longer to acquire.

How it works:

• Unmarked letters make their standard sound

• Grayed-out letters indicate silent letters

• Syllable breaks chunk words into readable segments

• Glyphs indicate irregular sounds

Students learn all 21 glyphs in approximately 4–8 weeks through an initial "Breaking the Code" phase. Once learned, they can apply the markup to any text using a Chrome browser extension (which converts any web page in real time) or a document conversion tool (for PDFs and uploaded files).

Evidence base: Three independent peer-reviewed studies published in 2023 demonstrated that students using Readable English improved reading fluency and comprehension at twice the rate of control groups at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. A 2024 Indiana Department of Education study across 27 schools confirmed significant gains in ILEARN ELA scores and Lexile measures for English learners and special education students.

Readable English holds an ESSA Tier 2 evidence rating and is endorsed by Professor John Sweller, the founder of Cognitive Load Theory, who notes that the program reduces cognitive load rather than adding to it — by eliminating the need to memorize complex rule sets and their exceptions.

Why it works particularly well for ELL students: For multilingual learners, English's irregular spelling creates a double burden: students are simultaneously trying to acquire oral English and map that spoken language onto a written system that frequently breaks its own rules. Readable English removes the second obstacle, allowing students to focus cognitive resources on comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency — the higher-order skills that drive academic achievement.

At Birmingham Charter High School, within weeks of implementing Readable English, students showed significant Lexile gains and one-third of English Learners were reclassified as English Fluent. At Maple Crest STEM Middle School in Indiana, students exceeded their i-Ready growth targets, and the school achieved the highest reading growth in its district in its second year using the program.

The glyphs are designed to fade as proficiency develops — analogous to training wheels on a bicycle. All peer-reviewed research tests students in Standard English (without glyphs), confirming that gains transfer fully to traditional text. Students do not become dependent on the markup.

Implementation: Readable English is implemented in schools on a per-student subscription basis and integrates with Clever and ClassLink for rostering. Teacher training is approximately three 45-minute sessions, and the program fits within existing literacy blocks without requiring a complete pedagogical overhaul. A free demo is available at readablenglish.com.

Choosing the Right Combination

No single tool or strategy is sufficient on its own. The most effective literacy programs for ELL students at the secondary level combine:

1. Explicit, systematic instruction in phonics and decoding (Strategies 1 and 5, Tools 6 and 10)

2. Academic vocabulary development woven into content instruction (Strategy 2, Tool 7)

3. Integrated writing practice alongside reading to reinforce language acquisition (see Dr. Krimmel's framework below)

4. Scaffolded access to grade-level text so content learning continues during skill-building (Strategies 3 and 4, Tools 7 and 8)

5. Progress monitoring to track growth and adjust instruction (Readable English's Lexile-based assessment)

6. Assistive technology as a bridge, not a destination (Tool 9)

For schools working with students who have significant decoding gaps — particularly long-term English learners who have been in U.S. schools for several years but still read significantly below grade level — a structured decoding intervention like Readable English paired with comprehension-building tools like ReadWorks or CommonLit tends to produce the strongest combined outcomes.

The key principle: address the phonetic barrier directly and explicitly, while ensuring students continue to access grade-level content and academic language. Removing one obstacle at a time is not enough; the most effective interventions tackle both simultaneously.

Further Reading: Extending Literacy Gains into Writing

Reading fluency and writing development are closely connected — students who can decode words more reliably also encode them more accurately in their own writing. For educators who want to extend literacy support into the writing process for newcomer and ELL students, we recommend:

Accelerating Newcomer Literacy: An Integrated Writing Process Playbook for English Learners by Dr. Eugenia Krimmel (Eye On Education / Routledge)

Dr. Krimmel is an experienced educator and advocate for English language learners whose playbook provides structured, classroom-ready writing instruction designed specifically for newcomers and developing ELL writers. The book addresses the writing process as an integrated language skill — not a separate subject — and offers practical strategies that bridge oral language development, vocabulary acquisition, and written expression.

Dr. Krimmel is a supporter of Readable English and recognises the complementary relationship between phonetic decoding support and writing development: when students can reliably pronounce and recognise words, they are better positioned to use those words in their own writing. The two approaches address different sides of the same literacy coin.

Where to Find Expert Support: Tutoring Providers Who Use Readable English

For families and students who need one-on-one literacy support outside of school — or for districts seeking tutoring partners with proven expertise in reading intervention — the following organisations have direct experience using Readable English with students:

Themba Tutors — New York City

Themba Tutors is a highly regarded NYC-based tutoring organisation specialising in academic support for neurodiverse learners, including students with dyslexia, ADHD, and language-based learning differences. With 90% of tutors holding advanced degrees, Themba provides in-home and remote tutoring across math, ELA, reading, writing, and executive function coaching for students from elementary through college. Their tutors have experience with Readable English and are well-positioned to support ELL students and struggling readers who benefit from the phonetic markup approach alongside one-on-one instruction.

Brooklyn Letters — New York City Metro Area

Brooklyn Letters is a speech-language therapy and literacy tutoring practice serving students, teens, and adults across the NYC metro area, with in-home and remote options. Their services span dyslexia tutoring, decoding, reading fluency, spelling, reading comprehension, Orton-Gillingham, Wilson Reading, and speech-language evaluation and therapy. Brooklyn Letters tutors use Readable English with students who need accelerated decoding support, and the practice's deep expertise in structured literacy and speech-language pathology makes them a strong fit for ELL students with complex literacy profiles.

Both organisations are based in New York but serve students remotely across the United States.

Key Takeaways

• English's irregular orthography is a primary driver of literacy challenges for ELL students at the secondary level — not a lack of intelligence or effort.

• Explicit phonics and decoding instruction benefits adolescent and adult learners, not just young children.

• Scaffolded access to grade-level text is more effective than replacing complex texts with simpler ones.

• Writing development and reading development are interconnected — the most effective programs address both.

• The most effective interventions reduce cognitive load — they don't add new layers of memorization on top of existing ones.

• Progress monitoring using validated measures (Lexile, i-Ready, ILEARN) is essential for demonstrating growth to administrators, school boards, and families.

• Students who develop strong decoding and fluency skills with supports transfer those skills to standard text — the goal is always independence.

About Readable English

Readable English is an evidence-based reading intervention program for students in grades 2–12, designed to accelerate literacy for struggling readers, multilingual learners, and students with dyslexia. Its patented markup system makes English phonetically transparent, reducing reading instruction time by up to 75% without changing pedagogy or requiring lengthy professional development.

Three peer-reviewed studies and a statewide Indiana DOE pilot have confirmed that students using Readable English improve at twice the rate of control groups on both reading fluency and comprehension. The program is ESSA Tier 2 rated and used in schools and districts across the United States.

Request a demo | View research and results | Learn about K–12 implementation

References:

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.

Echevarría, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.

Krimmel, E. (2024). Accelerating newcomer literacy: An integrated writing process playbook for English learners. Eye On Education / Routledge.

University of Florida Literacy Institute. (2022). UFLI Foundations. https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/toolbox/

ReadWorks. (2024). ReadWorks K–12 reading comprehension platform. https://www.readworks.org/

Readable English peer-reviewed studies: — PLOS One, January 2023: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288292 — JESPAR, June 2023: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10824669.2023.2216934 — Language Arts Journal of Michigan, 2023: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm/vol38/iss1/7/