Vocabulary instruction for English learners with IEPs

An English learner with an IEP is learning English and dealing with a disability at the same time. Vocabulary sits right where the two meet. A student who does not know "photosynthesis" may not know it in any language, or may know it well in Spanish and lack only the English label. Those two students need different teaching, and the IEP needs to tell them apart.

The steps below each include an example, and the worked example follows one fictional 4th grader for 8 weeks. Numbers are illustrations. The cluster pillar on reading comprehension strategies shows how vocabulary supports comprehension, and the general routine is in explicit vocabulary instruction.

What the guides and the law say

The What Works Clearinghouse guide for English learners recommends teaching a set of academic vocabulary words intensively across several days using a variety of activities, and integrating oral and written English into content teaching.^[1] It also recommends small-group intervention for English learners who struggle with literacy and English language development.

For a student with limited English proficiency, the IEP team must consider the student's language needs as they relate to the IEP.^[2] Evaluations must be given in the language most likely to yield accurate information on what the student knows and can do.^[3] ASHA guidance describes how SLPs serve multilingual students, including telling a language difference from a language disorder.^[4]

Before you start: language difference or disability?

Ask the team, including the English language development teacher:

• Does the student know the concept in the home language? If yes, the job is mostly labeling in English. If no, the student needs the concept taught.
• How does the student compare with English learners of similar background and time in the country? A student learning words much more slowly than peers with similar exposure may have a language disorder.
• What does the family report about vocabulary in the home language?

The answers change the plan. A student with strong home-language vocabulary gets fast bridging. A student with weak vocabulary in both languages gets deeper concept teaching, often with an SLP.

Step-by-step vocabulary instruction for English learners

Step 1: Choose fewer words and teach them longer

Pick 5 or 6 academic words a week from the unit, not 15. The WWC guide's emphasis on several days of varied practice per word fits English learners with IEPs especially well. The guide to Tier 2 vocabulary words explains how to choose.

Step 2: Use visuals, gestures and real objects

Pair each word with a picture, a quick sketch, an action or an object. "Evaporate": heat a little water and watch it go. Visuals carry meaning without needing other English words to explain it.

Step 3: Bridge to the home language

If the student's home language shares cognates with English, teach them directly. Spanish speakers get a head start on many academic words: "observe" and "observar," "contrast" and "contrastar," "evaporate" and "evaporar." Teach false cognates too: "embarrassed" is not "embarazada," which means pregnant. If you do not speak the language, a home-language glossary, a family member or a bilingual staff member can help.

Step 4: Structure the talk

Give a sentence frame for each word and have every student say it to a partner. "I observed that ___." "One contrast between ___ and ___ is ___." English learners need to hear and say academic words, not only read them. Keep frames on the table so students can use them in class.

Step 5: Move the words into writing

After the oral practice, students write 1 or 2 sentences with each word, using the frame if needed. The WWC guide recommends regular structured writing practice for English learners.^[1] Writing with the words is the step that makes them stick.

Step 6: Review and recycle

Recycle the words in later lessons, warm-ups and games. A word bank with the picture, the English word and the home-language word stays on the student's desk all unit.

Worked example: one student across 8 weeks

Student (fictional): Lucía, grade 4, Spanish-speaking English learner at an intermediate English proficiency level, with an IEP for a language disorder. The SLP found weak vocabulary in both Spanish and English compared with peers of similar background.

Baseline, January 20 to 24. Three probes on 8 science words from the next unit. The SLP scored conceptual vocabulary: credit if Lucía explained or showed the meaning in either language. Scores: 2, 1 and 2 of 8. Median 2 of 8. In English only, the median was 0 of 8.

Goal. Given 10 taught academic words with picture support, Lucía will explain or show the meaning of each word in English or Spanish for 8 of 10 words, and use 5 of the words in an English sentence with a frame, on 3 consecutive biweekly probes. See the templates to name pictures in either language and to explain taught vocabulary words with examples.

Instruction. Five words a week, four 20-minute small group sessions, co-planned by the SLP and the ELD teacher.

Scoring meaning in either language separated what Lucía understood from what she could say in English. Both rose, but the gap shows she still needs English output support. That is reasonable for an intermediate English learner and is not, by itself, a disability concern.

Common mistakes

• Weak: Scoring vocabulary only in English for a student who knows many concepts in the home language. Better: Use conceptual scoring for meaning, and track English use separately.
• Weak: Assuming slow English vocabulary growth means a disability. Better: Compare with English learners of similar background and look at home-language skills.
• Weak: Teaching 15 words a week to keep pace with the class. Better: Teach 5 or 6 well, with visuals, talk and writing.
• Weak: Skipping cognates because "they'll figure it out." Better: Teach them, and teach the common false cognates.
• Weak: Writing the ELD plan and the IEP goal separately with no link. Better: Coordinate so the words, supports and probes match.

Goals, accommodations and next steps

For goal wording, see the vocabulary goals page and IEP goals for English learners. The glossary entry on the English learner with an IEP covers the dual role. Classroom and testing supports are in ELL accommodations in the IEP. For academic word selection across subjects, see academic vocabulary. Paste a draft goal into the goal checker to check the parts.

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• Vocabulary goals (reading)
• IEP goals for English learners
• English learner with IEP in the IEP glossary
• Name pictures in either language (goal template)
• Morphology in the IEP glossary
• IEP goal checker

Related guides

• Reading comprehension strategies for struggling readers
• An explicit vocabulary instruction routine, word by word
• Academic vocabulary for students with IEPs: what to teach and how
• Vocabulary interventions for struggling readers

Sources

1. Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School, What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences
2. 34 CFR §300.324: Development, review, and revision of IEP, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
3. 34 CFR §300.304: Evaluation procedures, U.S. Department of Education (IDEA website)
4. Multilingual Service Delivery in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.