The Supporting English Acquisition website is a reference tool created by a group of NTID English faculty and researchers. The goal of the interactive site is to assist educators of deaf and hard-of-hearing student in their efforts to promote their students’ English language acquisition and literacy development.
The website can be found at: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/sea/
Purpose of the site
The SEA web site is an online professional development resource focusing on fundamental but problematic English structures and processes. The purpose of the site is to:
- Improve educators’ intuitions through novel perspectives and interactive
guided practice - Demonstrate the seriousness of the English literacy challenge
to students’ education and career success - Assist educators in promoting their students’ English language acquisition
and literacy development - Provide educators with fresh insights and specific action steps for
classroom implementation - Encourage English-across-the-curriculum initiatives
Intended Audience
- Teachers of English to deaf and hard-of-hearing students
- Teachers of content courses for deaf and hard-of-hearing students
- Teachers of hearing students of English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL/ESOL)
- Students in teacher training programs for deaf education
or ESL/EFL/ESOL - Advocates and planners of English across the curriculum
- English program administrators and curriculum developers
- Second language researchers and graduate students
- Advanced English students and peer tutors
The site contains modules that address the following English structures and processes:
- Word Order
- Articles and Nouns
- Passive Voice
- -ED/-ING Participles
- WH Questions
- Reading Comprehension
- Reading and Writing in
Content Areas - Paragraph Structure
- Basic Essay Structure
- Reference Words
- Expressing Logical Relationships
- Logical Subjects of Infinitives
- Word knowledge
- Phrasal Verbs
- Relative clauses
Within each module, these components provide related resources and practice:
- Introduction: An overview of the English structure or process addressed in the module along with major educational considerations
- Grammatical or Process Summary: Descriptions and explanations
of the structure or process - Research Findings: A summary of relevant research studies
- Guided Practice: Interactive exercises to enhance familiarity
with the structures and processes addressed - Action Steps: Suggestions, activities, and guidelines for incorporating
into English or content courses to support students’ improvement
Suggestions for Use
- Navigate through a few SEA Site modules to get a sense of the organization.
- Determine the modules most relevant to your students’ needs or you own professional development.
- Work through all of a module’s components, including the Guided Practice.
- Select one or more Actions Steps from your chosen modules and develop lesson plans for use in your courses.
- Monitor students’ receptivity to the Actions Steps you employ and assess their performance and improvement.
