Bridging Languages: The Science of Reading for Linguistically Diverse Students

Literacy Matters Empowered Conversation Season 4 Episode 3

Dr. Ana Taboada Barber explores the cognitive and motivational factors affecting reading comprehension in linguistically diverse students. She highlights challenges multilingual learners face and emphasizes executive functioning, oral language development, and culturally relevant teaching. Advocating that diversity is an asset, she encourages family support for first-language literacy and provides ideas for strategic classroom instruction. Dr. Barber shares practical strategies to boost confidence, engagement, and comprehension, reinforcing the importance of choice, discussion, and meaningful learning opportunities.


About our guest: Dr. Ana Taboada Barber is Professor of Education in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. Ana studies reading comprehension and reading motivation in Emergent Bilingual students. Her work centers on studying the influence of specific motivational and cognitive factors on the literacy and language development of elementary bilingual students. Ana has also turned her attention to the possible roles that executive function skills play in the cognition of bilingual students’ reading comprehension development.

Book: Taboada Barber, A. (2016). Reading to learn for ELs: Motivation practices and comprehension strategies for informational texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

About our host: Dr. Cheryl Lundy Swift holds a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership, distinguished educational leader, and has been recognized with multiple awards for her achievements. She served as the lead curriculum developer for Learning Without Tears’ Get Set for School’s Language and Literacy curriculum, which received an AEP Distinguished Achievement award. In 2017, Cheryl was awarded the Investor Bank’s Educator of the Year Award.

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