Final answer:
ELs need to engage with the background and contextual knowledge of a text, understand the academic discourse, and recognize the roles of words and images, which together facilitate better comprehension and critical analysis of written text.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Gibbons (2009), for English Learners (ELs) to access the meaning of written text, it is necessary to engage with the background knowledge that encompasses the historical, literary, cultural, socioeconomic, religious, and political context surrounding the text. This engagement enables students to comprehend and critically analyze the text, unlocking a deeper understanding and appreciation of its significance. Additionally, developing literacy in the academic discourse community means that students learn to interpret and convey messages across a spectrum of modes, including text, images, and spoken words, as they acclimate to the language of higher learning.
ELs can gain contextual understanding by employing strategies like looking up unfamiliar words, taking notes, asking questions, understanding the text's rhetorical situation, seeking out background information, learning genre rules, and following predictive strategies when reading. Recognizing the roles of words and images in conveying information and utilizing headers and visual markers are also vital in guiding comprehension and building a scaffold for interpreting text and accompanying visuals.