Abstract

The ability to read is virtually synonymous with success in school. With an increasingly diverse student population, teachers must be cognizant of implementing effective literacy strategies that will ensure the reading success of emergent bilingual learners. Effective early literacy strategies—namely, the Shared Reading strategy and the Language Experience Approach—are two practical and easy-to-implement early literacy strategies that can be used in early childhood classrooms to help support literacy development and reading success. These interactive constructivist strategies help students develop language and literacy in a way that is collaborative, fun, and exciting. Students are engaged in enjoyable and communal pedagogy while learning by participating in literacy experiences that simultaneously maximize their linguistic and academic proficiency development. These literacy strategies impact students’ reading comprehension, reading fluency, and overall enjoyment of the Shared Reading and writing experience. Actively involving students in these early literacy strategies will positively impact their motivation to read and their reading achievement in school, as well as, ultimately serve as a cornerstone for students’ reading and literacy success.