Supporting English Acquisition

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

  1. Navigate through a few SEA Site modules to get a sense of the organization.
  2. Determine the modules most relevant to your students’ needs or you own professional development.
  3. Work through all of a module’s components, including the Guided Practice.
  4. Select one or more Actions Steps from your chosen modules and develop lesson plans for use in your courses.
  5. Monitor students’ receptivity to the Actions Steps you employ and assess their performance and improvement.