This report identifies 11 elements of current writing instruction found to be effective for helping adolescent students learnto write well and to use writing as a tool for learning.
The 11 elements of effective adolescent writing instruction are writing strategies, summarization, collaborative writing, specific product goals, word processing, sentence combining, prewriting, inquiry activities, Process Writing Approach, study of models, and writing for content learning.
1. Acknowledge the student's first language or dialect as a valid form of communication. 2. Learn about the student's home language or dialect. 3. Acknowledge the student's need to develop receptive knowledge of Standard English before using English expressively. 4. Provide many opportunities for students to engage in conversation/discussion. 5. Allow students to respond in their home language first, and then to focus on translating their responses into English. 6. Provide second language learners with cues, letting them know when to anticipate being called on or when their turn will be. 7. Provide content·area books that have clear illustrations ol the main concepts presented in the text. 8. Provide opportunities for students to work together with other ESL students and with English·fluent students. 9. Use songs, nursery rhymes, and finger plays to emphasize the sound-symbol system and phonemic awareness. 10. Provide opportunities to learn through hands-on, exploratory, experiential activities
These are list of the steps teachers should take in helping their students build on their first language competencies. A lot of these principles involve the teacher demonstrating respect and awareness for the student's first language and adapting their teaching so that it adjusts to the student's native language background.
Programs with an emphasis on rote, pattern drills, and grammatical lessons have had less success than programs emphasizing cultural awareness and oral communication. One of the key factors in FLES programs is the opportunity for students to use the target language in communicative settings at school and in their community environment. This contributes to fluency;
This seems plausible, because after all, when students are presented with material in a way that allows them to make connections to it or understand its meaning they have a more profound appreciation for it. Also, when they have opportunities to demonstrate those speaking and listening skills they have a better chance of acquiring fluency.
Language acquisition refers to unconscious learning of language in 11aturalistic sol· lings with a focus on meaning: in contrast. Janguagc learning refers to conscious rule learning in formal instructional sctlings with an emphasis on tho form of languago
It sounds as though language acquisition is an effect or consequence that one experiences through unconscious learning. Language learning, however, seems to be the deliberate study and comprehension of language in terms of it form. If language acquisition is an unconscious form of learning how is it specifically applied to meaning and not other aspects of language?
"' 76 + Chnptur :1 FIGURE 3.1 Factors Influencing Second Language Acquisition
It's impressive that so many specific factors influence a child's second language acquisition. The three major factors include: Learner characteristics, social setting, and linguistic input.
For example, a child mighl use the vocabulary or syntac-tic structure of one language when attempting to communicate in the olher language. Other researchers have questioned the existence of language interference, citing evi-dence that bilingual children appear to be able to distinguish between lwo language systems early on (De Houwer, 1990; Goodz, 1994; Lanza, 1992; Meisel, 1994). Instances in which chjldren appear to be mixing the two languages (also known as code mixing, or language mixing) may simply reflect their parents' use of two languages.
I think these forms of communicative error could be really difficult for a teacher to correct. If a student's native language is one that is unfamiliar to the teacher, I think it will be an adversity for the teacher in terms of their ability to redirect the student and explain their confusion. If they don't understand the foreign language, how can they identify that the student is code mixing or experiencing language interference?
The three types of learning strategies that involve specific language competencies related to academic English register are: 1. Cognitive strategies. These strategies involve using language to interact with written and hands-on materials, using a range of cognitive processes, such as summarizing, deduction/induction, transfer, and inference. 2. Metacognitive strategies. These strategies involve using language to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's own learning. 3. Social-affective strategies. These strategies involve using language to interact with olhers (peers or teachers) in the learning process, such as asking questions for clarification or working collaboratively (Chamot & O'Malley, 1995).
The three types of learning strategies that involve specific language competencies related to academic English register include: Cognitive strategies, Metacognitive strategies, and Social-affective strategies. These strategies describe the different ways in which language may be used to serve the individual in specific settings or for specific needs.
Encouraging children to become linguistically flexible is critical for teachers in the development and implementation of curricula that will provide children with opti-mal learning opportunities. It is also important for teachers and parents to acknowl-edge the importance for children to develop the linguistic flexibility to be able to comprehend and use not only the dialect used at home and in their immediate com-munities but to also understand the form of English used in other social settings (Delpit, 1995). These children develop bidinlectism, or the ability to use two dialects (Cloud et al., 2000; Ogbu, 1999). Children may develop the ability to use multiple dialects as they interact at home, in the larger community, and informally with peers. Children who are more linguistically flexible and can use more than one dialect will be able lo communicate effectively in a wide variety of settings and interactions.
It is considerably useful to develop linguistic flexibility and possess the ability to speak in multiple dialects, while adjusting to fit to one's current community and situation. Students that are able to do so will be well served in their future endeavors.
Language diversity. This is the variation and number of nouns and modifiers used by the parents. 2. Feedback tone. This is the positive feedback given to children's participation in an interaction. 3. Symbolic emphasis. This is the emphasis placed on focusing on names and associated relations of the concepts and the recall of those symbols. 4. Guidance style. This is parental interaction that uses asking rather than demanding in eliciting specific behavior from the child. 5. Responsiveness. This is parental responsiveness to requests or questions initiated by children.
According to Hart and Risley (1995), there are five qualities of parent's language interactions with their children that influence language development. The five qualities include: Language diversity, feedback tone, symbolic emphasis, guidance style, and responsiveness. These categories have proven to be influential in the economy and education system.
The recognition of tho validity and authenticity of language variations within different cultures and communicative interactions came as the result of linguistic; research in the 1910s and 1980s. Ono of the perspectives rosearche<l I.hen was tho verbal-deficit perspective. This perspective contended that anyone who did not use standard English did not have a valid language and thus was verbally deficient. Researchers explored how language was usod in different social settings and doc-umented the varied ways in which language differed with respect to vocabulary, phonological features, grammar, morphemic features, and pragmatic use (Bereiter & Englemann, 1966; Bernstein. 1971; Labov, 1979: Tough. 1977; Winch, 1990). This research provided a basis for recognizing that different ways of communicating and varied use of dialects do not indicate that a person is deficient in language.
In today's social climate it seems absurd that at one time members of society actually argued that all non-English languages were invalid, solely because they were different. I think it's really interesting that formal studies were performed essentially to determine whether or not other languages were inferior to the English language. No matter how developed a language may be in terms of its systematic specialization, I think all languages have the right to be perceived as valuable and legitimate.
In some cultural settings, children are not asked recitational questions. Instead, they are asked only questions of clari-fication or for new information. Thus, when these children experience recitational questions in a school setting, they may be confused as to the purpose of the ques· tioning and the expected response. Further cultural differences in how language is used in educational settings have been documented by Tharp (1994). These differ-ences include variations in how stories are told, the wait time given by teachers to students during questioning sequences, the rhythmic patterns of the verbal interac-tions, and the patterns of conversational turn taking.
I found this thought provoking, because I've never really considered the degree to which various cultures differ in their approach to something as specific and basic as the style of questioning. Now that I think about it, I think a country's political climate and values probably dictates the manner in which authoritative figures (including teachers) teach and how they expect their students to respond.