ESL Approaches & Methods

CALLA
1. critical components include content subject instruction, academic language development, and explicit instruction of learning strategies
  1. instruction is guided by how students think, learn, and interact
  2. emphasizes the role of language in facilitating and illustrating thinking
2. based on a cognitive-social model of learning
  1. in harmony with a varied range of instructional innovations
3. effective for CLD students as well as native English-speaking students
  1. can be used from beginning to advanced levels
Language Across the Curriculum
1. sometimes referred to as reading and/or writing across the curriculum/content areas
  1. focus on the language demands of all content subjects and integrates literacy across all instruction
2. like CALLA , language skills are developed in all content subjects
3. originally developed for native-English speaking students, but effectively addresses the needs of CLD students
4. all teachers carry out language-based activities in their content areas
Language Experience
1. support for beginning literacy experiences
  1. Students tell about personal experiences, teacher writes down their account, student and classmates read account
  2. "students learn that what is said can be written down and what is written down can be read"
2. shares underlying principles with CALLA
  1. supports biography-driven instruction as students share their stories and experiences
3. works well with beginning level and preliterate students
  1. Helps teachers know their students
  2. students experience the identity of being a writer
Balanced Reading Approach
1. tailors reading instruction to each child's preferred approach to initial reading
  1. combines phonics instruction with reading for meaning and writing to communicate
2. "global learners" experience language as a whole system of communication. For them, effective activities include listening to read alouds, journal/story writing, SSR, discussion, and selecting their materials
3. "analytical learners"may prefer explicit instruction in alphabet, decoding, phonics, grouping word families, and analyzing individual words. These may include CLD students who learned their first language through a phonics-based approach
4. As with other approaches, it is critical for teachers to know about the background experiences and knowledge of their CLD students to appropriately tailor instruction
Process Writing
1. teachers model the writing process and the classroom becomes a writing workshop
  1. Students see the thinking, reflecting, and revising steps of the writing process
2. approach involves teaching students effective strategies for writing
  1. develops students' confidence in writing, thus lowering the affective filter
3. writing strategies modeled and practiced include: planning, accessing prior knowledge, composing, revising, and editing
Cooperative Learning
1. Students work in thoughtfully designed groups to complete learning tasks in which all students share responsibility
  1. there are many models for cooperative learning that all provide opportunities for students to actively practice language and content in a social context
2. Benefits for CLD students include academic language practice, use of first language to draw on prior knowledge, and the opportunity for students to become more independent learners
  1. in groups that include varied levels of English proficiency, students can help each other to understand and complete the task
3. can serve as a step towards independent learning
  1. CALLA overtly teaches students cooperation as a learning strategy
Inquiry Approach
1. a learner-centered approach in which students participate in activities and construct understanding of ideas and relationships
  1. learners explore greater depth on fewer topics
  2. students are seen as "co-constructors of knowledge"
2. like many ESL approaches, student's prior knowledge is highly valued in the acquisition of new information
  1. inquiry cycle shares similarities with process writing
  2. teacher models and guides students in development of higher-order thinking skills
  3. inquiry activities can take place in cooperative learning groups
3. activities move students though an inquiry cycle
  1. Can be used across multiple content areas
Standards-Based Instruction
1. based on identifying what students should know and be able to do according to state and/or national standards
2. can be used by teachers to assist CLD students in developing academic content and language proficiency
  1. TESOL standards for teaching English learners
3. provide a template for planning across approaches and methods

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ESL Approaches & Methods

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	Created by Elaine Davis almost 5 years ago