ESOL
Terminology
ACQUISITION-LEARNING
HYPOTHESIS:
This theory describes the two ways that
language is internalized: "picked up" or acquired subconsciously like we
develop our first language and "studied" by formally learning the rules
in which case language becomes the object of study. Krashen says "acquisition
is where the action is!" Acquisition-based instruction drives the state-of-the-art
curriculum for second language teaching today.
ADDITIVE BILINGUALISM:
This is a process by which students develop
both fluency and proficiency in a second language while continuing to develop
proficiency in their first. The process involves adding a second language,
not replacing the first language with the second language (which is known
as subtractive bilingualism).
AFFECTIVE FILTER:
This is an imaginary screen (filter) that
blocks the input if it is "up" and allows the input to get in if it is
"down." The lower the anxiety level, the lower the filter. Keep the anxiety
level low--remember, comfort is key in second language learning! Lower
the filter by lowering the anxiety, raising the self-esteem, and motivating
the student to learn. Too much anxiety can impede language acquisition.
Stephen Krashen says keep it low by focusing on communication (meaning
and content) rather than language form and grammatical accuracy.
AUDIO-LINGUAL
METHOD:
This is a second language teaching methodology
that focuses on practicing drills and memorizing dialogues. This "drill
and kill" method consists of lots of error correction and emphasizes practicing
language patterns and perfect pronunciation. It is based on B.F. Skinner's
behavioral psychology of conditioned response and structural linguistics.
This is a discredited approach and highly inconsistent with the current
constructivist paradigm.
BICS:
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
is the kind of language used in face-to-face communication. It is language
needed for social interaction. This is sometimes called playground language,
everyday language, social language, or surface fluency. It is the language
of everyday communicative contexts, i.e., "What did you eat for dinner?"
The problem lies in the misconception of good control over the surface
features of language being an indication of proficiency.
BILINGUAL EDUCATION:
This programmatic requirement for all identified
LEP students is also an instructional approach in which LEP students are
able to learn through their first language in order to keep up with grade
level subject matter while simultaneously developing English language skills.
There are transitional bilingual programs such as quick-exit and late-exit
and maintenance bilingual programs such as dual or two-way immersion. According
to current theory and research, only late-exit and immersion result in
the development of high academic achievement for language minority students.
BICULTURAL AMBIVALENCE:
This is a construct posited by Jim Cummins
which reflects the intent of the LEP student to reject the culture of the
first language and have a sense of confusion about the second language
and culture. Quality bilingual programs result in positive cultural identity.
CALP:
The term Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
or CALP describes the kind of language needed to learn new information,
think in more abstract ways, and carry out more "cognitively" demanding
communicative tasks required by the core curriculum. Referred to as school
language, academic language, or the language of academic decontextualized
situations. This dimension of language is transferable across languages.
COMMUNITY LANGUAGE
LEARNING APPROACH:
This adult, second language teaching method
is a communicative approach for language teaching based on group counseling.
It includes a supportive environment in which the teacher acts as a counselor
or facilitator. There are no books, but it is truly student centered as
the students decide what to talk about and the teacher translates their
thoughts into the target language. It is audio or video-taped so the students
can later analyze the tapes as the basis for literacy and further language
development.
COMPREHENSIBLE
INPUT:
This notions refers to input that is just
a level above what the learner knows. The formula of i + l represents comprehensible
input where the "i" stands for what the learner knows and the "+ l" represents
just little bit above that. Input is made comprehensible by context, paralinguistic
clues, speech modification, and building on prior knowledge. Stephen Krashen
claims we acquire language when we understand messages or when the input
we get is "comprehensible."
CONTEXT-EMBEDDED
LANGUAGE:
Language that is supported by contextual
clues in the environment such as objects, props, manipulatives, pictures,
graphs, charts and so forth help the second language learner make meaning
from the spoken or written world. Context-embedded language is also a result
of students interacting with each other to get interpersonal clues to further
construct meaning. A "here and now" context is a necessary ingredient if
the input is going to be comprehensible.
CONTEXT-REDUCED
LANGUAGE:
This kind of language is decontextualized.
There are few if any clues present to support the spoken or written words
to help make the language comprehensible. Context-reduced language is abstract
and the context is usually known only to the author. i.e., textbooks, a
novel, a lecture, a CTBS test. Quadrant C and Quadrant D are context-reduced
according to Jim Cummin's construct of proficiency.
CONTEXTUAL INTERACTION
MODEL (THEORY):
This is the rationale for schooling language
minority students today. This theoretical framework for bilingual education
is an empirically based model, which guides us in forming a sound instructional
program for language minority students. This model rests on five principles
and describes how community background and student input factors interact
with instructional treatments to contribute to the three desired goals:
learn English, learn, and develop a positive self-image in a multicultural
society.
CUP:
CUP stands for the Common Underlying Proficiency
model or the "one balloon theory" described by Jim Cummins that purports
the argument that proficiencies that involve more cognitively demanding
tasks (such as literacy, content learning, abstract thinking and problem
solving) are common across languages. The CUP model is represented with
the "dual iceberg metaphor" and is the basis of the hypothesis called the
linguistic interdependence hypothesis.
DEBRIEFING:
This term describes the careful guidance
by the teacher to get students to focus on the process of how they accomplished
a learning task. In the "beyond" part of the Into/Through/Beyond lesson,
students are encouraged to reflect on their learning and to analyze their
own metacognitve processes for completing a task. The purpose of debriefing
is to help students develop greater learner autonomy.
EMPOWERMENT:
This term is rooted in the notion of critical
pedagogy and more recently associated with Jim Cummins. Empowerment is
an attitude such as, "If I try, I can!" Teachers, through their interactions
with students, can empower language minority students.
FIRST/SECOND LANGUAGE
(Ll - L2):
The first language (L1) of a child is the
mother tongue or the native language. It is the language learned first
and usually the home language. The second language, the L2, is the target
language or the language learned after the first language is acquired.
It may eventually become the student's dominant language, especially if
it is the only language he/she is schooled in.
FOCUS ON TASK:
A critical ingredient for communicative
language learning according to Michael Long is the need for students to
focus on an interesting and meaningful task. Other key elements for task-based
instruction include comprehensible input, context, prior knowledge, and
negotiation of meaning.
GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION
APPROACH:
This traditional second/foreign language
approach teaches the second language through the first language. The emphasis
is on learning the language by mastering the grammatical forms of the second
language through vocabulary study, practice exercises, and translation
activities.
IMMERSION:
This instructional program has its genesis
in Canada with the French immersion programs for "majority language" students.
Students are taught in (through) their second language and acquire a "minority
language" at no expense to their first language. The goal of these programs
is to develop proficient bilingualism. The U.S. replication of this model
is found in "two-way or dual immersion" programs in which half of the class
of English speakers add a minority or second language and the LEP students
continue to develop full primary language proficiency while acquiring English
proficiency as well.
INTO, THROUGH,
BEYOND:
This lesson plan format is particularly
effective for LEP students because the lessons build on students' prior
knowledge, cultural backgrounds, experiences, insights, and perceptions.
It also enables students to apply the new knowledge to their own lives
and to think in divergent ways about their new learnings.
INPUT HYPOTHESIS:
This hypothesis claims we acquire language
when we understand it. Stephen Krashen states we acquire language when
we understand what is said or read, not how it is said or read. Therefore,
speech is seen as a result of language acquisition, not its cause. When
students talk, it is testimony to language acquisition having already occurred.
TPR and the Natural Approach, which do not force production, emphasize
comprehension over speech production.
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
TESTS:
A language proficiency test measures student
ability in relation to an established competency threshold. This is different
from a language achievement test, which would measure the full range of
student ability from very low to very high. To explain this more clearly,
let's use the analogy of bike riding. Say that you devised a bicycle proficiency
test and determined that a student would be deemed "competent" if he or
she could ride a bicycle without falling off. The critical measure is whether
the student can or cannot ride the bicycle at a determined competency level.
The proficiency test is not concerned with measuring achievement at a higher
level. So in this example, your bicycle proficiency test would not tell
you who was the fastest rider or the best rider. Instead, it would give
you groupings of students who can and cannot ride a bicycle without falling
off. Language proficiency tests are designed to measure a student's ability
in a language, irrespective of any prior schooling. Proficiency tests are
not directly related to course content and do not measure how well a student
retains instructed knowledge. A comprehensive language proficiency assessment
should have oral, reading, and writing test components.
LIMITED BILINGUALISM:
This is a level of bilingualism in which
students acquire basic everyday conversational skills in both languages
but do not attain native-like proficiency in either.
LIMITED ENGLISH
PROFICIENT (LEP):
This is the label commonly used to describe
students who have a native language other than English and who are in the
process of acquiring English as a second language. More recently the term
"English Learners" has been promoted in California by the State Department's
Office of Bilingual Education.
LINGUISTIC INTERDEPENDENCE
HYPOTHESIS:
This hypothesis, represented as a "dual-iceberg,"
posits that every language contains surface features; however, underlying
those surface manifestations of language are proficiencies that are common
across languages. The dimension of language used in more cognitively demanding
tasks that involve more complex language is CALP, which is transferable
across languages.
MONITOR HYPOTHESIS:
This hypothesis explains the relationship
between acquisition and learning, claiming that acquisition leads to fluency
and accuracy while learning results in the development of an internal editor
or "monitor" that self corrects as one uses language. When an individual
"learns" a language, he/she knows the rules, but the monitor impedes the
flow of language because the speaker is too busy thinking of how to say
what they want to say--the result is silence!
NATURAL APPROACH:
This second language "acquisition-based"
method focuses on authentic communication as its primary goal. It is characterized
as a low-anxiety approach because the focus is on meaning rather than form.
Speech is not forced with this method, but is allowed to emerge naturally.
The natural approach is the application of "Mama's" method to second language
teaching. It is guided by the following principles: comprehension precedes
production; production emerges in stages; curriculum consists of communicative
goals; and activities that are task-based strive to lower student anxiety.
NATURAL ORDER
HYPOTHESIS:
This hypothesis claims that second language
learners acquire the grammatical features of a second language in a predictable
order. However, we cannot teach to that order because our L2 learners will
acquire those features when they are "ready to get them." Embedded in the
input, according to Stephen Krashen, are all of the grammar forms the second
language learner needs. Therefore, theory and research tell us not to bother
teaching to the order.
PARTIAL BILINGUALISM:
This is a level of bilingualism in which
the student attains social and academic skills in one language, but achieves
only fluency or conversational language skills in the other.
PREVIEW/REVIEW:
This technique used in mainstream and bilingual
classrooms previews the lesson for the LEP students to give them advanced
prior knowledge about the forthcoming lesson to be presented to the whole
class. This "preview" will lower the anxiety and give the second language
learner a context for the future lesson.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:
A significant indicator of academic success
for language minority students is to build on the background experiences
they already have. The ability of a student to make sense out of the input
received in a second language is largely due to the experiences and knowledge
they have acquired through the first language.
PROFICIENT BILINGUALISM:
The goal for schooling language minority
students is the development of the full range of proficiency in both languages.
Research confirms that the level of bilingualism in which students attain
full proficiency in both languages is positively correlated with high academic
achievement.
SDAIE:
Specially Designed Academic Instruction
in English is a programmatic requirement for all LEP students. It is a
process or a way of organizing the learning environment to allow students
who are in the process of developing English proficiency to access grade
level content while simultaneously developing academic English language
skills. It is not an alternative to primary language instruction, but a
complement to it. The caveat in this approach is that a student gets out
of it what he/she brings to the lesson in terms of prior knowledge about
the grade level topics.
SHELTERED INSTRUCTION:
Sheltered instruction is a term that describes
an approach to teaching mainstream content to second language learners
who are at Stage III or IV of language acquisition or have intermediate
levels of proficiency in English, and have some literacy skills in either
English or their primary language. Sheltered instruction focuses on grade
level curricula, uses English as the medium of instruction, and employs
many techniques (e.g., contextual clues, scaffolding, cooperative learning,
advance organizers) to help second language students access the core curriculum.
Some educators became concerned that what was being called sheltered instruction
was more like content-based ESL, where the focus is more on language than
content. In response to this concern, they introduced a new term, SDAIE,
which stands for Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English, to
reinforce and reassert the emphasis on grade level instruction for second
language students. In both SDAIE and sheltered instruction, the content
is not watered down, and students access demanding academic concepts through
contextual clues and multisensory techniques. Until there is a general
consensus on the most acceptable term to describe the core principles of
SDAIE and sheltered instruction, it may make sense for educators to focus
on the quality of the materials that claim either label.
There are six key questions to consider
in evaluating whether sheltered or SDAIE materials are appropriate for
your second language students:
Is the content rigorous and commensurate
with mainstream, grade level texts?
Is the language of the text linguistically
challenging, using rich and varied vocabulary and syntax?
Does the instruction employ contextual clues
(e.g., visuals, realia) and multisensory techniques (e.g., audio-visual,
hands-on materials) to make the content comprehensible?
Does the content build on students' prior
knowledge and experiences and advance their literacy skills?
Does the content promote higher order cognitive
skills (e.g., problem solving, synthesizing, evaluating)?
Is there a range of ongoing assessment tools
and checks to evaluate student progress?
If the answers to all these questions are
"yes," chances are that the educational materials, regardless of the label,
are suitable for LEP students learning grade level curriculum.
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SILENT WAY:
This is a second language teaching approach
developed in the Midwestern part of the world. This method utilizes colored
charts and Cuisiniere rods to develop language. Although it is student
centered, it is nevertheless a grammar-oriented method.
SUGGESTOPEDIA:
This teaching method was developed in Bulgaria
and uses relaxation techniques such as yoga exercises, classical music,
soft lighting, and dramatization to help promote learning and enhance retention.
It emphasizes the significance of the "affective" in learning.
SUP:
The traditional view of the bilingual brain
is conceptualized as a Separate Underlying Proficiency or the "two balloon
theory" that argues that languages, L1 and L2, are separate and independent
from one another. This would imply that there is little if any transfer
from one language to another. Hence, investing time in developing primary
language will only retard or delay English acquisition. There is not a
thread of evidence to support this claim.
STAGE I -
Pre-Production:
This stage of language acquisition is also
called the silent period. The student is a listener and responses are non-verbal
such as performing actions, gesturing, nodding, shaking head, touching,
pointing, and drawing. Students are not expected to talk at this stage.
TPR is effective as a teaching strategy for this stage.
STAGE II - Early
Production:
This stage of language acquisition resembles
"telegraphese" because the student will respond with key words only. Even
though the student exhibits disconnected speech, it is valuable to expand
on those utterances and model language naturally. Teaching strategies consist
of extending listening skills and asking questions that will elicit yes/no,
choice, one or toward responses, or even sentence completion.
STAGE III - Speech
Emergence:
At this stage, the student begins to generate
complete sentences. Grammatical errors should be overlooked, but the student
should continue to hear lots of meaningful input in order to develop and
extend vocabulary. Opportunities for students to interact and negotiate
for meaning are critical for language acquisition at this stage.
STAGE IV - Intermediate
Fluency:
Although the Natural Approach does not identify
this stage per se, most practitioners view this stage as naturally following
stage III when students begin to produce more complex discourse and think
both critically and creatively in English. Errors will be fewer and instruction
in grammar is now appropriate if done in a meaningful context. This stage
bridges fluency and proficiency.
TASK-BASED LANGUAGE
TEACHING (TBLT):
This is a method developed by Michael Long
to promote student-centered instruction and increase student talk in the
ELD classroom. His notion of "informational equality" (where each student
has a critical piece of the information that must be shared to complete
a task) ensures the positive interdependence and negotiation for meaning
that are crucial to language acquisition. This approach gives new definition
to Sheltered Instruction (SDAIE), which is task-based content teaching.
THRESHOLD HYPOTHESIS:
Recently, this hypothesis proposed by Jim
Cummins is called the additive bilingualism enrichment principle. It explains
the relationship between bilingualism and cognition, supporting the notion
that individuals with high levels of proficiency in both language experience
cognitive advantages in terms of linguistic and cognitive flexibility while
low levels of proficiency in both languages result in cognitive deficits.
This hypothesis further describes the three types of bilinguals (Proficient,
Partial, and Limited) and two distinct processes of bilingualism as additive
bilingualism and subtractive bilingualism.
TOTAL PHYSICAL
RESPONSE:
Generally labeled TPR, this approach was
pioneered by James Asher and involves the skillful use of the command system
of language by the teacher to develop receptive language. Students respond
physically rather than verbally and speech emerges naturally as students
begin to give those commands to other students. This empirically sound
method has 30 years of research to support its effectiveness as a low stress,
high retention second language approach.