Understanding the Cultural-Linguistic Divide in American Classrooms: Language Learning Strategies for a

Diverse Student Population

Professional Journal Article Review

By Nadia Afzal

Introduction There are 149 different languages spoken in American

ClassroomsStudents come with different prior knowledge, experiences,

level of schooling, and fluency in their native languagesNeed to employ methods and teaching approaches to teach

English Language Learners

Purpose Create awareness on effects of cultural diversity on vocabulary

and prior knowledge required for listening, reading, speaking and writing

Educate teachers about the different stages of language acquisition for ELLs

Equip teacher with different strategies that can be used in each stage to facilitate new language learning experience

How To Educate ELLs Teachers use Asset Model Provide scaffolding for reading instructions Set attainable goals Incorporate student’s culture into curriculum Small group work Explicit instructions High quality vocabulary instructions

Stages of Language Acquisition

Pre-Production Early Production Speech Emergence Intermediate Fluency Advanced Fluency

Stage 1: Pre- Production

Students are active listeners Students rarely use English Students rely on pictorial and other non-

verbal representations

Strategies Total Physical Response Word and Concept Sorts

Total Physical Response

Early Production Students feel secure Utter few words or short phrases Students can use simple memorized words

correctly but still make errors that hinder understanding

Open ended questions should help students recall prior experience

Strategy

Interactive word wall Picture and sentence Match Interactive Word Wall

Stage: 4 Speech Emergence

Students gain confidence and language skills May still have limited vocabulary and

command on language May still be able to understand stock phrases

and academic language highly familiar to them

Strategies

Dual Language Alphabet or Concept Books Schema Stories Schema Stories

Stage: 4 Intermediate Fluency Students may be able to read with considerable

fluency student will be able to locate specific facts within

texts Grade-level literacy still pose challenges due to

complex nature of sentence structures and different vocabulary meanings

Student’s oral and written work becomes almost like native speakers

Strategies

Student Self- Monitoring The K-W-L Chart

K-W-L Chart

Stage: 5 Advanced Fluency

Students can take several years to reach from intermediate stage to advanced fluency stage

Students have built strong vocabulary Students have hold on synonyms, inflections,

and academic content

Strategies

Closed-Captioning Television Foreign Films with English Subtitles

Reference

Holmes, K. P., Rutledge, S., & Gauthier, L. (2009). Understanding the Cultural-Linguistic Divide in American Classrooms: Language Learning Strategies for a Diverse Student

Population. Reading Horizons, 49(4), 285-300.