5/23/19
In the collegiate field educators refer to theorists to identify the cognitive, academic, linguistic, and social aspects of student development. In a school district, educators rely on best practices (researched methods) to guide their instruction. A concept not communicated clearly with many educators is how best to teach their culturally and linguistically diverse students. As all good teachers do, a combination of practices they saw being used throughout their personal education as well as methods used with native language speakers is used to best meet the needs of their CLD students. However, there are two researched approaches that when used to teach the English learners can lower the affective filter and increase language acquisition. The communicative approach has a student-centered basis on language learning through and for communication. The cognitive approach has a learner-center basis on teaching strategies to evoke thought and social connections. Each approach embodies researched and theory-based techniques for meeting the needs of a CLD student’s educational experience. The following are some examples of best practices from each. I’ll let you decide which best aligns with your pedagogy.
Trunnell's Observations on Language Learners 