The article I read this week addresses research findings and technology used to support language learning. Murray (2020) states that “language learning is delicate in nature” (para 3). I agree with this statement because I think it takes a special educator to utilize various different educational approaches in order to teach language learning and development. Especially now during these unexpected times, educators are utilizing all available tools and resources possible to help ELL students.
The article mentions three language development approaches for educators: the promotion of oral language, visual and auditory support, and the building of metacognitive strategies. These strategies can be utilized through remote and in-person instruction.
Oral language promotion involves having students engaged in discussions and using sentences with complicated syntax. For example, Murray (2020) states that “if a student cannot demonstrate the use of a particular vocabulary word, morphological unit (such as a prefix), or syntactic structure in expressive oral language, then that student will likely struggle with its written form” (para 6). In order to practice this concept, two activities that are mentioned in the article include “Whip Around” and “Turn and Talk.” Both of these activities are quick, easy, and involve practicing specific oral language.
Language is multimodal and multi sensory. It is build upon visual, oral, and auditory support. Visual support essentially includes scaffolds with images. Images should be cultural relevant and ensure students’ comprehension. Auditory supports include reading definitions and questions aloud tp students. By providing students with auditory language use, they will have an equal opportunity to connect with the content material.
Murray (2020) mentions a web-based tool called “InferCabulary” that can be used to support metacognitive strategies. InferCabulary is a visual vocabulary program that teaches students new words by allowing them to infer meaning from a series of pictures (Murray, 2020). This web-tool seems very interesting because it allows students to hide answer choices they know are incorrect to help them focus on discovering the correct answer. In addition, I believe this kind of tool will help students develop critical thinking skills during language development activities.
Murray, A. (2020, November). 3 strategies to enhance students' language development. Retrieved from https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/11/3-strategies-enhance-students%E2%80%99-language-development
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