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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

How to Approach the Way Students Learn: Learning or Acquisition?


As educators, I believe it is important to know what it best for students when it comes to learning different information. For ELL students, it is especially important to know HOW they are learning, because of the different modes in which they need to learn. As I was completing this weeks survey on Learning VS Acquisition styles of teaching, I began to relate these methods to the SCIOP method of lesson planning in which you think of the I DO, WE DO, and YOU DO steps of teaching.  It is important to know what parts of our lessons needs need to be taught through direct instruction (I DO), what can be done together (WE DO), and where students are able to demonstrate their understanding (YOU DO.) With the Learning and Acquisition approaches to instruction, it seems that the Learning approach falls into the I DO and WE DO categories, and Acquisition demonstrates the students true application of what they have learned in the YOU DO phase of a lesson.

While looking at the survey, there were many of activities that were best done through the Learning approach and some that were clearly planned in the Acquisition phase of a students learning. Freeman & Freeman define Learning style of teaching as the method of teaching which produces who speak and understand language, where was the Acquisition approach enables student to use language for a variety of purposes.

With these definitions in mind, it is important to realize, that if it is our job to best prepare students to apply what they have learned to the real world, then we should be teaching ALL students using both methods of approaches, not just ELL students. Also, it is important that depending on a students level of oral language and reading skills, that adjustments will have to be made on what type of instruction they are receiving. This also began to make me wonder, can we easily break activities into only two categories if we are supposed to meet the needs of all students at their level of skill?

Below, you will see how I divided a series of activities that were outlined by Freeman & Freeman as potential Language or Acquisition approaches, or activities in which both approaches can be used together. Page numbers can be found in Freeman & Freeman's text Essential Linguisitics-What You Need to Know to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, Grammar.

Directions: Label each activity (L) for learning/word recognition or (A) for acquisiton/sociopsychololinguistic view. Some actives can have both labels. Be prepared to explain your choices. 

Actions During a
(L) Learning/Word Recognition lesson:
Actions During a
(A) Acquisition/
Sociopsycholinguistic lesson:
Actions Using Both Types of Learning During Lessons
Student
  • Looking up words in the dictionary to write directions (pg. 28)
  • Practice sounding out words (pg. 25)
  • Read in round robin fashion (pg. 28)
  • Ask the teacher how to spell any word they don’t know (pg. 28)
  • Read a language experience story they have created with the teacher (pg. 25)
  • Divide words into syllables (pg. 27)
  • On a worksheet, draw a line from each word or sound to the picture that starts with the same sound (pg. 27)
  • Correct peers when they make a mistake during reading (pg. 25)
  • Identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound (pg. 28)
  • Group cards with classmates’ names by criterion on such as first or last letter (pg. 25)
  • Write rhyming poetry then discuss different spellings for the same sound (pg. 26)
  • Work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences (pg. 26)
  • Make alphabet books on different topics (pg. 26)
  • Make a Venn Diagram to compare two stories (pg. 25)
Being able to compare and contrast topics shows a basic level of understanding, as well as acquisition because students need to be able to formulate arguments to identify similarities and differences
Teacher
  • Has students segment words into phonemes (pg. 24)
  • Uses decodable text (pg. 26)
  • Has students meet in literature circles (pg. 25)
  • Conducts Phonics drills (pg. 24)
  • Uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills (pg. 25)
  • Preteaches vocabulary (pg. 25)
  • Does a shared reading with  big book (pg. 26)
  • Make sure that students read only books that fit their level (pg. 25) 
  • Sets aside time for SSR each day (pg. 25)
  • Writes words for students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words. (pg. 25)
  • Does a picture walk of a new book (pg. 26)
  • Asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a  certain letter. (pg. 24)
  • Chooses predictable texts (pg. 26)
  • Teaches Latin and Greek Roots (pg. 25)
If students are using these strategies to identify unknown words independently while reading, then this application shows that students are using the strategies in a real world situation to help towards comprehending texts
  • Teaches students different comprehension strategies (pg. 25)
Because comprehension is the ultimate goal it is important for teachers to use a variety of approaches of learning to support a students access of a text

Resource: Freeman D., & Freeman Y. (2014). Essential Linguisitics-What You Need to Know to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, GrammarPortsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

1 comment:

  1. Good read. Should start a blog for Jeffco and post this there for them! :-)

    ReplyDelete