Using Comprehensive Input

Classroom Examples of Using Comprehensive Input

Using comprehensible input involves strategies that help increase students’ understanding of content. The teacher makes verbal instructions clearer by consciously attending to students’ linguistic needs. He or she provides scaffolds that help students comprehend material. Comprehensible input scaffolds learning when there is a low-threat environment in which students are encouraged and supported in their learning.

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

[Theory of Second Language Acquisition. By Stephen Krashen.]

Strategies for Using Comprehensible Input

Reciprocal teaching
Reciprocal teaching helps students understand text and monitor their own understanding. It involves four comprehension strategies: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. Before the teacher can expect reciprocal teaching to be successful, he or she must teach the strategies and give students time to practice using them. Although reciprocal teaching may seem appropriate only for middle or high school students, grades 3-5 students can use it effectively when pre-instruction is done. Primary students can also learn the terms and respond to questions the teacher asks: “I wonder what the word ‘escape’means? Who can clarify that?” and “What do you predict will happen next?” Use think-pair-share to allow all students to respond.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm

Verbal scaffolding
Examples of verbal scaffolding include paraphrasing, repetition of key points, summarizing, and using think-alouds. When the verbal is paired with the nonverbal in the form of facial expressions, gestures, picture, charts, graphs, maps, or realia, this strategy is particularly effective. Using a variety of visual aides and teaching to all learning styles are the most effective approaches.

[Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), State University of New York at Stony Brook. Stony Brook University's Professional Education Program (PEP). Contributions from the ESL teachers at Riverhead NY School District]
http://www.celt.sunysb.edu/ell/tips.php#Strategy_4

Manipulatives and experiments
Manipulatives are concrete objects that are used to demonstrate learning concepts and to enhance the meaning of presented information. Students have the opportunity to hear, see, and touch manipulatives to promote the learning process and language acquisition.
http://www.eaieducation.com/ell-esl-manipulatives.html

Literary scaffolds
Literary scaffolds include partner stories using pictures and wordless books. The teacher can create picture frames to retell a story. Students establish partners to retell the story. This same concept can be used in content lessons. The teacher can use picture frames to show the lifecycle of a butterfly and students “tell the story” to one another. Other literary scaffolds include interactive journals, buddy journals, shared reading, patterned writing.

[Improving Literary Understanding Through Classroom Conversation. By Judith Langer and Elizabeth. 2001. CloseNational Research Center on English Learning & Achievement. University at Albany, State University of New York]
http://cela.albany.edu/env.pdf

Charlotte Knox from Knox Education offers a video training series, Literary Scaffolds for English Language Learner, a best practice video series for teachers of English language learners K-6.
http://www.knoxeducation.com/video.htm

Mnemonics
Mnemonics are formal techniques for organizing information in a way that makes it more likely to be remembered. A memory system often involves using visualization and /or acronyms.

[“Mnemonics in the ESL/EFL classroom.” By Ronald Grey. The Language Teacher Online, 21 (4), April, 1997. ]
http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/apr/mnemon.html