Lavadenz, M. (2010). From Theory to Practice for Teachers of Engish Learners.

The
CATESOL Journal, 22(1), 1!"#$.
The foreign Lang%ages in genera and Engish in &artic%ar have &ayed an
im&ortant roe as the 'ey to the (ord in comm%nication .Engish s%)se*%enty is
increasingy needed in a ind%stries and sectors s%ch as &oitica, economic, )an'ing
foreign trade, to%rism, com&%ter science, )ioogy oi chemistry, aviation, architect%re,
constr%ction etc Engish earning and teaching has )ecome an in dis&ensa)e need of the
society es&eciay in the +,. Teaching and earning Engish in the +, are com&e-
&rocesses that are not e-&ained )y ang%age theories or methods aone cad .+sing
chidren.s ang%ages and c%t%ra )ac'gro%nds sho%d )e vie(ed as reso%rces in he&ing
them s%cceed academicay ('oss,1//!) others find that The ed%cation of the Engish
earners de&ends on ing%isticay a&&ro&riate instr%ctions )y the teachers
0n this artice, Lavadenz &rovides a revie( of the ang%age, earning and ang%age
earning theories and &ractice for second ang%age teaching, em&hasis on socio"c%t%ra
methods, theories and &ractices. 1is artice is organized as foo( the first section
s%&&orts Learning theories and second ang%age teaching in (hich earning theories
affect second ang%age teaching methods. The ne-t section disc%ss com)inations of
theories of second ang%age earning and theories of ang%age finay section three
&resents teaching Engish as a second ang%age (ith the com&e-ity of the ang%age
earning sit%ation (2%mmins 1//13 ,e'%ta))4'angas, 2000) in the +,
The first &art inc%des theories of earning and their reationshi& to second ang%age
teaching. Learning theories is a )ase to s%&&ort ang%age teaching methods. Lang%age
teaching is inf%enced )y the fieds of ing%istics and &sychoogy second ang%age
teaching methods are reated to conce&ts and theories 5hich ing%istics define the (ays
h%man earn in genera. Moreover, second ang%age ed%cators m%st )e 'no(edgea)e
a)o%t the deveo&ment of earning theories )oth in terms of their historica deveo&ment
and in terms of their anaogo%s reationshi& to ang%age teaching
The ne-t &art &resents overvie( of ang%age theories in (hich foc%s the
%nderstanding of the 'ey constr%cts that s%&&orts the fo%ndation .for second ang%age
earning theories .0t means that. ,&ecific methods need to com)ine theories of earning
and theories of ang%age. 6esides this section aso &rondes a )rief methods foo( the
theories of ang%age (str%ct%ra, f%nctiona ,and interactive in (hich second ang%age
teaching in 5hich second ang%age teaching methods inc%de the earning theory and
the 'ey instr%ctiona &ractices for each s&ecific method.
0n the ast &art, the a%thor gives socio c%t%ra iss%es affect teaching Engish as a
second ang%age. 7s yo% can see teaching and eaving Engish in the +, are com&e- the
reationshi& )et(een ang%age ma8ority gro%&s and ang%age minority gro%&s, ang%age
stat%s, immigration, economics and ang%age, &anning and &oicies as (e as the
com&e-ity of the ang%age earning sit%ation (2%mmins, 1//1, ,'%t na)) 4 hangas,
2000) 2%mmins. theories of ang%age have &rovided ed%cators (ith a frame (or' for
%nderstanding the com&e- reationshi& )et(een the deveo&ment of the &rimary
ang%age and the second ang%age in the daiy interactions )et(een teachers and st%dents
and st%dents. Th%s, effective ang%age earning for Engish earners is )oth *%aity
instr%ction of teacher e-&ertise as (e as a&&ro&riate instr%ctiona &rogram and the
micro eve contacts that Engish earners have (ith others in schoos every day.
The a%thor identifies the ty&es of instr%ctiona &rograms avaia)e for 9412 Engish
earners in the +, after that the a%thor disc%sses a socio"c%t%ra and constr%ctivist
7&&roach to Teaching Engish as a second ang%age thro%gh the *%estions )eing as'ed )y
the home ang%age s%rvey and those &rovide a &o(erf% constr%ct that he&s inform
instr%ctiona &ractices for Engish earners. The &revio%s disc%ssion has inc%ded the
modes for second ang%age ac*%isition and the ing%istic, &sychoogica or instr%ctiona
dimensions of earning a second ang%age &artic%ary in ,ch%mann.s acc%t%ration mode
and s'%t4 na))4 'angas.s ang%age ecoogy mode, the com&e- nat%re of second
ang%age earning in reating to the socia, historica, and conte-t%a factors that affect
ang%age eaning &oint and teaching Engish as a second ang%age. The a%thor e-&ands
on conte-t%a iss%es that inf%ence the earning of Engish for immigrant st%dents and
their descendents in the +,.
The additive a&&roaches to second ang%age ac*%isition are %sing ,t%dents.
:eso%rces. The a%thor gives seven (ays to s%&&ort the &rimary ang%ages of Engish
earners in (hich determining the &otentia for earning of Engish and other academic
s%)8ect matter that is the roe of assessment inc%ding ora ang%age deveo&ment,
teaching of &ron%nciation, voca)%ary, grammar ,&honetics, (riting for '"12 Engish
earners and the roe of standards inc%ding technoogica iteracy affect Engish ang%age
earners and the deveo&ment of teacher E-&ertise for teaching 9"12 Engish as a ,econd
ang%age. To f%rther e-em&ify the conce&t of teacher e-&ertise for Engish earners.
5a*%i(2001) and 5ongfimore and ,no((2000) revie(ed t(o modes &resented in
Ta)e /. From that, o%r %nderstanding of the ty&es of teacher &re&aration and &rofessiona
deveo&ment are im&ortant to ens%re the academic s%ccess of Engish earners at the 9"12
eve
0n conc%sion, the disc%ssion on the research on teacher e-&ertise, the history and
ty&es of ang%age teaching methods and socio"c%t%ra consideration for the instr%ction of
9"12 Engish earners s%&&orts o%r %nderstanding of the )est &ractices for 9"12 Engish
earners in +, schoos. 7ccording to avadenz, to do that (e have to %nderstand the
strengths and (ea'nesses of the (ay of ;from theory to &ractice for teacher of Engish
earners<.
0n genera, Lavedenz.s st%dy o)tains the main &%r&ose of &roviding a cear
%nderstanding of the Lang%age earning theories and &ractices for second ang%age
teaching foc%sing on socio" c%t%ra theories and &ractices for 9412 Engish earners in
the +,. First of a, (e consider the (ays he mentions this %nderstanding thro%gh theories
of ang%age and teaching im&ications and he mentions the socio" c%t%ra iss%es that
affect teaching Engish as a second ang%age.
+sing 9rashen.s five hy&otheses in ta)e # ,2%mmin.s five &rinci&es for the
ed%cation of ang%age minority st%dent in ta)e = is a )ase to e-&ain (hat information
he is going to &rovide 7cademic 0nstr%ction &rogram o&tions in 9412 schoos ,5e
%nderstand the ed%cation a systems in the +, and Ta)e $ a)o%t Modes of second
ang%age 7c*%isition (e get the 'no( edge )ase for &rofessionas in teaching Engish
to s&ea'ers of other ang%age (hich can )e traced to the deveo&ment of theories and
methods of ang%age and ang%age earning his anayzing he&s teachers of Engish
earners to get the 'no(edge a)o%t the conte-ts (ithin (hich second ang%ages are
earned that is circ%mstances, settings and conditions( socia, historica, &sychoogica
and &oitica) 7s &resented in ta)e $, these modes &rovide a schema for %nderstanding
the com&e- inter&ay )et(een ang%age earning and the s&ecific circ%mstances in (hich
ang%age earning ta'es &ace
Each &art in Lavadenz.s artice and the contents in each &art are reevant to each
other. 7 ot of his information he &rovides )ases on &revio%s st%dies (hich sho(s the
reia)iity and vaidity of his research, to e-&ain each content of his research, he
mentions vie(s of earning and teaching theories s%ch as >ygots'y, 5atson, 9oss,
?od)erg@.Lavadenz.s st%dy has &rovided a ot %sef% information a)o%t the (ay ;from
theory to &ractice for teachers of Engish earners at the 9412 eve in the +,.
1o(ever, the revie( of instr%ctiona &ractices to those that have )een most inf%entia in
the deveo&ment of second ang%age teaching is imited as it is &racticed today.
0n s%mmary, Lavader.s st%dy he&s to %nderstand synthesis of the history of
second ang%age teaching (ith a foc%s on the reationshi&s )et(een ang%age earning
and ang%age teaching .Lang%age teaching methods, aong (ith the earning theories that
g%ide those methods, (i he& inform the recommendations for effective )eginning
Engish as a ,econd Lang%age instr%ction at the 9412 eve.