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Introduction - Teaching and Learning
Introduction - Teaching and Learning
Students learn best when they are aware of the processes and strategies they use to
construct and communicate meaning.
In English language arts classrooms, teachers can help students grow in their language
abilities by making explicit what is implicit in language learning. They can explain and
model the needed language strategies, give students opportunities to use and practise the
strategies, and give students opportunities to apply the strategies.
Teachers can model a variety of strategies during a lesson and can help students draw on
the strategies appropriate to the task at hand. A range of strategies are outlined as possible
choices in each of the speaking, listening, writing, and reading sections of this guide. The
following are general guidelines for selecting strategies.
Before students speak, write, represent, listen, read, or view, they may need to:
During their speaking, writing, representing, listening, reading, or viewing they may
need to:
After they speak, write, represent, listen, read, or view, they may need to:
1
Suggestions are given in each section to help students learn a repertoire of language
strategies as they speak, write, represent, listen, read, and view in various contexts for
various purposes.
• introduce a strategy
• explain why, how, and when it is used
• model or demonstrate its use
• provide students with an immediate opportunity to use the strategy in the context
of the course
• follow up with other opportunities for students to use the strategy and to reflect on
its use
• discuss other possible uses (Ellis, Deshler, Lenz, Shumaker, and Clark, 1991, p.
22).
With this in mind, the following section presents a range of teaching-learning strategies
that might be useful in helping students reach the objectives of the English language arts
curriculum.