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Engaging Instruction Artifacts:

Effective Instruction in Second Language Acquisition

Juan Daniel Arciga Powell

Department of World Languages and Cultures, Old Dominion University

TLED 360: Classroom Management and Discipline

Professor Demetrice Smith-Mutegi, PhD

July 9, 2023
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Effective Instruction in Second Language Acquisition

Disengagement spearheads adverse conduct and passive behaviors in the classroom

which result in students becoming listening objects and off-task contributors. Negotiating

meaning between native and second languages requires learners to rely on listening, speaking,

reading, and writing. For this reason, my future students must be met with activities which help

them to problem solve, taking on obstacles relevant to their context inside the classroom and

within their communities. Student collaboration between classmates strengthens a sense of

community, literacy, and critical thinking. Disengagement, on the other hand, adversely impacts

language development, obstructing phonemic awareness. In order to mitigate gaps in learning

processes and develop engaging, learning opportunities for students in the classroom, total

participation techniques must promote proficiency in collaborative learning while enhancing

academic achievement.

When developing a bilingual voice, students benefit the most from associations between

target cultures and interactive linguistic tools. This allows learners to stop thinking in L1 and

begin producing a second language with native-like proficiency. Milner et al. (2019) conveyed

activities must be structured to elicit student reflection which allows for critical thinking and

facilitates interpersonal exchanges. This command of the language will task my future students

with continuous practice. Synthesizing content individually and later working with classmates

allows students to exchange perspectives and enrich their understanding on a specific subject.

Himmele and Himmele (2017) identified students retain the most information when they go from

only listening, to conveying meaning to classmates via immersive discussions, and finally by

teaching others.
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Engaging Activity 1

See Appendix A. Graphic organizers are tools which allow students to structure new

content in order to make sense of it, individually and as part of a team. Graphic organizers will

give my students opportunities to elaborate on their perspectives when acquiring new vocabulary

and when comparing and contrasting points of view with other classmates. Specifically, my

students will use mnemonic devices to categorize new vocabulary as seen in Appendix A where

it can be done by color. However, other students can choose to categorize vocabulary by other

means such as by fruits or vegetables, whatever facilitates activating prior knowledge. Students

will then make use of Venn diagrams to categorize food items by country. Depending on the

language proficiency of students, they will be tasked to then draw correlations between their own

dinner tables and foreign diets. Ultimately, students will have an opportunity to share about their

context and identify how it is similar or different from other classmates and other cultures.

Engaging Activity 2

See Appendix B. Journal entries encompass a variety of tasks for students who are in

contact with a second language. They must make sense of a question in L2 and convey a

response in the target language. Students acquire more vocabulary when interacting with

classmates versus only listening to the instructor speak. After my students are done writing their

responses, they must share with a classmate, and then a few more are asked to share within

clusters. This allows students to develop confidence during production stages of the language

skill areas. Simultaneously, it develops a sense of community in the classroom because students

have an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences. This activity also allows my students
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to relate their own responses to classmates’ at the bottom of the worksheet where they are

required to synthesize another student’s response.

Engaging Activity 3

See Appendix C. Work stations require all-hands on deck, meaning all students are

engaging with the target language via different outlets at all times. Depending on the class size,

small clusters will be assigned to begin working at one of four tables. One table will focus on

reading comprehension including the target culture’s myths and non-fiction content. A different

table will be tasked with listening to an audio of native speakers discussing various topics where

students must write a conclusion or answer some questions about what they have heard. The rest

of the tables include themes such as literature, poems, phonological activities where cognates are

matched between languages, and finally roleplay activities. With students working as a team,

they are graded based on final products where everyone is equally responsible for meeting

expectations set at each of the tables described in Appendix C. This learning experience gives

strong readers a chance to excel, but it also gives students who have other strengths an

opportunity to display their linguistic abilities. This is a great opportunity to include the diverse

strengths of my students and to connect the curriculum to events taking place in my students’

context.
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Appendix A

Artifact 1

The following are Graphic Organizers I have used in immersive discussion webs by pairs,

small groups, and entire classes. Language instructors must be aware of students’ linguistics,

socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds (Milner et al., 2019). Similarly, in order to fully grasp

the target language, students must also understand the people who currently utilize the language

and its specific uses. Students develop their opinions and add to their perspective by engaging in

intercultural exchanges and by practicing cultural relativism when comparing and contrasting the

American culture and English language to others. Students at the middle school level can benefit

from graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams, while high school students require more

complex tools to retain information such as mnemonic devices (Milner et al., 2019).
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Appendix B

Artifact 2

The following format is used by my students. Journal Entries allow students to engage in

all language skill areas: they read the assignment, write individually, engage in oral

presentations, and also practice listening skills when classmates are conveying their responses.

Higher order thinking begins with a well formatted question in which students must elaborate on

a response by synthesizing and building connections between in-class content and outside

contexts (Himmele & Himmele, 2017). Additionally, journal prompts also help students develop

confidence during production stages: speaking and writing. This ultimately builds a sense of

community. Himmele and Himmele (2017) identified the value in students individually sharing

their responses to a prompt in pairs, comparing and contrasting, and then sharing with the rest of

the class.
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Appendix C

Artifact 3

Work Stations require learners to rely on each other’s skills in order to complete the final

project or task. I use this approach at the end of a unit as a form of review. The entire class is

divided into smaller sections and each section must rotate from one work station to the next

where students complete listening and reading comprehension, brainstorm as a team, and

produce poetry or enact roleplay work. Activities in which only a few learners participate while

the majority of the classroom sits, passively waiting for a turn, contribute toward disengagement

(Himmele & Himmele, 2017). Additionally, Students must be cognitively engaged in deep

critical thinking in order for meaningful learning to occur.

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References

Himmele, P., & Himmele, W. (2017). Total participation techniques: Making every student an

active learner (2nd ed.). ASCD.

Milner, H. R., Cunningham, H. B., Delale-O’Connor, L., & Kestenberg, E. G. (2019). These kids

are out of control”: Why we must reimagine “classroom management” for equity.

Corwin.