Understanding the Cultural-Linguistic Divide in American Classrooms: Language Learning Strategies for a
Diverse Student Population
Professional Journal Article Review
By Nadia Afzal
Introduction There are 149 different languages spoken in American
ClassroomsStudents come with different prior knowledge, experiences,
level of schooling, and fluency in their native languagesNeed to employ methods and teaching approaches to teach
English Language Learners
Purpose Create awareness on effects of cultural diversity on vocabulary
and prior knowledge required for listening, reading, speaking and writing
Educate teachers about the different stages of language acquisition for ELLs
Equip teacher with different strategies that can be used in each stage to facilitate new language learning experience
How To Educate ELLs Teachers use Asset Model Provide scaffolding for reading instructions Set attainable goals Incorporate student’s culture into curriculum Small group work Explicit instructions High quality vocabulary instructions
Stages of Language Acquisition
Pre-Production Early Production Speech Emergence Intermediate Fluency Advanced Fluency
Stage 1: Pre- Production
Students are active listeners Students rarely use English Students rely on pictorial and other non-
verbal representations
Strategies Total Physical Response Word and Concept Sorts
Total Physical Response
Early Production Students feel secure Utter few words or short phrases Students can use simple memorized words
correctly but still make errors that hinder understanding
Open ended questions should help students recall prior experience
Strategy
Interactive word wall Picture and sentence Match Interactive Word Wall
Stage: 4 Speech Emergence
Students gain confidence and language skills May still have limited vocabulary and
command on language May still be able to understand stock phrases
and academic language highly familiar to them
Strategies
Dual Language Alphabet or Concept Books Schema Stories Schema Stories
Stage: 4 Intermediate Fluency Students may be able to read with considerable
fluency student will be able to locate specific facts within
texts Grade-level literacy still pose challenges due to
complex nature of sentence structures and different vocabulary meanings
Student’s oral and written work becomes almost like native speakers
Strategies
Student Self- Monitoring The K-W-L Chart
K-W-L Chart
Stage: 5 Advanced Fluency
Students can take several years to reach from intermediate stage to advanced fluency stage
Students have built strong vocabulary Students have hold on synonyms, inflections,
and academic content
Strategies
Closed-Captioning Television Foreign Films with English Subtitles
Reference
Holmes, K. P., Rutledge, S., & Gauthier, L. (2009). Understanding the Cultural-Linguistic Divide in American Classrooms: Language Learning Strategies for a Diverse Student
Population. Reading Horizons, 49(4), 285-300.