Theories, linguistic concepts, and research-based teaching practices for supporting ELL learning

Theories, Linguistic Concepts, and Research-Based Teaching Practices for Supporting ELL Learning Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Course Details Instructor's Name Date of Submission Introduction English Language Learners (ELL) are increasingly diverse population in educational systems worldwide. However, learning the English language side by side while learning the content knowledge are hard to gain that is why it is important for any teacher to understand the theories, linguistic concepts, and research-based teaching practices to support them. Historical and Current Theories Skinner’s Behaviorism One of the historical theories applied in teaching is Skinner’s Behaviorism and according to Leeder (2022), language acquisition that involves this concept is the idea of practice and reinforcement of the learner. In concordance with this theory, it is assumed that learners develop habits whereby they produce or respond to stimuli and they are either rewarded or punished for their response. In the classroom, this can be expressed in terms of drills and practice exercises where the students are required to use various language structures and the rest of the class is required to give feedback as to the correction usage of the particular structure. Saussure’s Structuralism Another historical theory is structuralism that deals with the fact that language is highly systematic; it concentrates on the nature of systems (Willems & Belligh, 2022). In classroom activities, which relate to structuralism, pattern practice and dialogues in which learners conduct repetitive step-by-step activities that enable them to know the rules of the target language. These activities are useful for engaging learners into awareness and performance of correct linguistic patterns, which ensures that learners appreciate more about the structural features of the target language they are learning (Li, 2024). Piaget’s Constructivism While one of the current theories used for linguistics is constructivism wherein this theory involves the students actively building new knowledge through their experience and discovery. Piaget focused on the stages of development and on the individual’s activities as well as present knowledge that a learner has (Waite-Stupiansky, 2022). Some of the practices that fall under constructivism include the use of hands-on activities and discovery activities such as carrying out experiments, use of inventing projects, as well as solving of problems in the classroom (Shah, 2019). Vygotsky’s Social Interactionism In relation to constructivism, Vygotsky also proposed a similar theory that focuses on social relations or the manner in which the learners interact in their learning process. According to him, cultural processes and interpersonal relationships have a major impact on a child’s cognition (Ghani, et. al., 2022). In the context of the classroom, this theory is manifested in group assignments and cooperative learning where learners construct meanings from one another and from what they are learning cooperatively (Alharbi, 2023). Krashen’s Input Hypothesis On the other hand, this deals with the behavior of human mind when learning a language. Salam (2020) stated that learners learn the language through being exposed that is unknown to their own. This involves the idea of acquisition process of which grammar, structure and its meaning may be wrong at first but they would naturally and gradually understand the idea presented in the language spoke. Some activities that can be observed in the classroom for this theory includes visual reading where unknown language can be presented visually and watching and analyzing movies or documentaries. Linguistic Concepts Teaching and monitoring learners learning English includes the following necessary processes: Scaffolding, whereby the teachers build the language structure around the ELLs and who require some assistance in grasping and using the language. Followed by the use ...