Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners

This seminal article by Jim Cummins presents foundational research supporting his Dual Iceberg theory (1996). The article claims language transference and cross-lingual interdependence occur when acquiring a second language. Understanding this, teachers can accelerate language acquisition by incorporating metalinguistic methods into their teaching. This particular version, a pre-publication version, has been shared directly from the author.

This is a brief description of Krashen's widely known and well-accepted theory of second language acquisition, which has had a large impact in all areas of second language research and teaching.

Language is the ability to produce and comprehend spoken and written words; linguistics is the study of language. This site describes the key properties and features of language.

This page reviews some basic concepts and ideas around language including the five domains, language acquisition, and the relationship between spoken and written language.

Language is central to social interaction in every society, regardless of location and time period. Language and social interaction have a reciprocal relationship: language shapes social interactions and social interactions shape language.

Second-language learners, especially those at the beginning stages of proficiency, will rely on knowledge of their first language to make hypotheses about how the second language works. Teachers can use their knowledge of the first language to anticipate their students’ mistakes and to create explicit lessons to address students’ common
errors.

Researchers surveyed a vast body of research about English language learning to gain a clear sense of what mainstream classroom teachers should know and be able to do in order to teach English learners well. In the paper that resulted, they distilled six principles — a linguistic foundation for the teaching of English learners in mainstream classes. Those principles are excerpted here.

Katie Novak explains why the implementation of universal design for learning (UDL) is best practice to increase engagement in all students.